You Char Kway Streetside Stall in Pemas Jaya, Johor Bahru

My friend Ian introduced me to his favourite you char kway 油炸粿 stall which he visits at least once a week.



This street side stall is located at the alley way beside the well known Sin Yong yong tau foo shop. Diagonally across the road (Jalan Permas 10) is the 7-11 shop.

This humble but very popular stall is run by Mr. Liew and his young son and daughter. The small 3-man team runs like Swiss clockwork serving a constant stream of customers from all walks of life. From workers on their bikes to well heeled customers emerging from luxury sedans.

The Liew family team got their work process neatly worked out :)





Mr. Liew, the boss, prepares the dough. When Mr. Liew kneads and tosses it, his dough looks soft like small pillows.



Liew junior fries the dough under dad's watchful eye.



Junior Liew may be young but you could see from these you char kway that he has got good technique :)





Customer's bagful of hot and fresh you char kway ready to go :)



Ms. Liew mostly handles the sales but will sometimes take over the frying to give her little brother a break.



The Liew family moved from Raub in Pahang and have been running this street side stall for 5 years.

I asked Mr. Liew what made him bring his family from Raub to Johor Bahru? "求生存 Seeking for survival" he replied in an instant.

Through sheer hard work, providing good food at a reasonable price, Mr. Liew's you char kway stall is now well established in Permas Jaya.

Mr. Liew's fried goodies have good mouth feel and are not overly greasy. The goodies are always fresh because they are made on the spot and the turnover is very high. In fact, customers are usually waiting to get the goodies straight and hot from the wok. Mr. Liew sells his food at 80 sens per piece.



Liew junior striking a confident pose, frying the tau sar 豆沙 balls.





Mr. Liew's hottest seller - tau sar ball with black sesame seeds.



Master Liew frying the peanut balls.









The peanut ball with white sesame seeds is loaded with a generous amount of crunchy crushed peanut filling. My personal favourite :)





The ham cheem peng 咸煎餅 - see how airy and puffy the bread is?



Mr. Liew's very popular donuts.







Some of the other fried goodies from Mr. Liew that you may wish to try.



Mr. Liew uses bottled vegetable oil to fry his food.


Liew's stall is across the road from the 7-11 shop

Restaurant name: Liew Kee you char kway (street side stall)
Address: 21, Jalan Permas 10, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru (next to Sin Yong yong tau foo shop)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/eoixO
GPS: 1.497145,103.815345
Hours: 3:00pm to 7:00pm (Sunday off)
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert

Date visited: 3 Aug 2013

You Char Kway 油炸粿 @ Kim Ling 金岭 Coffee Shop in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru

I was enjoying my char kway teow and kopi o kaw, when I caught sight of this you char kway 油炸粿 stall just outside Kim Ling 金岭 coffee shop.

I was captivated, watching the entire process of the stall owner kneading the dough at the front of the stall, frying the dough in a wok of boiling hot oil, and selling the freshly fried fritters right there, on the spot.

The stall is an OMO i.e. one man operation. The stall owner MR Koay makes the dough, fries it, and sells it - everything all by himself, without any help.

Well, not exactly. You see, MR Koay encourages his customers to just take what they like at RM0.60 a piece and drop the money by themselves into a plastic ice cream tub. MR Koay also encouraged his customers to take their own change by dipping into the tub themselves. Everything is done on an honour system. Well, as far as I could see this system worked pretty well, here.

I couldn't resist trying MR Koay's fried goodies. As this is a OMO stall, MR Koay sells only 4 types of fried fritters.

The you char kway 油炸粿 was crispy outside, and inside they were chewy and fluffy. It did not have that heavy greasy feel and aftertaste on the tongue that I sometimes got from eating you char kway elsewhere.

MR Koay offers a soft and chewy plain ham chim peng which is a blend of savoury, delicate salty and sweet. MR Koay also has the same soft and chewy ham chim peng with sweet red bean paste filling inside.

These are MR Koay's own version of butterfly dough fritters. Unlike the usual buttery fritters, these have a hole in the middle. MR Koay cheekily calls these his 开心果 because they look like "fruit with a hole" and 开心果 sounds like "happy fruit" in Mandarin.

Fried dough fritters are a versatile food. They can be eaten on their own with a beverage like coffee, or they can go with any of the other food sold at Kim Ling 金岭 coffee shop.

There are many stalls at Kim Ling serving a wide variety of hawker fare including pork organ soup 猪杂汤, kway tiao kia (kway chap), Penang char kway teow, yong tau foo, vegetarian 素食 food, chicken rice, chee cheong fun, mixed vegetable rice 经济饭菜, and more.

The hawker stalls at Kim Ling open from 7:00am to about 2:00pm. In the evening, a zhi char stall takes over.


Restaurant name: You Char Kway 油炸粿 Stall @ Kim Ling 金岭 Coffee Shop
Address: 19, Jalan Simbang, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/LhmB
GPS: 1.482709,103.681223
Hours: Hawker stalls operate from 7:00am to 2:00pm
(Closed on alternate Wednesdays)
Non Halal

Date visited: 13 July 2012