Was in Johor Jaya to run errands this sunny morning. (Forgot my jockey cap 🥵 ) Stumbled upon a "new" neighbourhood shop with customers spilling over to the five foot way.
(This shop has been around for more than three years but I haven't come across it myself, no thanks to Covid which kept me away from JB for a couple of years. I am only now reorienting and rediscovering JB.)
The busy but cheerful chef bantering with customers from his steamy cooking station. Service was efficient and friendly.
And oh... it's Teochew kway teow thng (rice noodle soup).
It's no surprise really.
That's the thing. For everyday meals, people tend go back to their familiar comfort food. For many Johor Bahru Chinese, who are mostly Teochew, that means Teochew kway teow thng.
The thing is, to me personally lah, Teochew kway teow thng is always nice but never mind blowing, even if you add abalone, scallop, VSOP and what not 😬
Hua Heng is famous for their wild caught sea fish which I shall try next time. They also have a popular deep fried pork trotter side dish.
From the comfort dish perspective, I recommend Hua Heng to you ☺️
First time here, I opted for the dry version because I wanted to know how is their sauce like. The winner in the bowl is their lard and lard croutons. They were saturated with grease yet crunchy, very fresh and aromatic.
Hua Heng's sauce was dark and somewhat flat savoury but the lard changed everything by adding flavour and aroma.
As a result, I enjoyed my kway teow. It's all about the lard 😋
The soup was brownish cloudy and tasted savoury with underlying porcine sweetness. The minced pork was fresh, nice knobby tender texture and tasted porcine sweet. The added on kidney were expertly done - soft-crunchy, soft-tender, and sweet savoury in the kidney way. Very well cleaned. No smell. Nice. Very nice.
I also added a serving of 3 handmade fish balls. They were alright though I wouldn't order these again as texture was a little firm-stiff and taste was a little flat. (My ideal fish ball is soft-tender, spongy-springy, soft-chewy and has discernible fresh fish taste.)
I will come back again because this is comfort food that calms you with its familiarity and centres you for the day. It's something we can / need to eat everyday. It's comfort food for me too after eating in JB for so long.... 🤭
What's comfort food for you?
Written by Tony Boey on 4 Aug 2023
🎗 Opinions in this blog are all my own as no restaurant or stall paid money to be featured
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