Johor Bahru 2023 - We Were Recommended New Restaurants!

Once or twice a year, we take a day off and head off to Johor Bahru to unwind. I have a selected list of restaurants that I really really like, but this time around, we decided to try several new recommendations. As usual, the queue at the border was non-existent on a weekday at 7am (I guess nobody was quite as bo liao as we are), and we made across the border bright and early for breakfast at Ah Soon Ba Kut Teh. The charcoal-cooked BKT was recommended by a friend. I got to say, I was a little worried for the chef when I saw how the sparks spray up from the charcoal, but the seasoned cook got it in the bag. The broth was light, with an emphasis on five-spice, and we enjoyed the tender pork meat and pork liver. 

Mid Valley Southkey Mall is a relatively new shopping establishment, and we spent the bulk of our day here. We wandered around the mall, picking up things to purchase here and there. Shopping in a mall isn’t exactly the most exciting thing around, but my heart was pounding as I saw that the department store Sogo was having a terrific sale on wine glasses. I picked out a dozen gorgeous-looking glassware. We stopped at the Oriental Kopi, another recommendation from a friend that we reached just before they opened. And it was lucky that we did, as a formidable queue started right behind us. At first glance, it seemed like the usual soft boiled eggs-toast-coffee store, but we were roundly impressed by their iced mocha, which was one of the best thing that I’ve tasted in a long time. It was whipped til well-frothed, and I couldn’t have enough of that thick layer of luscious foam. We shared the toast: each slice of bread was buttered and grilled, and then sandwiched with thick slices of butter and kaya. One probably couldn’t (shouldn’t) eat the entire set by oneself. We love the kaya, and bought several bottles on our way out. The food definitely falls under the “Once in a While” category, and ditto for their famous egg tarts, which I find too buttery. 

And I bought the guiling gao, a truly incongruent dessert to sell (and for me to buy) in a toast-and-egg place. But it was good. 

I honestly couldn’t remember what we did in the mall; it was a blur of bright lights and things to try on and to eat. (Anyone tried the Eureka sour cream flavoured popcorn? I’m a huge fan.) And we had lunch at Dragon-I, a dim sum outlet chain. But because we were absent-minded, we didn’t make an appointment for the massage parlours when we first arrived at the mall at 8am (!!!!), and the day’s slots had all been filled up by the time we realised our mistake. Rookie error. We also made a not-so-quick-after-all stop at the nearby KSL mall, and came to the realisation that other than a few niche things, there really wasn’t not much to do in KSL. 

We made a stop at Keijometo in the afternoon. It’s a cafe, with a nondescript entrance amongst residential houses in a neighbourhood. The numerous parked cars crowding the side of the road was the only indication that something extraordinary was happening in the walls within. We couldn’t otherwise see a signboard or any indication that there’s a business from the outside. Nevertheless, it’s thriving somehow via word of mouth. The matcha was on the sweet side, and I’m glad to have shared the Mentaiko Tamago Sando, so full that we were from our multiple meals. 

We try to head back to Singapore in the early evening, as the causeway gets progressively crowded as people get off work. Our last stop of the day was to Siang Kee, a seafood zichar store by the roadside which Miss XS’s colleague swore by. We told the rest of our family that we were buying dinner back for them, plus we were much too sated from grazing the entire day to properly give the food the attention they deserved. So we got the food to go - perfectly fried cereal crawfishes, flavourful beer pork ribs and huge portions of their mee goreng - and then left for the causeway before the queue got worse. (The friend was right, by the way. Dinner was amazing.) 

While JB has a reputation for being a cheap destination, it’s not really true. It’s cheaper to stay at home in Singapore, after all, and one doesn’t go to all these trouble of crossing the borders to eat an unremarkable plate of noodles. It’s a place to spend a day hanging out with your loved ones and to indulge in the best of Chinese cuisine: seafood, herbal ducks and (whole) suckling pigs.