Best Senai Food to Eat before Boarding or on Coming Home @ Senai Airport

Senai is a small town near Senai International Airport which is also on the trunk road to Kulai town. It is a good pit stop for traditional street food (which includes a few gems) before flying off from Senai airport. It can also be the prelude to your Kulai food trail 😄

Zi cha shops serving dishes with good wok hei are getting scarcer. Huat Kee's noodle dishes have wok hei and also have a Hakka twist to them. Their excellent wat tan hor comes with delicious Hakka style fried pork.

Restaurant name: Huat Kee 發記 stall
Address: Off Lebuhraya Senai, under the overhead pedestrian bridge near Jalan Senai 10. (The easiest way to get here is to pull into Jalan Senai 10, park and walk 100 metres to Huat Kee.)
GPS: 1°36'04.9"N 103°38'41.6"E 🌐 1.601370, 103.644877
Hours: 7:30am to 2:00pm (Thurs off)

When Singapore's chicken rice legend Swee Kee closed in the 1990s, part of the family who were from Senai opened New Swee Kee with the blessings of Swee Kee's founder. If you want to taste chicken rice reminiscent of the legend that first popularised Singapore's unofficial national dish, come to Swee Kee in Senai.

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When the original Swee Kee of Middle Road Singapore closed in the 1990s, the founder endorsed only one successor shop and it is in Senai, Johor. They were his relatives who worked in his Middle Road shop. All other "Swee Kee" have nothing to do with the Middle Road Swee Kee. 😋 The Hainanese chicken rice of Swee Kee in Senai reminds me of Yet Con, but the Johor shop is still doing thriving business and a new energetic generation is weilding the cleaver. 🐔 Find out more 👉 https://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2020/01/best-senai-food-to-eat-before-boarding.html

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Jan 7, 2020 at 6:14am PST

Restaurant name: Swee Kee 瑞记海南鸡饭
Address: 98, Jalan Bintang, Taman Bintang, Senai, Johor
GPS: 1.614658,103.659009
Hours: 9:00am to 7:00pm (close at 3:00pm on Mondays)

Monyet restaurant is the only place I know anywhere that still makes "rat tail" noodles by hand - those fat stubby noodles made with rice flour. Served with savoury dark sauce or curry and topped with char siew and Hakka style fried pork. Hand made "rat tail" noodles are softer and have a nice rice flavour compared to factory made lou shi fun.

Restaurant name: Restoran Monyet 猴子面美食中心
Address: 3, Jalan Selesa 1, Taman Selesa, Senai, Johor, Malaysia
GPS: 1.604895, 103.639241 🌐 1°36'17.6"N 103°38'21.3"
Tel: 012-7423-328 (Uncle Chin)
Hours: Tues to Sun 7:00am to sold out (around noon) | Mon to Sat 6:00pm to 11:00pm

I like the lemak thick rich creamy curry here with sweet savoury spicy flavours. The Nanyang kopi here is pretty good too - thick and robust. A good early brekky for that morning flight out of Senai Airport.

Restaurant name: Restoran Min Kee 明记茶室
Address: Lorong 1, Senai, Johor, Malaysia (off Jalan Senai 10)
GPS: 1.601425, 103.643705 🌐 1°36'05.1"N 103°38'37.3"E
Hours: 5:30am to 2:00pm (Closed on Weds)

Every time I passed by Senai either on the way to Kulai or the airport, I would want to stop a while at this street side kueh stall. All the kueh are freshly hand made by the family. They have one of my favourite chee cheong fun and wu tau koh (yam cake). They have also other good things like Hakka dumplings. Their fried spring rolls are marvellous too.

Restaurant name: No name famous kueh stall (in Kim Wah kopitiam 金华茶餐室)
Address: Jalan Senai 10, Kampung Baru, Senai, Johor Bahru (right next to pedestrian overhead bridge)
GPS: 1.601134,103.644729 🌐 1°36'04.1"N 103°38'41.0"E
Hours: 10:30am to 3:00pm (closed on Weds)

If you need a strong dose of Nanyang kopi (coffee), char grilled kaya & butter toast, soft boiled kampung chicken eggs, nasi lemak in triangular banana leaf parcels, and other local delights, then pop by Tai Chiang before checking in at the airport. Tai Chiang is the only place I know where they still roast their own coffee beans in a small soot blackened rotating drum over burning wood.

Restaurant name: Tai Chiang Coffee Shop 大眾茶餐廳
Address: 7 Jalan Jelawat, Taman Saleng Jaya, Senai, Johor, Malaysia
GPS: 1.628250, 103.636160 🌐 1°37'41.7"N 103°38'10.2"E
Hours: 7:00am to 5:00pm

If you like a heartier lunch, you may go for steamed song fish and Hakka dishes like fried pork and bitter gourd soup at Zhuang Yuan. The fresh song fish has no earthly taste and come in various preparations such as black bean paste and mashed ginger.

Restaurant name: Zhuang Yuan 壮源 Restaurant
Address: 295, Jalan Utama 2, Taman Bintang Utama, Senai, Johor
GPS: 1.612288,103.656177
Tel: 016-712 0456
Hours: 11:00am to 3:00pm (Closed on Sunday)

Bitter gourd soup is not bitter but mildly sweet savoury. It is a Hakka dish common in Johor but rarely found elsewhere. This shop simply named Makanan Hakka (which means Hakka food) is run by the third generation of the creator of bitter gourd soup. They also serve other Hakka dishes like fried pork, tofu with fermented bean paste etc.

Restaurant name: Makanan Hakka 士乃大众
Address: 292, Jalan Utama 2, Taman Bintang Utama, Senai, Johor, Malaysia
GPS: 1.612629, 103.656551 🌐 1°36'45.5"N 103°39'23.6"E
Tel: +6012 799 6391
Hours: 9:00am to 4:00pm (Closed on Weds)

Ten years and countless foodie trips to Senai. Most in this list are townsfolk favourites recommended by long time Senai and Kulai friends. Over the years, we have eaten at all the stalls in this list (and also stalls we did not include in this list) many times.

Details of the 8 best 👍

Monyet rat tail noodles 👈 click
Huat Kee zi cha 👈 click
Swee Kee chicken rice 👈 click
Min Kee curry laksa 👈 click
Kim Wah kueh stall 👈 click
Tai Chiang kopitiam 👈 click
Zhuang Yuan steamed song fish 👈 click
Makanan Hakka bitter gourd soup 👈 click

More good places to eat in Senai 👈 click

Senai Snippets

Wong Tack Mew building was a theatre and was Senai town's old entertainment and social hub - but today, the decrepit building is closed. Wong Tack Mew building was built in 1934 by Wong Piang Nam, one of Senai's wealthiest pioneer gambier plantation owners during the pre-War years.