Six years ago, sharing a table with a stranger, enjoying wanton mee at the no name stall at Kampung Baru Pandan in JB, my table mate suggested that I should also taste their curry laksa. (Friendly table sharing is the norm in Malaysia.) I promised him that I would. Six years later, I am here to fulfil that promise.
We were eating by the side walk on our Batu Pahat food trail when Jenny disappeared again.... 😣 Then, she suddenly popped back grinning with a greasy bundle wrapped in old newspaper. The Batu Pahat girl was rediscovering her hometown... the aromas and flavours of her childhood 😄
Updated 28 May 2019. Finally tracked down the Johor Jaya fried prawn cracker stall after they moved to Restoran Soon Lee Lai coffee shop, 9 months ago. The stall opens from 10am - 4pm (rest on Monday and Friday) but there are often unscheduled off days. I missed them many times before I finally found them opened today.
I always wanted to try traditional Fuzhou kompia made with the tandoor type of charcoal oven, the way they do it in Sitiawan (Perak) and Sibu (Sarawak). So, I was really excited when foodies in JB started sharing about a traditional kompia stall operating in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah (TUTA) in Johor Bahru.
谢谢吃的平台 Victor 台友分享, 好开心在柔佛新山也可以吃到手工传统制造的福州光饼. "四眼光饼"老板是福州人. 来自霹靂, 實兆遠. 是制造福州光饼世家, 第三代传人. 炭烧的光饼外脆内软. 有洋蔥光饼 (RM1.20 2016 价) 和叉烧光饼 (RM2 2016 价). 如果在新山, 这可算是非试不可. 王后花园. Jalan Pendekar 2. 早上8点到下午两点. 星期一休息. 手工制造, 所以产量不多. 最好先打电话订购 014 381 9624
I just wanted a small, simple lunch today by dropping by at Mr Tay's no name stall at Jalan Bunga Ros opposite the Masai bus terminal. Actually, I miss Mr Tay's hor fun which is among my favourites now in Singapore and Johor.
这在马赛车站对面 Jalan Bunga Ros 的无名小档口. 老板很会煮. 每一天都有煮不一样的菜肴来供应食客扪. 各式各样的菜肴都很好吃. 我最喜欢的是老板的炒河粉和白斩鸡. 友们来试试,一定不会失望. 早上到旁晚. 星期二休息.
Seeing Henry's regular postings from his favourite lunch haunt near the bus terminal at Masai in JB, we couldn't resist checking it out.
看到 Henry 每天 post 爱吃的卤肉面, 看了忍不住, 我们也来了. 卤肉面真的很多卤肉又很香, 很甜, 真的很好吃. 我们还有吃老板的砂煲面, 也是很不错. 砂煲面里有烧肉还有芋头不错吃. 最喜欢的是老板的怡保河粉. 果条炒得有锅气. 粿条的汁也很够味. 如果你在 Masai 一带, 这无招牌小档口是一个好的午餐和晚餐的去处. Jalan Bunga Ros. Masai 巴士车站对面.
MOVED. Reader J.S. recommended me his favourite wanton noodle stall in JB. It's the wanton mee stall at Restoran No Signboard along Jalan Maju or 報紙街 newspaper street as the locals know it due to the number of newspapers and publishers located along this old street.
(CLOSED as owner chef retired.) Thanks to Lee Keng Chong's sharing on 柔佛新山美食 foodie group, we came to Plentong 阿仙 for dinner today :-D
Malaysia has lots of such nondescript little "no name" stalls. These mon and pop type stalls don't do any branding. They don't even have the very basics of branding, like even a stall name. The stall signboard only says what they serve here. So, their marketing depends entirely on word of month which doesn't travel very far or very quickly. Fortunately, now everyone can help spread the word with social media.
This famous Muar seafood restaurant in Parit Jawa has no signboard but regulars know it as the "attap house under the big tree 大樹下亞答屋". (Actually, the bill says Kedai Makanan Hai Sing 巴冬厝仔亚参鱼.)
Recently, the food forums in Johor are abuzz about a new char kway teow 炒粿條 stall in Taman Sutera Utama, near Sutera Mall in JB.
Looking at that plate of char kway teow, would you have guessed that it was the work of very young stall holders?
William and I went searching for the much talked about 古来炒果条 stall in Kulai. After parking the car at Kulai Centre Point, we tracked down the famous stall quite easily by asking the locals - most people here know about this local favourite.
Mee hoon kueh 面粉果 or "hand torn noodles" is a humble Hokkien comfort food which mothers make at home.
I popped over back to Restoran Poh Kee 宝记 in Taman Century on a reader's recommendation to try the mee hoon kueh stall opposite the famous Teochew mee stall.
This humble stall is run by the Tans who are originally from Pontian. The Tans set up this stall over a year ago after all their four children graduated from university and polytechnic, and started working.
Madam Tan (Hua 華) simply took what she had always been cooking at home for her family and serves it at this neighbourhood kopitiam stall.
The simple "menu" is taped to the blue tiled wall.
The Tans have no big ambitions for the stall. So everything is made in small amounts, just like at home. This little plastic container was all the dough made for business from 7:30am to 2:00pm on business days.
There were also a pot of porridge, and two small pots of green bean soup and sweet potato soup. This is as close to home cooked as one can get in a hawker stall.
Mee hoon kueh RM5
We ordered mee hoon kueh since this was recommended by Johor Kaki reader.
Hua 華 only rolls the mee hoon kueh when there is an order. So, the kueh is always freshly pressed.
The star of this simple dish is, of course, the kueh. The freshly rolled kueh was very smooth - I had a lot of trouble picking up the piece to take this picture - it just kept slipping off. The kueh is not much thicker than wanton skin :D The thin, slurpy kueh had good "QQ" bite (el dente in spaghetti speak), and tasted clean and fresh.
The slightly murky savoury broth made with chicken and pork bones with soy beans had good light body. Hua 華 said that no MSG is used as this was never used in her home.
The other ingredients were all good. The fish balls were bouncy fresh, fish cake slices were tender, and toufu skin was soft yet crunchy. The leafy greens were market fresh as Hua 華 just buys a small clutch of vegetables everyday - just like mother does.
The pieces of fresh mostly lean pork mince was tender and naturally sweet.
Pork and century egg porridge RM6
Once we became acquainted, the gracious Tans insisted that we also try their pork and century egg porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥.
I liked those tiny fried white bait fish which were crackly and savoury. Tiny fish with big flavours - we always had this at home but it's seldom seen at hawker stalls nowadays.
The texture of the soft rice grains were right between cottony (Cantonese style 棉棉) and soft grainy (Teochew style). The rice grains were cooked until they break but not before they become a gruel.
The porridge was so flavourful that I did not use any additional soy sauce or sprinkle any white pepper on it for taste - something which I usually had to do at other places.
The Tans also let us try their sweet desserts.
Green bean soup RM2.50
The green bean soup was delicious. Soft green beans broken by boiling in a just nice, sweet soup flavoured with aromatic, slightly spicy ginger.
Sweet potato soup RM2.50
The sweet potatoes were boiled till soft with still a little bit of pleasant bite remaining. The not-too-sweet soup was also spiced up with ginger.
Try this humble stall at the laid back, street side neighbourhood Poh Kee 宝记 kopitiam for home cooked food at very reasonable prices and friendly service.
Restaurant name: Mee hoon kueh stall at Poh Kee 宝记
Address: 75, Jalan Dato Sulaiman, Taman Abad/ Century, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Uz9Qf
GPS: 1.480886,103.756985
Hours: 7:30am to 2:30pm (alternate Thursdays closed)
Non Halal
Date visited: 10 Feb 2014
Return to Johor Kaki home page.
This no name fish ball and tofu stall beside Kulai Centre Point is a classic stumble upon good food find.
Yesterday, we drove all the way from JB to Kulai with the plan to try out the famous Yeen Lai 云来 tim sum at their home base in Kulai. When we walked towards Yeen Lai, not surprisingly there was already a big crowd of customers at the famous street side kopitiam. When we got closer and looked at the tables, we realised that besides the tim sum, most of the customers were having fish balls and tofu soup.
Seeing how the customers were enjoying their fish ball noodles, I asked the nearest uncle about it. "Been eating this for 40 years", the friendly uncle replied with a satisfied grin.
So, I walked up to the busy boss, put on my best smile, and asked "Good morning boss, do you make these fish balls and tofu yourself?" "Yes, early in the morning everyday" the friendly boss replied through a wall of steam from the boiling pot of broth. "What is the name of your stall?" The boss paused a moment, and gave me a puzzled look as nobody ever asked him this question before. "We haven't thought of a name for 50 years", he finally replied.
We had a quick discussion and decided to adjust our plans and give this fish balls a try first. So we sat down and ordered the normal RM4 set which comes with noodles and a bowl of fish balls and tofu. For the noodles, we opted for "mouse tails" 老鼠粉.
Our idea was to taste test this fish ball noodles and then carry on with our original plan to try out the famous Yeen Lai tim sum.
The fish balls were not perfectly round as they were handmade. They were tender and only slightly springy as they were made with 100% fish meat. They don't have the ping pong bounce of factory fish+starch balls. The flavours were gently sweet from the fresh fish and very slightly salty from the salt added. I love these fish balls.
I love this slice of tofu. It has that lovely soya bean aroma when I bite into the tender, smooth yet slightly grainy pearly tofu. The tofu skin has a nice texture and the savoury minced pork adds to the flavour of this simple, humble staple.
The regular tofu with minced pork fillings, cut to bite size pieces.
The noodles and sauce were adequate but not particularly memorable.
But, we loved the fish balls and tofu so much that we decided to ditch our plans to taste test Yeen Lai, and instead ordered another bowl - this time the RM6 fish ball and tofu soup without noodles.
They were just wonderful to me!
We will surely be back for this no name fish ball and tofu, and also to claim our rain check for the famous Yeen Lai tim sum.
Restaurant name: No name fish ball and tofu noodle stall (inside Yeen Lai 云来 tim sum shop)
Address: Jalan Besar (beside Kulai Centre Point), Johor
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/vcGsk
GPS: 1.661937,103.60168
Hours: 6:30am till sold out (usually by 1:00pm)
Non Halal
Date visited: 22 Nov 2013
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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
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