Good Breakfast in Seremban @ Coffee Tiam Foo's Cooking • Special Yong Tau Foo 傅帮煮

For my drive back to JB / Singapore from Kuala Lumpur, I usually set off early to avoid the traffic build up in KL. Actually, I won't even have breakfast in KL but stopover in Seremban instead. During my last trip, we stumbled upon a nice breakfast place known as Coffee Tiam Foo's Cooking 傅帮煮 at 389A, Jalan Temiang.

Restaurant name: Coffee Tiam Foo's Cooking 傅帮煮

Address: 389A, Jalan Temiang, 70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Tel: +6010 761 9366

Hours: 7:00am - 3:00pm

Seremban Restoran Asia Laksa 亚洲茶餐室 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

For the drive down south from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru, my preferred stop for food and caffeine is Seremban as it is about 50-60km away (less than an hour's drive). It lets me get clear of KL traffic before enjoying my driving break. One of my favourite stops is at Restoran Asia for their famous curry laksa - but do note that the laksa stall is closed on Weds and Thurs.

Hakka Mee at its Most Basic & Best. Tow Kee in Seremban 滔记客家面

On my way back to JB or Singapore from KL, I usually have my breakfast in Seremban town (instead of KL), to escape the KL morning crawl.

What? Hakka Mee Hoon Kueh? Restoran Xin Shi Ji Court 新世紀餐館 ⭐⭐⭐⭐✱

You know, few people would dispute that Tow Kee 滔记 in Seremban is the best Hakka mee there is in Malaysia. When the two Tow Kee outlets closed temporarily early this year, we asked Seremban locals where else do they get their Hakka mee fix. Many of them pointed us to a little no name stall in Xin Shi Ji Court coffee shop.

Sun Meng Coffee, Toast & Eggs. Seremban Food. 新明茶餐室 ⭐⭐⭐⭐✱

This morning driving from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru, we decided to have our breakfast in Seremban instead of KL, so as to avoid being caught in the Malaysian capital city's traffic.

Review Haji Shariff’s Cendol in Seremban, Malaysia ● Chendol & Pasembur

Bobby from Thistle Resort in Port Dickson suggested that I must try Haji Shariff’s cendol and pasembur (also known as Indian rojak) in Seremban. It's safe to say that everyone in Seremban knows Haji Shariff's Cendol which had been around since the 1930s, from two baskets to today's large corner shop. It's a Seremban landmark now. Founder Abdullah Mohamed Ibrahim came to Malaya from India and learnt how to make cendol from Javanese at Lorong Jawa.



Locating Haji Shariff's Cendol shop is easy.

Haji Shariff's Cendol is a large, green painted corner shop. You will not miss it, once you are on Jalan Yam Tuan (it's at the junction with Jalan Nunis).



Inside Haji Shariff's Cendol, it was bright and very clean. Green is the theme from the outside walls, wall tiles, flooring, furniture, the staff's shirt and apron, to the cendol "worms or noodles" itself. The spacious restaurant was well shielded from the scorching sun and was airy and breezy. People of all communities are here - Haji Shariff's Cendol obviously enjoy lots of community love.



We first ordered a freshly made cendol, Haji Shariff's claim to fame.



I like Haji Shariff's cendol (RM2 per bowl in 2015) because it has interesting layers of sweetness from the green pandan worms (rice noodles), sweet corn, glutinous rice, boiled red beans, gula Melaka (coconut palm sugar) and fresh coconut milk. The sweetness was mild and balanced with a slight salty note, so it was not cloying at all. 

Six layers of sweetness all blended together in one delicious bowl 😋 The chendol had interesting textures too with a mix of syrupy smooth, mushy, sticky and gently crunchy.

The fresh coconut milk gave off a nice sweet fragrance too.

Wow.

I like it that the pandan "worms" are made with real pandan leaves, not the starch and pandan essence type with "translucent glow worms" 🤭

Cendol is served with shaved ice, so it's the best answer to the stifling tropical heat of Malaysia and Singapore. (The thick aluminium bowl that kept the chendol cool was pretty cool looking itself too 😝  )

Cendol is one of the many food gifts which Indonesians brought to Malaysia and Singapore when they migrated here in numbers in the 1800s.

Another old cendol stall that traces it's origins to the Javanese is Kluang Cendol Kader 👈 click

Here in Singapore, our oldest cendol stall Geylang Serai Cendol also attributes their cendol to the Javanese 👈 click

Next, we tried Haji Shariff's pasembur RM3.50 (also known as Indian rojak in Seremban).



Pasembur is a salad of shredded fresh cucumber, turnip, bean sprouts, potatoes, prawn fritters and fried bean curd (with a hard boiled egg thrown in).



The ingredients are doused with a splash of thick, fiery looking, sweet and spicy peanutty sauce with some sesame seeds.



All the ingredients are made fresh here at the Haji Shariff’s.



I like the interesting mix of textures from crispy to crunchy to spongy soft. The shredded vegetables were juicy and crunchy. The fiery looking gravy was just mildly spicy as it was well balanced with sweetness and nuttiness.



We liked the food at Haji Shariff's so much that we had double orders for everything.

That says a lot actually, because when we are out on food hunts far from home, we don't normally repeat our orders in any single sitting. Time and stomach space are limited. Repeat orders meant that we are sacrificing stomach space reserved for the day's other possible new discoveries.



Of course, we also had the mandatory teh tarik (pulled milk tea) to wash everything down.



Haji Shariff's also serves Indian mee rojak which I shall try at my next visit.



If you are visiting Seremban, don't leave town without trying Haji Shariff’s Cendol.

Restaurant name: Haji Shariff’s Cendol
Address: Haji Shariff’s Cendol No. 44, Jalan Yam Tuan, Seremban, Malaysia
Hours: Mon - Thu: 11:00 am - 6:30 pm | Sat - Sun: 11:00 am - 6:30 pm (Closed on Friday)

Halal

Written by Tony Boey on 28 May 2014 | Updated: 1 Mar 2023

Gift Tilapia Restaurant in Seremban Malaysia 鱼色生香 芙蓉山水青非洲鱼

I am not a big fan of tilapia, especially the "green" variety because of it's earthly taste. But, I do like the texture of tilapia flesh and would be happy to try shops that are able to manage the "earthly, muddy" taste well.

So, when I heard that Gift Tilapia Restaurant 鱼色生香 in Seremban which raises their own tilapia using quality fish feed, and so their fish tastes sweet instead of earthly, I decided to give it a try. Gift Tilapia's farm also uses natural Seremban hill spring water 芙蓉山水 which helped keep the "earthly" taste down.

The "green" tilapia 青非洲 (翡翠鱼) were kept alive in large plastic blue tanks in the kitchen, and were stunned by tossing it in ice water just before preparation.



The green tilapia can be cooked in a variety of different ways at Gift Tilapia Restaurant, but broadly it's either steamed or grilled.



As I was afraid that the "green" tilapia might have unpleasant earthly tastes, I ordered just one steamed version with chili padi to try.



The fish turned out to be very delicious.



The white flesh was tender yet firm, and separated from the bones easily.

The flavour was sweet. There was still very slight tilapia taste but it was very gentle and of a pleasant clean tasting kind.



We ate up every bit of flesh on the tilapia.

Oh... do be extra careful as the tilapia is a very bony fish. (Hazardous, especially for children and old folks.)



After the first steamed tilapia, we were happy enough to order a second one - this time, the grilled version.



The same tilapia fish was grilled in a dark savoury sweet sauce.



Same tender, firm white flesh and nice sweetness with very mild tilapia flavour.

The black savoury sauce used with the grilled tilapia was more assertive than that used in the steamed version. Since the tilapia tasted so good, I prefer the steamed version that introduces less extra flavourings to the natural tilapia taste.

Total bill for the two fish with rice came to RM47.



Gift Tilapia Restaurant is inside the quiet, laid back residential area Taman Bunga Blossom 梅岭山庄.



If you are a fresh fish or tilapia lover, Gift Tilapia is worth a try if you are visiting Seremban. It's a simple bare bones restaurant with basic furnishing, but the tilapia here is worth checking out.

Next time, I shall try the salt baked and sambal grilled tilapia, and also their own farm raised prawns.



Trying out my VisonData pocket wifi at the Bunga Blossom Hawker Centre. VisonData pocket wifi worked perfectly throughout our Seremban / Port Dickson. For SGD9 per day rental, one VisonData pocket wifi can connect 4 - 6 devices at the same time. That's huge savings compared to data roaming or each of us getting our own local telco SIM cards. Find out more about VisonData here.

Restaurant name: Gift Tilapia Restaurant 鱼色生香
Address: 11, Jalan Merbok 6/1,Taman Bunga Blossom Seremban, Malaysia
Map: http://bit.ly/GiftTilapia
Hours: Mon - Wed: 11:00am - 2:30pm | 5:30pm - 11:00pm | Fri - Sun: 11:00am - 2:30pm | 5:30pm - 11:00pm
Non Halal

Date visited: 28 Jan 2015

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.

Dirty Mee LalaZatzat in Lukut, Negri Sembilan 面久拉揸面食

There are two popular shops in the small town of Lukut near Seremban and Port Dickson (Malaysia) run by the Teng 鄧 family, famous for their "dirty noodles" or la zha meen 拉揸面.



La zha meen means "dirty noodles" in Cantonese colloquialism but there is nothing dirty about these delicious noodles at all. People from far and wide travel to taste these "dirty noodles".

Seremban Siew Pau 芙蓉烧包 • Big Three

Freshly baked Seremban style siew pau at Asia Siew Pau

"If you have eaten siew pau in Seremban, you won't want to eat siew pau anywhere else", my friend Nicole told me.

Famous Seremban Beef Noodles at Pasar Besar Seremban

I have long wanted to visit this legendary beef noodle 牛腩面 stall at Pasar Besar Seremban.



I was so excited.

The moment I spotted the stall, I dashed up to the boss and ordered a bowl of beef noodles immediately. Then, I suddenly realised that my bladder was still full from the long drive from Johor Bahru. After I placed my order, I asked the boss, where is the toilet.

After giving me directions to the toilet which is some distance away, the boss told me that he will make the noodles only after I returned from the toilet.



"Beef noodle is best eaten when it is hot", the boss said. 

How's that for outstanding service for an out-of-town stranger?



Here's my RM7 bowl of the famous Seremban beef noodles, finally.



The pearly white rice noodles (lai fun) slick and dyed brownish by the gooey beefy sauce.

The noodles were invitingly slurpy.

The beefy aroma pulled our noses down towards the bowl. Bowing our heads willingly.

The lai fun was tender with a slight bounce. The sticky sauce was savoury and just mildly beefy.

There was a good mix of textures in the bowl from the tender spring of the lai fun, to the soft beef slices to the slightly chewy beef jerky and the crunchy peanuts and pickled cabbage.



I especially love this homemade beef jerky in Mr. Chong's beef noodles. It's like beef rendang. Tenderly chewy beef slices deeply infused with spice perfume fragrance released with each chew.



Curious about what we were doing, firing more shots at the noodles per minute than a bride on her wedding day, conferring intensely with noodles in our mouths, and furiously writing down copious notes instead of just enjoying his beef noodles like other customers, the boss joined us to chat.

The boss, Mr. Chong, a Hakka is the second generation owner. Mr. Chong's father-in-law who started this stall over 60 years ago is Hainanese, and this is traditional Hainanese style beef noodles.

Everything at this stall is made from scratch from raw ingredients. Since Mr. Chong's father-in-law's time, the rice noodles (lai fun) are homemade without preservatives.



Mr. Chong brought this bowl of radish and beef soup for us to try.

Over a warm bowl of old school beef soup, Mr. Chong was beaming proudly as he shared with us his acting role in Malaysia's highest grossing movie The Journey (一路有你).

We shared his joy and were so happy for him :D



Seremban Beef Noodles is now in the safe hands of the third generation, the young handsome Mr. Chong, Ah Kang  亚康.



Mr. Chong explaining the best cut of beef for Hainanese style beef noodle, the flank 牛腩.



The beef noodles before the gooey beefy sauce was poured in. Noodles topped with fried peanuts, braised beef spices, beef jerky slices, and chopped pickled cabbage.



Laying on that signature thick blanket of gooey beefy sauce.



Stole this picture of another customer's beef noodles - the soup version. Here we can see the tender beef slices, crunchy pickled cabbage and chopped scallions more clearly.

The other beef noodle stall in the same food centre, stall number 742 has it's own loyal following and I shall be trying that on my next Seremban trip :D



Restaurant name: Seremban Beef Noodles
Address: Stall No. 748, Pasar Besar Seremban, off Jalan Dr Tun Ismail, Seremban, Negri Sembilan, Malaysia
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/pobFe
GPS: 2.730913,101.936870
Hours: 7.30am to 3.00pm (Closed on Tuesdays.)
Non Halal

Date visited: 26 May 2014

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