I know some of you will not be happy when I say that I do enjoy turtle soup 😝 It's a taste I acquired in the 1980s from lunching regularly at the turtle soup restaurant at MacPherson Road in Singapore. But, till now I haven't come across a turtle soup specialist in Johor Bahru after blogging JB food for 5 years.
✍ 25 July 2024. Buddy Wilson wanted to have lunch in the Permas Jaya area, and Honbin Seafood (a zhi char place) was one of the first to come to my mind.
Ask any Batu Pahat resident and they will most likely be able to tell you about the famous Swee Kee (Shui Kee) Tonic Soup shop 水记炖品 .
Swee Kee serves a wide variety of tonic soups such as black chicken, kampung chicken, frog, pork ribs, and turtle.
One of my favourite soups is turtle soup, which is quite common in Singapore. However, turtle soup is much harder to find in Johor, let alone a good one.
Seeing that Swee Kee has turtle on its menu, I decided to give it a try.
Woww... It was more than I expected – having tasted so much turtle soup before, I must say that this is the best that I have tasted so far J
Swee Kee signature turtle soup at RM10.50 per serving
The herbal aroma is distinct yet delicate like a good fragrant tea. The mildly herbal soup is light, herbaliciuos (excuse the word J) and sweet, and had hardly any trace of oil in it. This is unlike in other soup places, where we often get turtle soups that are oily and murky.
The gelatinous parts were jelly like, firm, chewy yet tender. The collagen of soft shell turtles is credited with medicinal properties but I am more attracted to its taste and texture than any purported health benefits.
The turtle meat is sweet and chewy. Some say the texture is like chicken but to me it felt more like frog meat, but denser and firmer.
The rather ordinary looking yam rice was tasty and went really well with the herbal soup.
Swee Kee’s sambal chili deserves mention. The fiery looking ground chili paste is fresh and not too spicy. It really complements the taste of the turtle meat and yam rice very well.
I heard people raving about Swee Kee’s herbal black chicken soup. Shall try that too next time and have a turtle soup encoreJ
Swee Kee was featured in a TV show by local food celebrity Jason 阿贤.
