Restoran ZZ @ Johor Bahru

There are two Restoran ZZ (that we know of) in JB. However, they are unrelated. The one on Jalan Mahmoodiah is famous for it's briyani gam while the other is its mee rebus tulang.

KK: They are also not far from each other, probably about 2 kilometres apart, so make sure you go to the right one.

Literally translated, mee rebus means boiled noodles which, when I was younger and not yet familiar with the dish, thought it meant it was mee in plain soup. Oooh, so far off!

No watery soup, it's a thick gravy mainly consisting of beef broth and pureed sweet potato, with taugeh and topped with fresh cili and crispy fried shallots. It's a hearty, sweet and savoury dish. Restoran ZZ takes it to the next level - let's make it sinful. 

This bad boy of mee rebus comes with a straw so you can suck the marrow of the lamb shanks (we got 3) adorning the dish. Ahhhh cholesterol.



The dish has other options such as bone with meat, meat or plain but why go all this way for plain?

If you're not hungering for mee rebus, then give their Laksa Johor a go. I personally think that Laksa Johor is the most complicated laksa dish to cook properly as it requires so much ingredients! I have yet to find good Laksa Johor in Klang Valley much to my dismay (feel free to share if you know a spot).

The laksa here came with a glorious gravy teeming with fish. It's so thick you chomp, not slurp it. The spaghetti itself was not over cooked (but not al dente). Despite the generous amount of fish, the dish itself is not fishy, which I sometimes find Penang Laksa to be.  It may not look aesthetically pleasing but it's all good in the taste department.

Both dishes come with a reasonably generous serving. I sometimes find mee rebus in Klang Valley to have smaller portions, I don't know why.

K: I heard this story about the origin of laksa Johor. While I can't vouch for it's accuracy, it's a nice story to share. Anyway, apparently Sultan Abu Bakar went to Europe and he was so taken by spaghetti that when he got back to Johor, he ordered the royal chef to come up with a new dish incorporating spaghetti. And voila, laksa Johor was born.

Restoran ZZ has kampung theme setting, you can dine at a normal table or go for a pondok to duduk bersila (remember to take off your shoes). The service was friendly and surprisingly fast, and restaurant itself was pretty clean too. There are other dishes available including pisang goreng (banana fritters) if you're hungering for a tea time snack.

K: We were lucky enough to get free entertainment in the form of 3 young ladies who were terrified of cats. As we all know, even though it's not really hygienic, cats do roam around restaurants in Malaysia. These 3 girls were shrieking and cowering in a corner just because a big, bad cat decided to say hello. And it happened twice, with 2 different cats. Fun time for the cats. "Let's act nonchalant and just sit near them, cleaning ourselves up. Stupid humans."

Verdict - a triple threat; good food, good service, good price.

Restoran ZZ (here's a map)
Jalan Petri
Johor Bahru
Open daily from 7am to 2am
Price - $

Warung Saga @ Johor Bahru, Johor

At a t-junction, across Esso gas station and near Rima College is a restaurant that's exterior is so unassuming, it's easy to miss it. Plus there tend to be cars parked right in front of it, blocking the very hard to read restaurant sign.

But inside, it's striking indeed with its wall-to-wall of photographs of royals, politicians, celebrities and even music records.

K: And when we refer to music records, we mean the old school piring hitam albums stuck on the walls. Not just the covers ya, but also the piring hitam themselves.

Their signature dish is Lontong Kering, which we've never had or heard of, so we were looking forward to this. Unfortunately for us, we got there at 11am (you try getting out early with a cranky baby) and we were greeted with a "makanan dah habis. Tinggal sup dengan minuman jer" (food's finished. There's only soup and drinks)

Uuuu T.T

Not wanting to go all this way empty handed, we took the soup tulang (literally 'bone') with bread.

It came with kicap and cili potong but it wasn't necessary as the soup was choked with flavour from the herbs and spices and beef broth. Maybe it's because we had the very last bowl? The "tulang" actually had generous chunks of tender meat.

So good and this isn't their top dish? Wah liao!

K: I concur. The sup tulang was excellent. Some places are very stingy with their sup tulang - the bones look like they've been scraped clean and there would only be minute pieces of beef floating around but not here. Lotsa beef for me hungry tummy! They can call it beef soup instead of sup tulang and it would still fit the description.

The soup was not too oily and neither was it over spiced and thickened like the mamak soups. Clear beef soup where the beef was the main star, not smothered by the spices. Just the way i like it. :)

My main 'beef' (pun intended) with the place was the customer service. When we came a young man greeted us nicely and told us that only soup was left as they haven't started on their lunch menu yet. Understood, since it was 11 am so, we were stuck in the Twilight Zone between breakfast & lunch.

But later, when we were having our meal, more people dropped by and they were told brusquely by a makcik that there's no food and only drinks were left. This was after 12 pm. 12 pm is lunch time, still no food for the lunch crowd? And can't you tell them nicely when the food will be ready instead of shooing them away like stray cats?

Before we left, I asked the guy preparing the lunch food what time do they normally run out of breakfast food. His answer, "Kadang-kadang cepat, kadang-kadang lambat." Wow, that's really informative. I asked the same question to the pleasant young man who first greeted us when we came and his answer was "Around 9 - 9.30 am." See, that's not too hard now, isn't it? 

Good food is one thing, but good customer service also goes a long way.

Warung Saga caters mainly for the breakfast crowd, so do come early if you want to avoid disappointment. Besides their basic menu (which includes the Lontong Kering), they have daily specials. We heard that the Laksa Johor is recommended, available only on Saturdays.

According to a sign in the restaurant, the specials are:

Saturday - Laksa Johor
Sunday - Mee Rebus
Monday - Mee Siam Kuah & Gado Gado
Tuesday - Laksa Nyonya
Wednesday - Mee Sup Sambal Belacan
Thursday - Soto

All of the above are priced at RM3

Warung Saga (here's a map)
Jalan Mahmoodiah
Johor Bahru
Halal
Price range - $

Verdict - Definitely going to come here again to sample this Lontong Kering.

Gerai Ayong @ Johor Bahru, Johor

I pestered K to take me on a makan trip last year before delivering but the man was just too busy. In the end, we planned the trip for Jun 2013, that's over half a year ahead! 

Haze or no haze, aku takleh sabar dah woy. I WANT MY NOMS I WANT IT NOW!

I got some serious side eye when choosing JB for makan trip destination. JB takde benda lah, said K and some friends. HAH! 

Apologies for crappy photos (and lack of it), we used a camera phone. But to make up for it, have a map! 

Important advice for people not familiar with JB - don't completely trust googlemap for directions. It hasn't been updated, we had to make a lot of u turns as there was no right turns. 

Gerai Ayong, Medan Selera Tepian Tebrau

Gerai Ayong is famous for tauhu and char kway/ koi bakar, sotong kangkung, ikan bakar (grilled fish) and ais jelly. 

Clockwise from top - ABC, Tauhu & Char Kway Bakar, Ais Jelly

The tauhu and char kway bakar (grilled) was a surprise hit for both of us. The crunchy, lightly charred tauhu and char kway  was served with sweet and sour rojak sauce with peanuts and cucumber. 

The sotong kangkung was good, served with same sauce. The sotong was springy and overall, it's a good dish, but I wouldn't drive all the way from KL to JB for it, mostly cos it's not something too hard to find.

We chose ikan pari (sting ray), the sambal on the ikan bakar was an absolute winner. Sweet, sour and spicy, the sambal was so sedap you don't need any dipping sauce/ condiments and the fish itself was fresh and well cooked. We were hoping for other seafood like baby crabs but they only had fish in stock that day. 

 
Left - Sotong Kangkung & Ikan Pari Bakar

For drinks we had the ais jelly and abc. Wah, macam day and night. The ais jelly is light and refreshing thanks to the limau, while the abc was heavier as it's served with generous drizzle of chocolate sauce instead of sirap. The abc was interesting but it can be weird eating red beans and sweet corn with chocolate. To be honest, I think the ais jelly compliments the fish better than abc.  

K: Actually felt a bit muak eating the ABC. Too rich, too rich! It's something I would give a miss and I am a choc lover too. Choc's great, as long as it's not too sweet of course.

Random musings: The stall's name is Gerai Ayong & the operator, Ayong, is Chinese, so how come the name of the operator on the signboard is Malay? Chinese Moslem? Ali Baba? Anyone can shed some light?

Gerai Ayong is located at the Tepian Tebrau Food Court, which apparently has other good stalls too. Will have to make another trip down to JB to check the rest out...if we can resist going back to Ayong that is!

Verdict - Worth the trip, worth a repeat :D

Gerai Ayong
Medan Selera Tepian Tebrau
Jalan Mohd Amin
80100 Johor Bahru

Open from 6PM - 12PM

Closed on Wednesdays

No pork served

Price range - $-$$

not dead

apologies for the lack of updates (although tbh does ne1 care?). i'm not dead, i just had a baby.

Yut Loy @ Kuala Kangsar, Perak

(TJ is unable to review this place as thinking about it puts her cravings into a mad frenzy.)

K: As an old boy of MCKK, one of our hangouts during weekends was the Hainanese kopitiam Yut Loy. Our exclusive boys club was at the 1st floor of the restaurant, where only MCKK boys were allowed. The other lesser mortals would have to be satisfied with the ground floor.

The top item on the menu was definitely the pau. The pau was light and fluffy, with delightful fillings inside. There were kaya, red bean, beef and chicken fillings. There were other food of course, but the pau was the main draw. If you come during MCKK's Old Boys Weekend, you would have to order reaaaaal early (by phone if you can) because if you come and expect to get pau just like that, you are dreaming.

The paus are so good that they get the royal thumbs up from the Sultan of Perak!

However, there was one particular food that was actually really good and quite unique but I only discovered it after I left school.

Okay, I'm sure everyone had tried hainanese chicken chop and beef steak before, but the one thing that I am not sure many people have ever tried is egg steak. Yes, you read it right, egg steak!

The story goes that the MCKK boys were too broke to afford chicken chop or beef steak, so instead they ordered egg steak which is basically fried egg with gravy. It's the same gravy used for the beef steak and chicken chop, just poured on egg. The gravy is not your typical black pepper sauce but a brown sauce served with onions, peas and carrots.

Having said that, the beef steak and chicken chop is much better than the egg steak. But hey, if you want to try something unique, just give the egg steak a go!

Yut Loy
No 51, Jalan Kangsar
Kuala Kangsar
33000 Perak
T:  057766369

Price: $ - $$
Halal

(first pic courtesy of dammitlil)

Mee Udang Mak Jah @ Taiping

When asked for makan spots in Taiping, K's friends enthusiastically nominated the famous Mee Udang Mak Jah at Kuala Sepetang aka Port Weld. We were warned that it tends to be rather hot to dine in this open air stall during the day, so we came at night instead.

Finding the place was an anti-climatic adventure as we couldn't find an address. Turns out there's really no need for one as it's facing the ONLY trunk road from Taiping. There are a lot of Mee Udang stalls along the road but we were told to ignore them and only go for Mak Jah.

The famous dish is actually called Mee Udang Banjir (literally translates to Flooded Prawn Noodles) and is not the same as chinese style prawn mee. I've never actually had Malay style prawn mee before but whoa, this is good stuff I can't believe I've been missing out all my life!

The biggest difference between the malay style and chinese is that the former's soup is thicker and more tangy, probably due to a tomato base. Add the slow burning spiciness balanced with sweetness and you've got a bowl good to the last drop. It's served with crunchy fried shallots and of course, a generous serving of fresh prawns from Kuala Sepetang.

The noodle dish comes in two versions; "biasa" (RM7) and "special" (RM11). The difference is the size of the prawns, the latter served with bigger prawns.

K: I had the Mee Goreng Udang Biasa (RM7). It's basically mee goreng basah with a generous serving of prawns. The mee goreng udang was good but having tasted TJ's mee udang I have to admit, mee udang is waaaay better than the mee goreng.

According to an article published on a local daily that hangs proudly on display, the restaurant exclusively uses fresh prawns from Kuala Sepetang. No prawns = no mee udang = close shop. Fuh, that's commitment!

Afterwards a friend of K's asked him if he tried the cucur udang which we didn't since we were already quite full after eating the noodles. K's friend said the cucur udang is a must have too. Ah well, next time then.

Mee Udang Mak Jah is a family run restaurant and one of her children opened an outlet in Klang Valley! Some critics say it is not as good as the original but we have no complaints upon our recent visit there. Having missed out on the cucur udang at Kuala Sepetang, we didn't want to miss out on them this time. Alas, the Wangsa Maju outlet does not serve cucur udang.

K had a chat with the cashier who turned out to be the wife of Mak Jah's younger son. She says it's not easy to prepare the cucur udang, which is why it's not available in KL. Apparently the cucur udang is prepared by Mak Jah's older son, who is running the original outlet in Kuala Sepetang. He was supposed to come over to KL and serve cucur udang at the outlet here which would mean no cucur udang at Kuala Sepetang, but since his kids are still in school, the idea was shelved.

K was quite astounded at this bit of news. Since when was cucur udang so complicated that only ONE PERSON in the entire family knows how to prepare it? Not even the younger brother can prepare it?

Wow!! This must be a helluva cucur udang!! SAYA MESTI PILIH!!!

Another trip to Kuala Sepetang beckons....



In short - Slurp slurp burp! Good food + generous portions + good price = Must makan

Mee Udang Mak Jah
Jalan Taiping-Kuala Sepetang
Kampung Menteri,
Kuala Sepetang, Taiping
Open from 11am to 10pm daily*
*closed on Wednesday

OR

Mee Udang Mak Jah
No.22, Jalan Wangsa Delima 10,
Wangsa Maju (near Wangsa Walk)
Kuala Lumpur
Open from 11am to 10pm daily

Price - $
Halal

Greentown Dim Sum Cafe @ Ipoh, Perak

TJ: I love chinese food. I grew up on chinese food. If you share this love, you'll understand my frustration on finding good, affordable chinese food. I know there's a lot of chinese muslim restaurants popping up in Klang Valley but, despite the rave reviews I hear from others, are just "meh" to me.

Yeah, yeah, my standards are too high I guess.

Most of the halal dim sums in Klang Valley tend to be either pricey or too cheap (cheap is not good when it tastes cheap aka inferior. You can find them at pasar malam. Blergh). On a recent makan trip to Perak, K & I stoppped at Ipoh to try halal dim sum at a reasonable-ish price (cos let's face it, dim sum isn't cheap lah).

The restaurant has a good spread of dim sums to select from, price ranging from RM3.20 to RM5.20.

BBQ Chicken Pau (left, RM3.60) has a soft, fluffy bun that wasn't over steamed (I hate wet pau, don't you?). The filling was smooth and sweet, but it can't beat Yut Loy's pau though! The Prawn Dumpling (centre, RM4.90) had a nice springy bite but was outshone by the succulent Chicken Siew Mai (right,RM3.60).

Under the fried dim sum category, we had the (top left panel) Fried Beancurd Roll (RM4.60), the Hive Yam Puffs (mid left panel, RM4.60), the Prosperity Chicken Ball (lower left panel, RM5.20) and Fried Radish Cake (right panel, RM4.20). The fried items were not greasy, so major points for that! 

The beancurd was nice, the yam puffs better and the chicken ball, which comes with a mysterious brown sauce dip, tastes like a dim sum karipap ayam. I personally didn't care for the latter but if you're adventurous and want something a little different...

Fried Radish Cake was the spiciest dish of the day and we were too full by then to truly appreciate it. It had a nice char and like their other fried items, was not greasy but too much taugeh for my liking.

I wanted the Chee Cheong Fun but alas, habis hari tu. I'll have to come back again some day and hope it'll be available! I must also make a note to try their porridges.

For dessert, we had the Egg Tarts (RM4.20) which would've been better had the buttery crust been thinner.

The Greentown Milk Tea (RM3.80) is a must order on the menu. The light layer tea is not too sweet and has a distinct but not overpowering pandan flavour. The addition of fragrant pandan makes this drink a winner! The Sea Coconut and Longan (RM2.70) was good but couldn't stand up to the outstanding Milk Tea.

In short: Definitely worth a visit for dim sum lovers.

Greentown Dim Sum Cafe

No 10, Persiaran Greentown 4,

Greentown Avenue, 30450 Ipoh,

Perak, Malaysia.

Price range - $-$$

Halal - certified lagi