Kopi Sarawak Coffeeshop in Setia Indah Johor Bahru 喜越茶室 ☏ +6013 328 7828

Kopi Sarawak 喜越茶室 | 47+49, Jalan Setia 3/3, Taman Setia Indah, 81100 Johor Bahru ☏ +6013 328 7828 ⏰ 9am - 8pm

Officially opened in Setia Indah last week, Kopi Sarawak attracted a lot of attention among Johoreans. This was actually Kopi Sarawak's second outlet - the first was the successful parent outlet opened two years ago at nearby Seri Alam.

Monday morning crowd - that should make any boss happy 😁 Kopi Sarawak is a large space stretching two shop units.

Modern coffee shops are sprouting everywhere in Johor Bahru and customers, locals and from Singapore are flocking to them. Wide ranging menu, familiar local staples, a good robust brew, and air conditioned comfort - that's what the traditional kopitiam crowd wants today in JB, a slight premium pricing notwithstanding.

Kopi Sarawak differentiates itself from the competition by specialising in Sarawak coffeeshop fare.

Their Sarawak laksa compared well with those I tried in Kuching and Miri. The coconut milk was well spiced with the familiar complex Sarawak laksa rempah taste profile. (My favourite Sarawak laksa at 63 Cafe in Miri.)

The poached chicken add-on was tender, moist, chicky sweet. Compared well even with chicken rice specialist shops such as Swee Kee 水记海南鸡饭.

The iconic Sarawak kolo mee.

The noodles relatively thick were tenderly crunchy and well sauced with lard, soy sauce and aromatic oil. The char siew slices and sautéed minced pork were nice too in the Kuching style kolo mee way.

Kopi Sarawak outdid their Sarawak cousins a bit in that their kolo mee came with pork soup and two pork balls.

Kaki kaki had the kolo mee version reddened with char siew sauce.

Another kaki kaki's kolo mee with fried chicken chop.

I like Kopi Sarawak's Kuching tomato mee.

The noodles were freshly fried with kolo mee at the shop. It was bathed and set in a pool of soupy sauce made with tomato ketchup.

The sauce tasted well balanced sweet sour with a little savouriness. The crisp softly crunchy noodles and the tangy sweet tomato sauce were delicious.

Sarawak fried rice. I am not sure what makes it Sarawak but it was delicious.

Good quality rice stir fried to a nice nutty texture and moistness with char siew, eggs, shrimp, scallion that brought out the aromas and flavours of the ingredients.

Kuching has a substantial Hakka Chinese community, hence Hakka staples like Hakka fried pork often feature in Sarawak themed restaurants.

Kopi Sarawak's rendition was relatively mildly marinated with fermented bean curd. I prefer it like this as the milder salty marinate flavour allows us to appreciate the pork belly's natural porcine sweetness more.

At any Sarawak restaurant, an order of either sayur paku or sayur midin is a must for me. Ideally, both if available 🤭 I just love the juicy fleshy ferns.

This was Sayur Paku stir-fried with sambal 叁芭辣椒芭菇菜. Kopi Sarawak uses belacan from Bintulu - I find Sarawak belacan not as salty as the Peninsula varieties and thus felt more layered as we can taste the umami of fermented krill more.

As home cooked, as comfort dish as it gets. Sayur manis stir fried with egg as mother or father would do it. The leafy greens had a sweetness complemented by egginess.

The obligatory kopi, kaya butter toast and soft boiled eggs with a dash of Sarawak white pepper. The kopi, egg, and toast set for less than RM10 - swee... lah.

Kopi Sarawak has Sarawak's three colour tea with gula apong, of course. They also have this three colour kopi with coffee, condensed milk and gula apong (nipah palm sugar).

Bitter, sweet and sweeter. Slightly above my sweetness tolerance but you can try it.

The bosses of Kopi Sarawak.

Work took Lee (left) to Sarawak often and he fell in love with the food, place, people, vibes and everything there. (Seems like a common problem for visitors to Sarawak 🤭 ) Lee has since been an advocate for Sarawak, encouraging everyone he meets to travel and experience the Land of Hornbills.

Lee met Chong (right) the owner of Kopi Sarawak in Seri Alam. Chong hailed from Kuching and his family ran a coffee shop and economy rice stall there since his childhood. Chong set up Kopi Sarawak since settling down in Johor Bahru.

Now with Kopi Sarawak in Setia Indah, Lee and Chong are promoting Sarawak cuisine and lifestyle together.

I am really pleased with my lunch at Kopi Sarawak. It felt like I am having lunch in Kuching and Miri, two places in Sarawak which I had visited several times before. Now, we can experience Sarawak in Johor Bahru.

We only had a small sampling of Kopi Sarawak's dishes. There are many more I would like to go back for.

The only catch is we have to get out of the city centre to Setia Indah or Seri Alam for this. But, they really ain't far by car (Grab) or by T11 bus from JB CIQ and it's always good to explore places a bit away from the tourist belt.