Pontian Best Food to Eat for your Johor Foodie Adventure

Pontian town (officially Pontian Kechil) is a small fishing town just 1 hour drive from Johor Bahru. It's a nice day trip destination with many interesting rustic small town food stops.

Home based wild game meat prepared personally by the lady boss and we eat in their veranda. Nice kampung, homely feel. My favourite here is their curry boar. They use a type of boar which has lots of fat - more than domesticated pig 😮 The combination of soft skin and fatty meat is tender and juicy with natural sweet taste complemented by mild curry spices. This boar has no gamey taste at all. I also like their fried pigeons.

Restaurant name: 笨珍三不卖野味
Address: Lot 757, Jalan Kukup, Pontian, Johor (about 200m south from Parit Mosque)
GPS: 1°27'28.1"N 103°24'11.8"E 🌐 1.457803, 103.403263
Waze: Spartan Gym
Tel: +6012 765 2782 (as the meat is wild caught, phone booking is ideal)
Hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm

Mobile tricycle rojak stall just 10 minutes drive from downtown Pontian. The main draw here is their house blended sauce with fermented prawn paste, black soy sauce, and crushed toasted peanuts etc. Add cut chili padi if you like sharp spicy spikes in your rojak 😱 It's simple old school rojak with cut fresh cucumber, mangkuang, pineapple, bean sprouts, kangkong etc. Ah Kim also has tau kwa pau and mangkuang pau.

Restaurant name: 笨珍啊金罗惹 Pontian Ah Kim Rojak stall
Address: Along Jalan Megah 11, Taman Megah, Pontian, Johor (across Jalan Megah Utama from Yilufa 168 coffee shop)
GPS: 1°30'09.7"N 103°23'13.8"E 🌐 1.502691, 103.387178
Hours: 12:00 noon to 5:00pm (Mon & Tues off)

A long time favourite of locals. Fresh seafood, well executed, delicious dishes which are competitively priced.

Restaurant name: Zu Qiu Seafood Corner 足球场海鲜茶餐室
Address: 66, Jalan Delima 1, Pusat Perdagangan Pontian, Pontian, Johor
GPS: 1.477491,103.390166 (rough)
Hours: 5:00pm to 12:00 midnight (24hrs on Sunday and Monday)
Telephone: +6017-718 1117

Chai Huat Heng is a century old traditional Chinese bakery in Pontian. They don't use wood fire to bake their cakes anymore, but many of their traditional bakes still involve a lot of manual work. If you take a peek inside beyond the counter, you will see all hands hard at work kneading, rolling and hand crafting their cakes. They have all kinds of traditional Chinese cakes and pastries like tau sar piah, sun biscuits 太阳饼 etc which taste wonderful.

Restaurant name: Chai Huat Heng bakery 再發興餅家
Address: 902, Jalan Bakek, Pontian Kechil, Johor
GPS: 1.479712,103.392156 🌐 1°28'47.0"N 103°23'31.8"E (rough)
Hours: 8:30am to 9:00pm
Tel: +607-6871285

Kheng Guan Hiong is the most famous kopitiam in Pontian. It serves good kaya & butter toasts, soft boiled eggs, local delights like nasi lemak, kueh, epok epok etc and there is a good roti canai (prata) stall inside. Many customers including myself are big fans of Kheng Guan Hiong's coffee. But, it is an acquired taste - most Singaporeans whom I brought here didn't acquire it with the first few visits 😂 KGH's coffee is a blend of Liberica and Robusta. It has a light body, tea colour but pretty robust unique fruity flavour like Arabica but without the acidity. KGH's coffee is also rather heavy in caffeine and gives me a heady feel after my customary second cup.

Restaurant name: Kheng Guan Hiong 瓊源香
Address: 15, Jalan Limau Kasturi, Taman Suraya Indah, Pontian, Johor (at the Pontian Fish Market)
GPS: 1°28'34.8"N 103°23'32.6"E 🌐 1.476322, 103.392390
Tel: 012-751 6759
Hours: 5:30am to 4:00pm (closed on Monday)

You probably have tried or at least heard of Pontian wanton mee in JB, Singapore or even KL. Love it or loathe it, this is the original Pontian wanton mee. If you come to Pontian, you have to give Heng Heng a try. While the appeal of the ketchup laced savoury sweet tangy sauce is subjective, most people agree that the mouth feel of Heng Heng's wanton mee is top notch. The strands of egg noodles are relatively heavy, thick and have a nice tender-firm crunch to the bite. I love Heng Heng's egg noodles.

Restaurant name: Heng Heng 兴兴

Address: 766, Taman Anggerik, Jalan Parit Mesjid, Pontian, Johor

GPS: 1.489997,103.391416 🌐 1°29'24.0"N 103°23'29.1"E
Hours: 9:00am to 2:00pm (closed on Fridays)

Besides Heng Heng, there's Sin Kee which you have to try to appreciate Pontian wanton mee. Sin Kee experiments with different sauces as such black pepper in addition to the traditional ketchup laced sauce. But, like Heng Heng, the main draw of Sin Kee is also their heavy, tender-firm, crunchy egg noodles.

Restaurant name: Sin Kee 新记云吞面
Address: Jalan Bakek Jaya Utama, Pontian, Johor
GPS: 1.482607, 103.392368 / 1°28'57.4"N 103°23'32.5"E
Hours: 10:00am to 5:45pm (Closed on Thurs)

Pontian Fish Market clearly isn't a restaurant or eatery but it is a must visit for any foodie touring Pontian. The small boats go out overnight from Pontian and arrive back the next morning from around 9am onwards. So, fishes here are fresh and most are still stiff with rigor mortis. Visitors are allowed in the wholesale market but do be considerate and vigilant about getting in the way of the wholesalers and fish buyers. Be careful that the floors are wet and slippery too.

Pontian Wholesale Fish Market
Address: Off Jalan Pontian - Kukup in the direction of Kukup
GPS: 1°28'35.1"N 103°23'31.4"E 🌐 1.476419, 103.392062
Waze: Pontian Fish Market (Pasar Awan Pontian)
Hours: Best times 9:00am to around 11:00am plus

You can bring home your loot from the Pontian Fish Market or you can take them to 2 restaurants across the road which provide "cook for you" dai chow 代炒 service for a reasonable fee. Both "cook for you" restaurants have their own fans - both are quite good. 好来海鲜 inside Ong Siew Lian is run by chef Andy.

Restaurant name: 好来海鲜 stall in Ong Siew Lian Coffee Shop
Address: 14, Jalan Limau Kasturi, Taman Suraya Indah, Pontian, Johor (at the Pontian Fish Market)
GPS: 1°28'34.8"N 103°23'32.6"E 🌐 1.476322, 103.392390
Tel: 016 705 8958
Hours: 8:30am to 3:00pm (Monday off)

Ah Huat is another "cook for you" which is just beside Ong Siew Lian. I suggest you give both Ah Huat and Andy a try to find your own favourite.

Restaurant name: 亚发代炒 Ah Huat
Address: 13, Jalan Limau Kasturi, Taman Suraya Indah, Pontian, Johor (at the Pontian Fish Market)
GPS: 1°28'34.8"N 103°23'32.6"E 🌐 1.476322, 103.392390
Tel: 010 - 9337276 (Grace)
Hours: 8:30am to 3:00pm (closed on Monday)