Johor Bahru (Malaysia)! Places of Attraction (Woodsland Causeway)

If you ever brave the long stressful jam between the Malaysian-Singaporean border, you will be rewarded with affordable, delicious food. Over the last couple of years, we collated a small list of restaurants that you simply have to try if you ever cross the border. We put together a few nearby shopping centers as well, just so you can (like us!) fritter away some time between meals. The places of interests in this post are easiest to get to via Woodsland Causeway. Ya Wang, Chaiwalla and Hiap Joo Bakery are located within walking range of one another, as well as a number of cafes here. If you're going via Tuas, this post may be useful. 

Restoran Ya Wang
About 15 minutes drive from Johor Bahru's Checkpoint on the Woodsland causeway, we stop to eat here every opportunity we get. Paradoxically, it's situated closer to Singapore's border than Johor Checkpoint. You can (almost!) see Singapore from the carpark. You can't miss the restaurant - it has a giant plaster duck hanging in front of it. 

This is one of the few restaurants that I get cravings for. When Singapore's Dian Xiao Er opened, they got the people behind Ya Wang to take on a consultant role. Some restaurants take a leaf out of their consultant's book, others photocopy the whole damn book. Many of Dian Xiao Er's award-winning, well-received dishes are found here, and for a much, much lower price. 

The Herbal Roasted Duck are a must-try, the scent of dang gui was clear and strong. There are three different types of duck (Dang Gui, Ten Herbs - Shi Quan, Wild Ginseng), and the first two are the most popular ones. I would recommend cutting down on your carbs intake and get Half Duck of each, but then again, the herbal gravy goes really, really well with rice too. Sigh. Life is hard. 

The Special Bean Curd Pot is another great dish here.

For large groups, the server recommended ala carte over the set menu. If you're coming in as a small group, getting the set is better because you get to try more variety. We usually get Set A (Half a duck, Special beancurd pot, vegetable kang kong, soup of the day, stew pot with yam, special seafood pot) plus another order of half a duck, omelette, and drinks. It adds to about RM159. 

Address
Restoran Ya Wang, 28, Jalan Segget, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Restoran Sekee *On My Wishlist!*

It's an old establishment selling Teochew Kway Tiao that's simmered over a charcoal stove. Located next to Restoran Ya Wang, you can read more about them here. 


Kam Long Ah Zai*On My Wishlist!*

While making our way from JB City Square to Ya Wang, we walked past this store doing brisk business with locals. A crowd had already formed at 9am in the morning. They serve fish head curry, and every blog I read sung its praises and advised to go in the morning to avoid insane mealtime crowds. 


Chaiwalla and Co Container Cafe

Just a three minutes walk away from Ya Wang, don't miss out on their Thai Iced Tea. They use the Cha Tra Mue, Thailand's top selling Thai Tea brand. For their Vietnamese coffee, they use Trung Nyugen (the top brand in Vietnam). 

We particularly enjoyed their Green Thai Iced Tea, but their normal variety is excellent too, especially on a hot day. Aside from Thai Tea, they serve a variety of other caffeinated beverages, all of which you can customise for sweetness and other additional flavours. It's up to personal preference, but even at 50% was on the sweeter side for me. I like the nata de coco, but it's really up to you. Go crazy. 

For information on location and opening hours, check out Chaiwalla's blog.  

Hiap Joo Bakery

I would have passed by the unassuming store front without a second glance if not for the line snaking out of the door. They are renowned for their Banana Cake, which are some of the softest, fluffiest banana bread I've ever had. It was a pleasant surprise to find the workers operating a wood-fired oven and methodically churning out batches and batches of cakes from the kiln. A fresh batch is done every 15 minutes, so if they happen to run out when it's your turn, be patient and sit tight for a bit. Ours were still warm from the oven when they packed it up for us. 

The Replacement - Lodge and Kitchen

One of the cafes recommended on this blog, I enjoy the strength of the coffee here. I had the piccolo, while Miss XS had a latte. ( liked the piccolo, though there was something amiss about the milk... was it UHT? Don't quote me on this.) I would be back to try the food, especially the raved about Salted Egg Churros. Skip the coffee, come here only if you're keen on the food. 

Faculty of Caffeine

For all-you coffee snobs out there, FOC is the place to get your caffeine fix. I came with a group of friends who'd enjoyed Melbournian lattes for five years, and we were all suitably impressed with FOC's standards. The latte is very strong and fragrant - did they double-shot our drinks? I approve. Bonus points for starting at 9am; no other cafes start so early here, and I'm glad the most industrious cafe here also makes the best latte I'd had in Malaysia. 


Address
106, Jalan Trus, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening hours
9 - 5.30pm daily

KSL City Mall
The nearest shopping centre from the restaurants listed above is Johor Bahru City Square, but there isn;t much to do there aside from the Maybank. But luckily, KSL City Mall is a 20 minutes drive away. There is a ton of nail saloons and spa places there, but it's also mainly known for its abundance of IT stores selling phone cases and tempered glass screen protectors. I replaced my iPhone 6 Plus glass screen protector for RM5 (current to December 2017). Movie tickets can be picked up at RM12, and across Malaysia, each movie is RM10 on Wednesdays.  


Wish-List
Restoran Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh
Near KSL mall. 

Address: 43, Jalan Serigala, Taman Abad, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Restoran Pekin @ Sutera Utama 
About 30 minutes away from the border. It's an upscale Chinese restaurant that invariably seems to be hosting a wedding whenever we drop by. They have their own parking lots reserved for customers, which is a nice touch and takes the stress away from trying to find parking.  

The food is expensive by Malaysian standards, but you can't get such food at these prices in Singapore. It's a feast when we come. Our top favourite is the Roasted Suckling Pig (1/4 for RM60, 1/2 for RM108, whole for RM198). 

On several of the occasions that I was here, I've always been pleasantly surprised by the high quality of food here. he best gauge of a good quality restaurant is that it does simple dishes excellently, and Restoran Pekin shined. The vegetable dish 清炒奶白 (plain stir-fried bok choy) was brimming with smoky wok hei, and the unassuming-looking Crabmeat Tofu came with generous chunks of crabmeat over a savoury sauce, and I couldn't get enough of it over plain rice.   

The Cereal Prawns was another winner. The ones here were so well-fried, the shells could be eaten. Most restaurants suffer from soggy cereal, but these were perfect. While on the topic of seafood, the deep fried codfish fillet was gorgeously cooked, and we lapped both dishes up alongside the Crabmeat Fried Rice, which had great wok hei. Sigh. 

One memorable dish was the curry prawns. Delicious, a little spicy, but most of all, memorable because Miss XS just had a manicure white nail polish done at Sutera Mall before dipping her unknowing hand into the curry...

Oops

Even the traditional Chinese dessert 芋泥 (Yam Paste) was spectacular. The presentation was unlike any I'd seen; it was shaped to look solid, with a glistening surface that made it looked like jelly, and surrounded by a pool of interlacing milk-colored and transparent liquids. But taste-wise, the dessert was as traditional as they come. 

Address:
No 1, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/4, Sutera Utamabiz Centre, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor

Sutera Mall
Literally next to Restoran Pekin, we first dropped by just so she can find a nail place to fix her manicure post-dinner. Aside from nail saloons, there are also hairdressers like In-Red Salon that cut and dye hair at an affordable price. 


Escape Room Johor 
They are located on the top floor of Sutera Mall. Loads of timeslots are available when we walked in, although it's best to reserve a slot online to avoid disappointment. Each game costs about RM33-35 per pax, and they're open from 11am to 11pm. 

The good part: The games were sophisticated, amongst the top that I've been to, and in no way easy. We enjoyed the challenge, and did three games in our 2 days in JB in my recent trip. 

The bad part: We are used to the ones in Melbourne, whose escape artists want you to have a good time by being forthcoming with tips and who are more than happy to stay and chat and show us how to solve all the puzzles after our hour is up, the Escape Room here limits their assistance to two per game. We tried ringing for them a third time and the staff just didn't materialise at all (insert crying face). It can be quite frustrating to get stuck on one aspect of the room for the last 15 minutes, and I'm not sure if ending on a sour note is the best way to end your interaction with customers. Expect to get ushered out by the staff when time is up, and being ignored when you try to talk to them about the puzzles. But for that price, who can complain. 


Wish-List
Creamery Boutique Ice Creams JB
Nowhere close to anywhere else on this list, but fluffy lava cookies with an oozy centre and a scoop of ice cream over it? Sign me up. Facebook page here.