A Day of Eating around Johor Bahru City

Most people speak of Penang Island and Ipoh (and here) as the meccas of good food in Malaysia. So when this article came out on the Malay Mail Online, I raised an eyebrow. No one has ever made that connection, is she for real?

But JB’s easier to get to than either Ipoh or Penang. So why not give it a shot?

Google threw up some recommendations from The Smart Local and popular bloggers (and here).

What the heck right, lets give it a try!

Sang Heng (Jalan Tan Hiok Nee)

Located along Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Sang Heng is a 57 year old establishment, popular for being part of the heritage of JB town.

The primary reason for the attraction is not the food but the old gentleman who makes it. Wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts, the chef works daily with his wife, chatting with his regular clients as he unhurriedly prepares your bowl of noodles.

They sell something called Teochew Mee. Which is a noodle soup dish originating from Chaoshan in Fujian, China. The noodles are usually flat (mee pok as we call them, but they ran out that day) and is prepared with fishballs, minced pork and perhaps some fish cake. A more well known variation on the theme is called Bak Chor Mee, and includes pig liver and mushrooms among other things. While the noodles were not spectacular, the whole experience of being fed at a heritage stall was what made the stop worth it. In I would recommend the duck and pigs ear served in Sang Heng instead.

Served in a sweet chili sauce, the duck meat is tender and sweet and the pigs ear crunchy. This was really worth it.

Restoran Kin Hua (Jalan Trus)

Kin Hua is considered the quintessential Nanyang breakfast stall.

Nanyang breakfast is made up of three components – Bread with salted margarine and kaya (coconut jam), soft boiled eggs (also known as runny eggs) and kopi (local version of coffee with milk).

This place is known to do a really good kopi and have rather flavourful kaya. They are generous with the kaya too, which is not something that can be said about most Singapore coffee shops these days. Kin Hua makes and sells their own kaya, which has to be refrigerated within the day (i.e. no preservatives).

The runny eggs in Malaysia are eaten with light sauce, whereas runny eggs in Singapore are eaten with dark soy sauce. The former sauce is salty while the later is sweet. But I was in Johor, so I did as the Johorians did (perhaps because of the number of Singaporean patrons, the shop also has dark sauce which is not something you will get further north). Did I mention how fresh the eggs were!

Restoran Ya Wang (Jalan Segget)

These guys made herbal duck popular. So popular that the most well known herbal duck restaurant in Singapore (Dian Xiao Er) hired them as consultants! And yet here there are, in a run down shop along Jalan Segget, with merely one other branch in JB.

Restoran Ya Wang proudly displays the Chinese word for duck on its billboard. Despite its nondescript appearance, people flock there.

And why not, they serve some really amazing herbal duck!

This veggie was really good too, I really don’t know what it is (the name slips my mind) but it’s hard to get in Singapore. Its very crunchy!

(Its called dou miao)

Salahuddin’s Bakery (Jalan Dhoby)

Salahuddin’s has been using a room sized wood-fired oven to bake their products since 1937 and the constant trickle of customers says all that you need to know.

Seafood

I won’t particularly recommend any seafood stall (the one we went to was Tai Son because it was nearer and we didn’t have a car) because we mainly went there for the price. I have heard that one of the best is called Kodak but we didn’t manage to go there.

With a good exchange rate feasting on seafood is a more wallet friendly affair here than if you were to have it in Singapore. Most restaurants will have a display area or maybe even just grab your seafood from their kelongs directly.