Buddy who lives near Sze Zai Hiong restaurant noticed that the shoplot eatery was always packed whenever she passed by. So, we were excited to check out this popular place which is hardly mentioned in JB social media.
We came here early without any reservations but seeing how quickly the little eatery filled up as meal time approached, I suggest reservation ☎️ +60 12-737 8165 to be safe (for future visits).
The furnishings were spartan and there's zero decor. I mean, there was not even a single token picture or poster to dress up the completely bare walls 😬 But, the tables and chairs were sturdy enough, the place was bright and clean, and there was air conditioning 👍 The eatery was amply staffed, and the staff were friendly.
食在乡 means "the taste of home" and it also sounds like "truly fragrant". Such a clever word play.
Anyway, Sze Zai Hiong has been around for a decade - popular among locals and successfully evading social media radar all this while 😂
The menu has at least a hundred dishes. This was the last stop of our whole day food trail, so we were very full and a bit tired. Just sampled a few dishes to see if we should come back for more.
The rice wine lala clams came out very quickly, so the kitchen must be well greased to churn out orders in double quick time.
Heavy dose of rice wine and lots of julienned ginger in the sweet spicy tangy savoury soup. This is the spicy, umami, heady type of lala clam soup I like. However, the lala clams were skinny and there was a bit of grit.
Stir fried rat tail noodle (lou shi fun). This was good - savoury in layers with a bit of wok hei toastiness.
I suspect they are good at other stir fried dishes as well. Throughout our dinner, I could hear the non-stop jet blasting of the stove from the kitchen. Shall try other stir fried noodle dishes even though I won't mind having this stir fried rat tail noodle again.
Fried beancurd with preserved radish. It was nice, the outside of the beancurd was slightly crisped while inside it was soft like custard. The mound of preserved radish was sweet savoury and wasn't overly greasy nor salty.
Zhenjiang vinegar pork rib. Eh? I was in Zhenjiang recently but didn't get to try this dish there.
The Zhenjiang vinegar pork rib here was boneless. It tasted like sweet and sour pork, and the pork slices were moist, soft, tender. I imagine children would love this as it was like a tender moist pork chop but in small bite size pieces.
Didn't have anything mind blowing from this small sampling but they were all nice. We will definitely be back with more people to try more dishes especially the fish dishes which seemed to be their specialty. This post will be updated with other dishes we try in the future.
What do you recommend here at Sze Zai Hiong?
Restaurant name: Restoran Sze Zai Hiong 食在乡
Address: 62, Jalan Pingai, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor
Tel: +6012 737 8165
Hours: 11 am - 2:30 pm | 4pm - 9:30 pm (no break on Fri, Sat & Sun)
Can try their steam fish with garlic and cili padi. Yummy.
ReplyDelete