Hello!
We are back from JB after spending a few terrific days on vacation. Meeting great people aside, food is also another reason why I love going ‘back’ to JB.
If you ask me what food I love the most, I’d say it would be Sarawakian food of course. But studying and living in Johor for 6 years have me craving for Johorean food occasionally.
Now on to my food journal (albeit not so healthy but oh-so-glorious food journey!). The night we arrived, we were tired and didn’t feel to drive and look for food after checking into our hotel. So we decided to check out Nasi Lemak Simple across our hotel on foot.
1. Nasi Lemak Simple
We ordered Nasi Lemak with fried chicken. Much to our chagrin, we were told that we had to wait for 10minutes because the rice is still cooking and the chicken part that we wanted was finished. However when food arrived, our disgruntlement evaporated as we tucked into our hot, aromatic rice served with delicious sambal and fragrant fried chicken (sorry no photo because we didn’t expect the Nasi Lemak to be scrumptious)
Verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! The sambal is not too spicy much to our liking. The chicken is marinated well and delicious. Would eat here again if we are in JB.
2. Kacang pool Haji
The next morning, we woke up extra early to have our breakfast of kacang pool Haji. Knowing the restaurant will get packed later, we made the decision to beat the queue and arrived at 7am. Despite being the first customer of the day, we didn’t have to wait long for our food of kacang pool lambing to be served, accompanied by thick, soft bread which was spread with butter and lightly grilled.
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| Warm broth made of fava beans and minced meat served with soft bread |
Kacang pool is apparently a Malaysian twist of the Middle East’s foul medames dish. Served with sunny side up with runny yolk, the flavor is further enhanced when you squeeze the calamansi juice over the broth and dip the soft, thick bread into the broth. This comfort food had me clean up the bowl including the chopped onion which I normally hate, because it’s that good.
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| Going early means we can easily find parking spot as the shop is by the roadside with no dedicated parking |
We attended the wedding at lunch time so lunch was served during the wedding.
For dinner, we decided to go for seafood at Senibong. There was a long queue of cars to Senibong as there is only one narrow car lane to go to Senibong. Entry was RM2 per car, and we were lucky to find a parking spot behind a mosque.
3. Senibong Seafood Village
Since everyone was hungry, we decided to order a set menu for 4 pax comprising of steamed siakap fish, kailan with salted fish, chicken tomyam, fried tempura squid, sambal cockles, white rice and a jug of red cordial drink. We added on sweet & sour crabs but when the order arrived, we got salted eggs crabs. The restaurant owner kind-heartedly gave us some discounts for the wrong order, knowing that re-order will force us to wait longer due to the large turnouts that night.
My advice is to go here 9pm onwards to avoid high peak hour.
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| While waiting for food to arrive which took an hour, we enjoyed the view of the waterfront and Singapore island across the straits |
On the second day, I had a date with my ex-roommate and BFF at a glasshouse cafe called ‘Fifty Trees’. It kinda reminded me of my iPad stylus called ‘FiftyThree’.
4. Fifty Trees Cafe
We shared our breakfast menu of sliced avocados and sunny side ups and soft shell crab spaghetti bolognese before ordering lemon cheesecake for dessert. The cafe also have pancakes and waffles in their menu and I ordered Nutella pancakes and big breakfast for takeaway.
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| FiftyTrees |
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| Dare Devil espresso |
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| Eva & I shared this sliced avocado on toasts served with garden salad and sunny side ups |
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| Desert was lemon cheese cake and cappuccino |
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| Eva |
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| Patrons are allowed into the glasshouse to admire the various houseplants |
In the afternoon, I craved for mi rebus and tulang gearbox (beef marrowbone) so off we went to our next food destination not far away from our hotel:
5. Restoran ZZ Sup Tulang
Famous for their sup tulang, Restoran ZZ is another popular restaurant with mostly outdoor seatings for their patrons. We opted to sit under the trees to enjoy afternoon breeze while having our mee rebus sup tulang, while the kids enjoyed their bihun sup.
The mee rebus has the right consistency, not too think nor too thin. There were generous chunks of meat off the marrowbone and the noodle is also delicious. Khayla enjoyed the beehoon soup even though it was slightly spicy that she finished it all.
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| View of the restaurant while waiting for our food |
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| Blissfully sucking out the marrowbone jelly |
On the last day in JB before we left to Legoland, I requested to have breakfast at another popular breakfast spot.
6. Pondok Santapan Larkin
Initially I wanted both nasi ambeng, a Javanese heritage food, and lontong for breakfast. Alas, the last packet of nasi ambeng was snapped up by a pregnant lady so I had to be contented with just having lontong kuah while Suami Terchenta had roti Arab and chicken curry. The girls opted for their favorite kuih buah melaka instead.
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| The curry was delicious and Khayla also loved the Roti Arab |
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| Lontong kuah |
7. Restoran Haji Jani
The restaurant serves many Malay & Javanese dishes such as chicken and beef rendang, keli berlado, sambal paru, pedal & hati ayam masak kicap etc. The food is mouth-watering and price is reasonable.
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| Posing with restaurant owner, Kak Linda |
The next time I’m in Johor, I must try Nasi Ambeng Mat Corner, Mee Rebus Haji Wahid, sup tulang merah at Banafee, banana fritters with Johor soy sauce based dip, Briyani Gam and many other Johorean menu at local’s favorites. Just thinking of it makes me hungry.
