Shang Ji Duck Rice 上记鸭肉 @ Jalan Lumba Kuda, Johor Bahru

Shang Ji Duck Rice 上记鸭肉  @ Jalan Lumba Kuda, Johor Bahru

This is the favorite spot for those who like to eat duck meat. This place is located very strategically, just a stone throw away distance from CIQ. Many tourists like me, will stop by to have a quick lunch before heading down or up region. 

Be aware, this area has limited parking space during peak hour and some illegal parking attendant will come to you offer a place with some tips. If you willing to walk, you may park near to Grand Bluewave hotel, there are plenty of space.

During our last visit, there were a crowd. However, we manage to get ourselves try on it highly recommended duck meat. They have either rice based or noodles depend on individual delight. 

Duck Rice 鸭肉饭

I like the duck rice which a load of gravy pouring on top of rice. The duck meat itself is smooth and tender, together with the gravy, make it more tasteful and attractive. The owner considerately removed most of the bones, make it easier to eat.

Kuey Tiao  粿条

If your prefer noodles based, you may order kuey tiao, yellow noodles or mee hun either in dry or soup. We ordered Kuey Tiao, as we noticed quite a number of people have chosen kuey teow.

Last but no least, with close-up shot on duck meat. Undeniably, it makes me drooling again when I editing this post. We will recommend this for you as the total cost on this meal for two only RM15 and it is affordable for a good meal.

Address : Shang Ji Duck Rice 上记鸭肉

149, Jalan Lumba Kuda, 80300 Johor Bahru

GPS : N01 27.628'  E103 46.032'

Business Hour : 7:00am - 2:00pm (Closed on Mondays)

Hua Mui Kopitiam 华美茶餐室 @ Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru

Hua Mui Kopitiam 华美茶餐室 @ Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru

During our breakfast time, we actually plan ahead to here. This is also one of the kopitiam inside our waiting list quite some time ago. We decide to have our breakfast here with another purpose here. We keep it as a secret now until you roll down below this page. 

An old-school coffee shop was converted into double storey modern kopitiam where basically downstairs occupied by smokers, however upstairs will be totally free from smoke. Not much fancy decoration and it still retain some of the old day furniture and fixture.

As a norm while we step in kopitiam, we were greeted by cheerful attendant. Although this is a traditional chinese kopitiam, but due to its popularity and halal status, a lot of Muslim friends also dine in here, successfully create a picture of harmony and peace society with 1Malaysia spirit. 

Cham Peng  RM1.60
NesLo Peng  RM2

A typical weekend, where we almost cant differentiate our lunch from breakfast. To kickstart the breakfast/lunch, we ordered our drinks, both are related to coffee, but not pure coffee alone, a Cham Peng which consists tea and coffee and also a iced Neslo combining nescafe and milo. Interesting to have two taste in a cup.

Mee Hua Mui 华美面  RM5.80

Other than drinks, we order one of their signature dish. Lam Mee (thick gravy noodles) which was also one of my favourite noodles. The ingredients are quite a lot, including fish cake, prawn, chicken and vegetable, but this is the halal version without pork lard. A little compromise does not change the overall spirit of a good lam mee, but an opportunity for our Muslim friends to taste the traditional Chinese food. The only flaw is the gravy, which is not thick enough to cling on the noodles, and not sufficient flavourful too.

Hainanese Chicken Chop 海南炸鸡扒  RM12

This is also one of the highlighted order among the menu--Hainanese Chicken Chop. I have been craving this for quite sometime until I manage to find it out at this kopitiam. The fried chicken chop was not oily while retain its freshness and juicy. Other than this, the home recipe made of the gravy was great if dip the chicken on the gravy. The chicken chop will be tastier if the gravy is more, the green peas is too little too.  

Address: Hua Mui Kopitiam 华美茶餐室 

131, Jalan Trus, 80000 Johor Bahru

GPS : N01 27.439'  E103 45.860'

Business Hour : 8am to 6pm

Tel: 07 – 224 7364

Branch : Restoran Hua Mui Sutera

50 Jalan Tanjung 8/4, Taman Sutera Utama , Skudai

Business Hour :  7.30am to 9.30pm

Tel : 07 – 556 4086

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Hiap Joo Bakery  协裕面包厂 @ Jalan Tan Hiok Nee

After we breakfast at Hua Mui, this is our second destination which we keep secret on it. An old traditional bakery which operated since 1913. All their made bread and cake were usually run out of stock very early unless you have a patient waiting for their second round baking. Why their bakery was so sought? It is because the freshness of their bread and cake.  Everyday they will clear all remaining stock, but I heard normally they will not have leftover bread and cake even single piece because of sold out.

At this century, this bakery still using an old traditional method which is using charcoal to bake their bread and cake. All the cake and bread will immerse in the some fragrance from burning charcoal, and all the thing will have fully adsorb the aroma from the wood.

Banana Cake 香蕉蛋糕  RM8 (L)

Before it's all sold out, we manage to get one banana cake. The banana cake was fully occupied by the banana aroma. Every bite of the cake will allow the fresh banana taste. The cake itself was appropriately moist and soft to attract my desire to eat more!

Address :  Hiap Joo Bakery  协裕面包厂

13, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee,

 80000 Johor Bahru

GPS : N1 27.416'  E103 45.853'
(right in front of Kin Wah Kopitiam)

Business Hour : 8:00am to 6:00pm (Closed on Sunday)
Tel : 07 - 2231703

Celebrating Chinese New Year With Gartien 小田佳園 Pineapple Cakes

Celebrating Chinese New Year With Gartien Pineapple Cakes

Chinese New Year is coming in corner. During Chinese New Year, I believe most of the people will equip some delicacy to serve their guest (normally name it as Bai Nian 拜年). In order to create wave, this year Gartien 小田佳園 come out with its new Theme: Peony/Mudan Flower/牡丹

Beside this, with its new packaging designs - Elegant looking red & gold gift box definitely a good sign for Chinese New Year. Additional point on its individual packing. It will come with Chinese ink painting of ‘Mudan flowers’

Right now before it was actually open for sale. Their valuable friends and customers were already book for 500 sets. Due to its limitation on supply,they left only about 1000 "Auspicious Gift Sets" available for pre-order from 30th Dec 2013 until 26th Jan 2014.

250 sets are available weekly (Total 4 weeks)

Week 1: 30th Dec 2013- 5th Jan 2014

Week 2: 6th Jan 2014 - 12th Jan 2014

Week 3: 13th Jan 2014 - 19th Jan 2014

Week 4: 20th Jan 2014 - 26th Jan 2014

Pre-order now until 26th Jan 2014 - Special Promotion at RM38 per box

Walk in: RM45 per box (Now until 26th Jan 2014 - last day for collection before CNY)

BONUS: Buy 10 boxes free 1 box or free delivery (Eg. For every 10 boxes ordered, you can either opt for another box of pineapple cakes FREE if you collect them yourself or get your postage WAIVED if you are residing within Peninsular Malaysia.)

Greeting advance Happy Chinese New Years to everyone.

Address : GARTIEN @ 小田佳園

68, Lorong Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia

GPS : 5.416195, 100.328433

Business Hour : 10am-5pm (weekdays), 9am-6pm (weekends)

Tel : 04-229 0068

Email: info@gartien.com

Website: www.gartien.com

FB: www.fb.gartien.com/

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant 和乐屋 @ Taman Pelangi, Johor Bharu

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant 和乐屋 @ Taman Pelangi, Johor Bharu

The Jalan Kuning 2 in Taman Pelangi is quite famous with Japanese cuisine, as there are three Japanese Restaurants in the same row, which has different loyal customers and good comments. Warakuya Japanese Restaurant is the first restaurant we met when we entered into Jalan Kuning 2. The benches outside the door is prepared for queuing crowd? Luckily, we visited it during off-lunch hour, so we did not suffer the long queue.

We were attended immediately and set our seat in a comfortable compartment with curtain, such good dining privacy. But I prefer sit in open area and enjoy the dining environment rather than sitting quietly in a compartment. Some of the thing I usually do during visiting restaurant is take look on what other people order on table and that probably will be my dish on the day.

Chuka Idako  小章鱼  RM7.90

As usual, we would not forget to order this as our appetizer. This little octopus has it very unique attraction to us on Japanese food. Although this is a cold plate, but definitely the good one to taste it freshness. 

A close-up for this little octopus.

Mango Sushi 经典芒果寿司  RM11.90

While we flipping the menu, we saw this Mango Sushi. This is something special and surprise me when I saw it in the menu. Japanese food which has been infused with Malaysian tropical fruit, definitely suits the youngster's taste. Slicing the mango into a thin pieces indeed a ultimate test of chef's skill. I can never imagine the slippery mango can replace seaweed to wrap the pearl rice. To put the fish roe on the top of rice bed, not only furnish the presentation of the sushi, but also increase some different texture. Can you imagine how the taste of the combination? Refreshing, sweetness and fruity fragrant all in one bite!

Gyoza Pizza 饺子披萨  RM13.90

Gyoza Pizza is our next dish. Gyoza is traditional Japanese cuisine, while Pizza is Italian food. Gyoza skin as base, baked until crispy and topped with minced meat, tomatoes and mayonnaise. The topping is very flavourful and appetizing. A very good snack!

Hana Sushi 花寿司  RM11.90

The next dish is this salmon sushi and roe sushi. Total five pieces of sushi form the shape of flower. The presentation itself is attractive and make me almost bear not to destroy the shape! The size of sushi is not big, but sufficient to fulfill my desire of having salmon sushi. The salmon and fish roe are very fresh, make it extremely nice!

Saba Shio Yaki 盐烤鲭鱼  RM14.90

I am not sure when started to fall in love with grilled fish, especially Japanese grilled. The simple Japanese salt as seasoning allows the fish to retain its freshness. The fish skin is grilled until a little bit burnt, but crispy. while the flesh remains tender.

Tonkutsu Ramen 叉烧猪骨拉面  RM17.90

After trying few dish, we decide order a bowl of Japanese Ramen since I crave for this quite a long time ago after tasting the few best Ramen in KL. Honestly, this Ramen was not good as I had in KL. The Japanese Char Siew is quite thick, few slices of it is sufficient to  fill my stomach. I prefer it to be thinner. I still miss Onsen Egg that I had in KL which has running yolk and in tempting orange colour.

Pudding-of-the-day  限日布丁  FOC

To end our meal, they served us a pudding of the day for each diners to rinse our mouth. It seem like comfortable as dine in house. The best thing is the pudding is free! So lovely, good food, good service and good taste definitely lighted up the rest of the day!

Address : Warakuya Japanese Restaurant 和乐屋

43, Jalan Kuning 2,

Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru

GPS : N01 28.675'  E103 46.042'

Tel: 07- 332 0789 / 016 - 7778234
(Reservation is advisable)

Business Hours: Mon-Sun  11.30am-11.00pm

FB : Warakuya Japanese Restaurant 和乐屋

The Sizzler Plate 铁板神话 @ Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bharu

The Sizzler Plate 铁板神话 @ Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bharu

In the past, people can't even imagine how foods will be related to information technology. Nowadays, social media plays a very important role either to pull up a restaurant or fall it down.The Sizzler is one of the restaurant we knew from a facebook page with many complimentary feedbacks. Taman Mount Austin is not our regular place to hunt for food, this should be our very first food experience at Taman Mount Austin, just because The Sizzler.

We notice there are quite a lot eatery shop around for us to further explore. But for this trip, we targeted The Sizzler. The shop layout and design is actually not too satisfactory. The kitchen is located at the centre of the restaurant, which occupies a substantial area of the shop, so there are limited dining tables.  

Sizzling 1K Pork (10.58 oz)  千里千寻猪  RM23.90

The sizzling pork chop is named after the famous anime "Spirited Away" in chinese. Interesting name indeed, but forgot to require the reason to name it after "Spirited Away". The pork chop will be prepared in a standard size, which is 1K or approximately 300g in each serving. The portion can be rather big for ladies, but is just appropriate for me! And I noticed that most of the restaurant are using "Kenny-Rodger-style" to allow their customer has a say in the side dishes, it is not exceptional here. As for the carbohydrate, we can actually choose rice or spaghetti, but we were told by the waitress that spaghetti will be more suitable, so we believe her judgement. The pork itself was pretty well-cooked, the texture itself is not too dry and hard while we still manage to taste the juicy part of the pork. The marinade is definitely good to do away with the pork smell. With a portion of vegetables and sunny egg, it completes the overall nutrition of the meal.

Sizzling Pan Fried Dory  多利宝贝鱼  RM18.90

Sizzling Pan Fried Dory Fish is our another choice. The combination is similar to the sizzling pork, the only difference we made is on the spaghetti, we chose for mushroom white sauce. I always like the texture of dory fish, which is super smooth. This pan-fried version did not disappoint me too, outside layer was fried till crispy and fragrant. The spaghetti with white sauce tastes good too. 

One of the good news for ice-cream lover--- they provide unlimited ice cream, the owner's generousness melted many customer's heart I bet! As the ice cream is not something very costly, the unlimited-concept definitely an investment to attract more customers.

Address : The Sizzler Plate 铁板神话 

45G, Jalan Mutiara Emas 10/19, 

Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru

GPS : N01 33.169'  E103 47.079'

(Beside of Mount Austin Show Planet 小巨蛋 KTV)

Bussiness Hour : Mon - Fri  6pm - 12am

Sat - Sun  5pm -1am

Closed on Tuesday

Roslin Beriani House @ Kebun Teh, Johor Bharu

Roslin Beriani House @ Kebun Teh, Johor Bharu

This is one of the famous Nasi Beriani in Johor Bahru. Its strategically located at Taman Kebun Teh, where in the middle of the way to town from Tampoi and Larkin area and also a by-pass from Tebrau Highway. This restaurant was recommended by a Malay friend and allegedly to be crowded during lunch hour. So we deemed ourselves to be "clever" to visit off-lunch-hour. And so, the "clever-us" only left with one choice of nasi beriani--beef beriani. The waiter's facial expression telling us either take it or leave it, ermmm.. to avoid we back with empty hand, we ordered nasi beriani with beef rendang for two.

I never had a proper nasi beriani in a Malay restaurant, so I was quite surprised on how they serve the food.  Before the nasi beriani was served, we actually have the side dishes on table first, which consist of acar buah , cooked pineapple slices, few crispy chips and a bowl of curry gravy (kuah). All the side dishes will be charged accordingly if you want extra.

Acar Buah  RM2

As we thought an acar buah in red colour will be hot and spicy, we were totally wrong!! It is sweet and sour, the Acar Buah is excellent, one little piece is sufficient to open up the appetite for eating a elephant! Definitely ladies' favourite.

Nenas  RM0.50 ~ RM1

For myself, I seldom eat raw pineapple even pineapple juice. This cooked pineapple with their unique spices changed my perception to pineapple. Normally, I can feel my tongue burning after eating fresh pineapple, but cooked pineapple totally get rid of that kind of feel and taste better.

Nasi Beriyani Daging  RM7.50

The main character in the house. The special of the nasi beriyani is a rice-based dish made with spices. The condiments include of nutmeg, ghee,mace, cinnamon,cardamon, bay leaves, coriander, mint leaves, ginger, onions and garlic. Its taste extremely good, if you add extra kuah on top of it just like what I love to do. Besides that, not to forget about the beef which is soft and tender in texture. All the essential of the spices is totally absorbed inside and taste flavourful. 

The family photo of my nasi beriani! Overall, the food taste good to me. But the waiters are really not so friendly, hope they can improve on their service ya.

Address : Roslin Beriani House

14, Jalan Rebana, Kebun Teh,

80250 Johor Bharu

GPS : N01 29.740'  E103 45.610'

Tel: 07-3313310

Mobile: 012-7100708/ 017-7764690/ 010-4105048

Business hours:

Monday - Saturday  7.30 AM to 7.30 PM.

Starting Ramadhan, Monday to Saturday 11.00 AM to 9.00 PM.

Restoran Ah Piaw 亚標云吞面 @ Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bharu

Restoran Ah Piaw 亚標云吞面 @ Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bharu

Being a sunny weekend, we hop down to the famous spot of wantan noodles in Johor Bharu. How to determine of its popularity? This can be easily show that where they actually set up quite a lot table at the roadside welcoming all people. This wantan noodles used to be a favourite spot for night-hunter for late-supper, as this is the only place selling wantan noodles until late night, even after you finished the last drop of liquor at pub.

Notwithstanding of its unique business hour, their noodles was also another attraction, which successfully attract most of the people here for their famous wantan noodles. As usual, we ordered two different flavour of noodles, the original and also spicy version to make comparison.

Spicy Wan Tan Noodles 辣味云吞面  RM5.50

For the sake of trying, we order mild level of spicy flavour for this wantan noodles. The spicy-ness can be adjusted according to individual's acceptability. Overly hot and spicy may easily kill the appetite, but this is definitely not the one that will not irritate us to stop, because the spicy-ness is just right. Mix it well before tuck in, yum yum.

This is something about Johor style wanton mee, after I tasted quite a number of wanton mee stall in Johor. Char Siew seems to be not the emphasis of wanton mee if compared to KL style. Hong Kong styled roasted char siew is rarely used here, so the noodles itself play a more important role in determining a good bowl of wanton mee.

Original Wan Tan Noodles 原味云吞面  RM5.50

The original flavour was slightly plain in taste and too dry for me (I am the kind of people who like my rice to be "banjir" with kuah). So,  I found it better after I poured in some soup. One point worth to be complimented is the noodles is well-cooked, I like the springy-ness and the not- too-soft texture.

This is yet to be the best wanton mee in town, but definitely satisfy your craving during late night.

Address :  Restoran Ah Piaw 亚標云吞面

Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau,

81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
GPS : N01 29.211 E103 46.156

Bussiness Hour : 24 hours

Baked Coconut Juice & Fried Noodles with Pork @ Hatyai, Thailand

Baked Coconut Juice & Fried Noodles with Pork @ Hatyai, Thailand

The very last morning we stay in Hatyai, we took the opportunity to visit their "Tua Pasar" (Big market") to grab some cheap local stuff, is definitely a paradise of shopping, from dried seafood to clothing. The visit is indeed fruitful. While ladies were enjoying their shopping, what should men do? Apart from the typical Tom Yam and Som Tam, Thailand is also famous with its coconut. There are few coconut stalls set up at the roadside, so if you're looking for a place to sit down and have a sip of refreshing coconut juice, you have plenty choices.

The green and young coconut is the usual beverage we opt for. How about baked coconut? The coconut was send into fire and burn for few hours to let the coconut juice to be boiled inside, just like oven. After that, they will immerse it into cold water and ready to serve. The taste is slightly different, the pandan's fragrance is stronger. And according to the traditional said, cooked coconut is not so "cold". 

Before we going back to Malaysia, we visited a Chinese stall located at the street side of Hatyai town. It is famous and popular with the Wok fried noodles with pork. This is the shop stall hidden in front of BP grand suite hotel which is the landmark for you to look for it. The restaurant is extremely busy during lunch hour, as the restaurant provides delivery service. It is not easy to handle both walk in customer and delivery service, so bear with long waiting during lunch hour.

The fried mee is similar to Mee Hailam in Malaysia. The Mee and Mee hoon are slightly deep-fried, and pour on the top with thick and flavourful gravy. They mix yellow noodles and beehun normally, is the typical combination for local. Even now, I still can recall the good taste and smooth and tender texture of the pork. It just simply nice and juicy ever ate it. 

The kitchen and the "master chef" are in front of the restaurant, where you can know how busy they are. To maintain the standard of the food, only one chef is handling the cooking job, this is the reason the foods are served slow, but chef's grey hair and good skill is definitely a guarantee to the good taste of food. 

Address : Sanaehanusorn Road, Hat Yai Central, 

Hat Yai, Thailand 90110

(right in front of BP Grand Suite)

Saun Sam Rarn Restaurant 梨珍园饭店 @ Haadyai, Thailand

Saun Sam Rarn Restaurant 梨珍园饭店 @ Haadyai, Thailand

This was our last night at Hatyai. So we decided to have the best one in Thailand before we go back. The grand dinner happen in middle of Hatyai, with walking distance from Lee Garden Residences or you may take a Tuk-Tuk ride to reach the restaurant with the map provided below.  

Before we started with the main course, we were provided their signature sauce, comprising chili padi, garlic, lime juice and honey, typical thai flavour and super appetizing. Without further delay, the all time local favourite, Som Tam (Thai Style Salad) kick starts the dinner.

The first dish served : Som Tam (Thai Style Salad). With cashew nut and dry shrimp added, it taste extremely crunchy and crispy. Shredded pineapple is spread evenly in the salad, provides some refreshing and fruit aroma to the dish.

The second dish served : Petai with big fresh prawn. Petai is really an ingredient which hard to please everyone, but definitely one of my favourite dish. I like petai cook in this way with sambal belacan and big fresh prawn. The moderate spicyness to compensate the bitter taste from petai itself and still retain its freshness. 

The third dish on table : Deep Fried Kailan with salted fish. I notice that salted fish was quite common and well recommend among all restaurant. Preserved food is not good for health, but definitely a good seasoning to the green.

The fourth dish served : Deep Fried Seabass with Thai Spicy Sauce. A big fish with almost 2kg was deep-fried until crispy. The spicy Thai sauce matched perfectly with the fish, sufficiently for me to swallow one big bowl of rice. Despite it was deep-fried and covered with big portion of chili sauce, I still able to taste the freshness of the fish. Its taste will be better if it was steamed, but the steam style definitely not the favourite of Thai.

The fifth dish served : Braised Pork Trotter. Anyhow, this is our second pork trotter during the whole trip. But it just simply too delicious that we wipe clean of the plate. The pork trotter was deep fried before put to braise. So the texture is slightly better and the skin will not easily smashed even with long time cooking. The braising gravy is thick and flavourful and the meat is off-bone soft and tender. 

The sixth dish served : Hot Plate Fried Oyster. The oyster was simply huge and even bigger than our old 50 cents coin. The food presentation not very good, but the taste was really good to satisfy oyster lover. The huge oyster is juicy and tasty with egg. The Thai version is slightly different from the local O-chien we had, as it was not dry and crispy but with certain moisture remained.

The seventh dishes served : Fish head soup in charcoal bowl. The soup was double-boiled with yam and fish bone which boost up the flavour and provide extreme sweetness to the soup. Fish head was cut into pieces and deep-fried before putting into the soup, so the fish remained in chunk and easy for us to take. 

The last dish served : Deep fried meat ball. Basically, it is a minced pork wrapped in beancurb skin and send for deep fried after all. To accommodate the local flavour, it taste slightly spicy, but it still acceptable to my level. For me, I still prefer it to go together with Chang Beer, the local favourite beer. Good finger food!

This is the name of the restaurant. For those who may not communicate well with local Tuk-Tuk driver, can show the restaurant name or the location map (see below) to them, perhaps they will know where this restaurant located. Say Cheer to big feast!

Address : Saun Sam Rarn Restaurant 梨珍园饭店

143, Niphat Uthit 2 Road,

Haadyai, South Thailand

Bussiness Hour : 11am - 9pm (local time)

Tel : (074) 243660 / 244415 / 081-9597355