Ah Song Hakka Noodle @ Impian Emas Johor Bahru 亞松客家面 CLOSED

CLOSED Ah Song Hakka Mee was one of my first posts when I stumbled upon the little stall along Jalan Lumba Kuda in 2012 i.e. 10 years ago. Glad to hear that they now have a branch at Taman Impian Emas (near Skudai and Senai).

Restaurant name: Ah Song Hakka Mee 亞松客家面

Address: 169, Jalan Impian Emas 22, Taman Impian Emas, 81300 Skudai, Johor

Tel: 010 319 3813

Hours: 7:30am - 3:00pm (Mon off)

Lei Cha @ Tu Lou Hakka Restaurant in Johor Jaya 土楼客家菜馆

When I need a detox meal but am unwilling to sacrifice flavour and don't want to feel hungry in Johor Bahru, 擂茶 lei cha always comes to the rescue. Lei cha shops and stalls are everywhere in JB and I can truthfully say that I have not had a really bad one before (the traditional Hakka staple is served with pride). Restoran Hakka Tu Lou 土楼客家菜馆 in Johor Jaya is one of the popular lei cha shops in JB.

Kota Tinggi People's Favourite Yap Fong Noodle House 叶芳面家

When I ask Kota Tinggi folks what is good to eat in their hometown, Yap Fong Noodle House 叶芳面家 always come up in the top 3 (along with Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh and Kedai Masakan Kampung Ibrahim for sambal chili horseshoe crab).

Ke Ren Lai Hakka Cuisine in Johor Bahru 客人来.家传菜

We lunched today at Ke Ren Lai 客人来 at 6, Jalan Pingai in Taman Pelangi. Ke Ren Lai is dedicated to popularising Hakka cuisine in Johor Bahru. The Pelangi outlet is the parent shop with branches in Sutera Mall and Bandar Baru Permas Jaya.

Huat Kee 發記 Favourite Hakka Dishes in Senai Johor ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Went to Senai today to visit Huat Kee, a little street side stall serving homely Hakka style dishes for over fifty years.

想吃客家炸肉和苦瓜汤等等的客家家常菜可以到士乃大街天橋边的發記老档口. 他们的滑蛋河也很好吃. 有蛋香, 有锅气. 这个道地, 五十多年历史老店是老街坊们的最爱. 早上七点半就有的吃. 到下午两点为止. 期四休息.

Choy Ban Hakka Dumplings & Lei Cha @ Man Ting Fang, Kelapa Sawit Kulai Johor 满庭芳茶餐室菜粄 ☏ 6016-764 4264

Man Ting Fang 满庭芳茶餐室菜粄 in Kelapa Sawit (near Kulai) is our favourite one stop shop for Hakka dumpling (choy ban) and lei cha (Hakka ground tea rice). Everything is made right there at the eatery / house, so all the food are super fresh.

What to Eat @ Jalan Lumba Kuda in JB. Hakka Noodles & Handmade Fishballs 亞松客家麵

I haven't been back at Heng Kee kopitiam for Hakka mee for over three years. It was one of my first stumble upon good food finds when I just started blogging JB food. Always wanted to come back but other exciting new food finds kept me away.

Closed. Bitter Gourd Soup at Kim Luan Kopitiam in Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru

We were hunting for good food the whole morning at Permas Jaya. After three food stops, still no luck. Our stomachs were filling up without finding anything blog worthy yet.



Passing this humble no name stall in the corner, I glanced at the customers' bitter gourd soup 苦瓜汤 and they looked good. We made a quick decision to gamble our last remaining calories on this stall. If we lose this final round, we are going home empty handed. Stomachs full, wasted calories but nothing to share :P

Happily, it turned out to be a good food find :)



Bitter gourd soup - a Hakka comfort food - is quite common in Malaysia and it seems more so in Johor than elsewhere. In Singapore, bitter gourd soup is actually quite rare. For those who are unfamiliar with bitter gourd soup, this soup is more sweet and savoury than bitter. Fresh bitter gourd has some sweetness and it's bitterness is balanced by savouriness from the pork/ chicken bones.



Mr. Chin, the stall holder has been selling bitter gourd soup for nearly 20 years - according to his sifu's recipe, he said. He is a little reserved as he is unused to outside attention. All these years, Chin's main clientele are residents living around the area 老街方, 熟客.

Everything is small scale at the stall - quite typical of hawker fare in Johor. Starts at 8:30am and closes at 2:30pm after serving the lunch crowd. So it's pretty much "home cooked" - which in my humble opinion is the best. No big ambitions, just making enough for his own three meals 求三餐.



This stall is literary a "one-man show". Mr. Chin does everything from taking orders, food preparation, cooking, serving to cleaning and washing. So, a little patience is advised especially during lunch.



The bitter gourd is sliced only on order. And, Mr. Chin did a beautiful job of it that comes with years of practise.



Mr. Chin cooks the bitter gourd just right. The texture and colour of the bitter gourd reminds me of crunchy green apples, though it is not as sweet. But actually, the taste of bitter gourd complements the savouriness of bone stock and meat better than apple (in my opinion). 



The pieces of minced pork in the soup. Cooked precisely right, tender and still have the natural light flavours of fresh pork.



We also had Mr Chin's kiam chye 咸菜 (salt preserved cabbage) pork organ soup. The soup is a blend of salty, sweet, tangy and savoury flavours. The flavours were mild and easy to like. Certainly not overly salty, and the soup has quite nice body too.



This soup is pretty familiar, like an old friend - just clean, simple and fresh but funny, I like it that way :P Maybe, it's because it is so "home made", it made me felt comforted and contented, at home.

This soup reminds me of those days when kiam chye was sold in wet markets from those dark chocolate coloured clay urns. The stall holder roughly fishing out a clump of limp kiam chye from the urn, and salt water flicking and dripping onto the wet market floor.

We can have either plain white rice or yam rice to go with the kiam chye or bitter gourd soup.

While at the stall, we bumped into Stephanie, our friend. She said the wanton mee at Kim Luan is not bad too. So, I've marked that down for our next food hunt in Permas Jaya :)



Restaurant name: No name bitter gourd soup stall in Kim Luan kopitiam
Address: 7, Jalan Permas 4/4, Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/9V4y4
GPS: 1.505747,103.821246
Hours: 8:30am to 2:30pm (closed on Tuesday)
Non Halal

Date visited: 10 Jul 2013

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.

CLOSED Hakka Yong Tau Foo at Shi Li Xiang Hakka Restaurant in 十里香餐室 Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru

CLOSED. Shi Li Xiang Hakka 十里香餐室 Restaurant is an unpretentious eatery located in a corner lot along Jalan Keris in Taman Sri Tebrau. Shi Li Xiang is opposite the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and beside Zainal Place (famous for its Hj Wahid Mee Rebus).

Shi Li Xiang was recommended of my foodie friend Joe and I was brought there by makan kaki Kumes. Our buddy Alan Cole was also with us.

Inside Shi Li Xiang restaurant, the decor was basic. The interior was bright, flooded with sunlight and yet it was comfortable with air conditioning. Everything was no frills and practical.

We ordered a few Hakka staples from their extensive menu.



The first dish was "abacus beads" 客家算盘子 which is a Hakka comfort food. The quaint name is because the star of the dish looked like those beads on an abacus (the ancient Chinese calculating device).



I rarely had abacus beads, and even then, only at family homes. Shi Li Xiang's abacus beads felt homemade. The abacus beads were made with tapioca flour and stuffed with a filling of yam paste, minced pork, cuttlefish and dried shrimp. The abacus beads were then stir fried and garnished with shallot crackles and green spring onions.

This is a delicious dish. The abacus beads had a bouncy gummy mouth feel and when we bit through the skin, the filling was savoury and released the homely aroma of yam and dried shrimp.



Of course, we took the opportunity to indulge in Hakka belly pork 扣肉.



The popular dish consists of thick slices of pork belly with layers of skin, fat and lean meat smothered in a blanket of preserved mustard greens bathed in a sauce of dark soy sauce and five spice powder.



The belly pork was tender and the flavour was a blend of sweet and savoury. The fat, in particular, was smokey smooth and melts in your mouth soft. No wonder this dish is so addictive.



Yong Tau Foo 酿豆腐 is probably the best known Hakka dish. Yong Tau Foo can be found in many street corners in Malaysia and Singapore. At Shi Li Xiang, we ordered a mixed plate to try out the various pieces. The heart of Yong Tau Foo is, of course, its fillings.



I am so glad that the Yong Tau Foo fillings at Shi Li Xiang are still made with a blend of minced pork, salted fish, cuttle fish and condiments.

The filling was savoury and had good mouth feel and interesting textures. In the average Yong Tau Foo shops, the filling is made almost entirely with fish paste and had a very different taste.

Our final order was the Hakka deep fried pork. The chunks of pork were marinated with red fermented bean curd and then deep fried. At Shi Li Xiang today, the pork didn't have that deep golden hue which I associate with the best Hakka deep fried pork.



Still, the taste and flavour of Shi Li Xiang's Hakka fried pork was robust and the slightly crispy outside, tender inside bite was pretty "shiok".

My favourite rendition of Hakka deep fried pork is still the one at Kah Kah Loke at Jalan Bakawali in Taman Johor Jaya.

After I got home, a thought came into my mind. I suddenly realised that I missed the spicy and sweet dipping sauce used with Yong Tau Foo when I was a child. Come to think of it, I haven't tasted or smelled that old style Yong Tau Foo sauce aroma anywhere for a long, long time. Got to hunt for this and share.



Our total bill including juices came to a reasonable RM44. We had kept to just a few Hakka traditional staples while Shi Li Xiang's menu is rather extensive, including droolicious looking steamed fish dishes which I saw other customers ordering. I shall remember to order these, the next time.

If you are looking for authentic traditional Hakka food that feels homemade, check out Shi Li Xiang.




Restaurant name: Shi Li Xiang Restaurant 十里香餐室
Address: 93, Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/tUIKD
GPS: 1.487504,103.770332
Hours: 10:30am to 9:30pm (closed on Weds)
Non Halal

Date visited: 6 Dec 2012