Came to Star Chef Restaurant in Taman Molek as the last stop of our JB eating and shopping day trip.
Star Chef is a typical Malaysian shop lot type restaurant. They have an al fresco outside section and an air conditioned interior.
Star Chef is a zhi char restaurant which menu includes seafood and premium Chinese banquet type dishes.
The air conditioned interior has a few large round tables ideal for groups. Basic minimalist decor but bright, clean and comfortable inside.
I've known Alex owner-chef of Star Chef since 2012 when I first started Johor Kaki blog. Star Chef was in Skudai, then Gelang Patah before moving here in Taman Molek in 2023.
Nine of us in our group, we tried a few of Star Chef's popular dishes.
烟熏茶王鸭 Signature Braised Smoked Duck with Tea Leaves
The duck was cut in relatively thick pieces. It tasted savoury with infused smokey tea leaves flavour and aroma. There were hints of Chinese spice.
I didn't have a chance to speak with chef Alex but I guess the duck was soy braised the Teochew way before it was smoked and baked with tea leaves.
I like it that the duck had thick fatty skin because I love the ducky flavours from the fatty juices in the skin.
德国脆皮炸猪手 Crispy Pig Trotter. Lightly battered skin, meat and fat deep fried to golden brown and served with a spicy sweet tangy savoury, Thai style sauce.
We requested for the pork trotter (actually knuckle) to be cut into smaller pieces (which the kitchen happily obliged 🙏 ).
Thick crispy crackly rind, tender meat and juicy fat.
The Thai style sauce worked really well with the fried pork knuckle. It's perfect beer food.
招牌镇江排骨 Signature Zheng Jiang Pork Ribs with Black Vinegar.
I remember this dish from Star Chef when it was in Skudai.
The pork ribs were lightly battered, deep fried and stir fried in a robustly savoury, slightly tangy soy sauce and vinegar blend.
The crust outside carried the robust savoury tangy flavours of the sauce while the tender juicy blend of meat and fat of the ribs was still naturally porcine sweet with some infused saltiness.
Fish Fillet Curry 咖喱鱼尾.
Nothing to see here as the large fish tail was buried under curry and heaps of fried bean curd skin, and various vegetables.
Menu said fish fillet but it was actually a good sized, meaty fresh snapper fish tail.
The curry was rich, thick with coconut milk spiced with quite complex and robust spice and aromatics flavours. The spicy curry complemented the natural sweet flavour in the tender moist fish well.
Star Chef has an ongoing crab promotion - two 400-500 gram local ketam nipah crustaceans with various options of preparation for RM88.
The crustaceans were live. Usually just 400 - 500 grams size, local Ketam nipah is famous for their sweet tender flesh.
Choose any style you like.
We had a pair of Chili Crab.
The chili sauce was well balanced spicy tangy savoury sweet with a bit of egginess.
Another pair of White Pepper Crab.
The white pepper sauce was aromatic and mildly spicy.
Superior Clams Soup 上汤啦啦.
The good size la la clams were fresh, very clean and the superior soup was umami savoury and spiked with Chinese Shaoxing rice wine.
Dragon Chives 青龙菜.
Hong Kong Kailan 香港芥兰.
We enjoyed our dinner at Star Chef in Taman Molek. Our total bill for all the food and drinks came to RM491 nett which I feel is very competitive and good value for the quality and quantity of food that we had.
Restaurant name: 星名厨 Star Chef
Address: 43, Jalan Molek 3/10, Taman Molek, 81100 Johor Bahru
Tel: 012-7756313
Hours: 11 am - 3 pm | 5pm -10 pm (Mon off)
Written by Tony Boey on 2 Oct 2026
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