Buddy Ellone has been raving about Hai Yuan 海源 coffee shop in Skudai which made me really curious to try it. Finally made it here today.
I took a bus from the JB Sentral CIQ bus interchange. T30 going to Kulai has a stop in front of MPJBT building which is 5 minutes walk to Hai Yuan and also Chin Chin wanton mee.
I got here well ahead of the appointed time. I overestimated the time needed to get here from CIQ - it required only 30 minutes by public bus T30.
Hai Yuan is a local community hub where locals gather for their morning caffeine fix and carbs, and catch up with neighbours and friends.
Everyone was very friendly, civil and considerate. There was a warm convivial community feel.
Bare bones furnishing and decor but very clean and well kept. No air con but fans kept the interior cool and comfortable.
Mornings are usually busy.
We ordered just a small sampling as this was the first stop of our whole day food trail in the Skudai - Pulai area.
The Nanyang kopi C kosong was robustly Robusta bitter sweet with sweetener. Nicer than the average kopitiam kopi.
I liked it enough to have two this morning.
The white bee hoon which Ellone recommended. Looking around, every table had this.
I peeled back the fried egg which was covering the mound of snowy white bee hoon.
First impression was this was a very humble, understated dish despite its reputation and popularity. That piqued my curiosity even more.
The bee hoon was light like it felt weightless, soft tender with very subtle delicate crunch, just very gently savoury, almost no grease, just a little moisture. It's like white bread with flavours coming from the fried egg, salty fried anchovy, peanut and sambal.
Oh.. That sambal was sharp. Savoury with a kicking hot sting. A bit of underlying anchovy taste.
It's the fiery sambal that dressed Cinderella bee hoon into a spicy hot princess.
Ellone had the nasi lemak. It was the same sambal, fried anchovy, peanut, fried egg but with coconut milk rice instead of white bee hoon.
This was nice too. The white rice was well greased with sweet flavourful, aromatic coconut milk.
I told my makan kaki kaki, we didn't cook curry chicken at home when I was a child. I could only have curry chicken when other kids brought it from their home during school excursions or after-exam parties 🥹
The flavours of this Hainanese style chicken curry reminded me of my school boy days. And so, it is nice to me.
The curry was quite thick, viscous, sweet savoury mildly spicy. The chicken was tender not soft. The potato was the best part - soft tender, "powdery", sweet and well infused with curry spice flavours.
Didn't have anything that was mind blowing but it's a very charming, nostalgic 1970s feel, welcoming vibes, authentic hyperlocal place in a kind of time warp. The food is comforting, the type we can come back to regularly without feeling bored, the type we miss if we are away too long.
Restaurat name: Hai Yuan 海源
Address: Jalan Kaloi, Skudai, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Hours: 7:30am - 12:30pm (Friday off)
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