Ikan Bakar Tampin (Barbecue Fish) Johor Bahru 驰名淡边铁板烧鱼

One day, my friend sent me a FB link that introduce JB famous "Ikan Bakar" aka (barbecue fish) just nearby KSL city, we were both just dying to give it a try. “Ikan Bakar” which means barbecue fish or Char-grill fish in Malay, it was one of the famous food found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. However, for Indonesia style "Ikan Bakar" usually serves with sweet soy sauce, but Malaysia and Singapore is using "sambal" (chili paste).

When we arrived there, we had a hard time to find a place to park the car, since it's residential area and it doesn't have much place to park the car and it seem pretty crowded. Well, this place was a landed house, the table and chair was set up at the front yard, the kitchen was at the side corner of the house and it's open concept, it seem very spacious. We found a place to sit, and we realized that we need to choose the seafood from the display table and place order there as well.

We had ordered their sambal noodle, aka stirred fried noodle with chili paste. the noodle seem like normal traditional fried noodle with dark soy sauce, but it's very tasty and slightly burning hot, it's very local style. like it.

They ran out of "sotong"(squid), so we took cray-fish instead. The cray fish was very fresh, the meat was firm and bouncy, it was fully cooked but still remains juicy, and the sambal was going very well with it.

we also order stirred fried bean sprout, it was just normal.

Finally, the stingray, the fish was fresh, it was firm and juicy. let talk about the sauce, the chili paste was kinda different from other Ikan Bakar that I had previously; usually the chili paste mostly taste sweet and spicy and a little bit of sour, some are too sweet, some are too spicy. But this one, my first bite, it was a little bit of bitter 甘苦, but it's not overpower, then the sweetness and spiciness kick in but in a balanced way; my friend would like it spicier, but I think it was just nice. The char-burned chunky fresh fish fully covered with flavorful sambal sauce, every single bite was a mouthful satisfaction. Yummy! The entire meal took us RM80.00+, pricey? maybe it is, but it definitely worth to try.

Address: 94, Jalan Dato Sulaiman , Taman Century, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor Malaysia

Operating Hour: 5:00pm to 12:30am (Closed on Tuesday & Wednesday)

Han Kee Fish Soup at Amoy Street Food Center

Today I stopped by Amoy Street Food center after finished my meeting early, it was around 11am, the time was still early for lunch but I was heard that a well known fish soup stall at the 2nd floor of the food center is very famous and their queue is very long especially during lunch time that I always curious to try...

After reaching 2nd floor of the food center, I wasn't quite sure which stall is it as there are 2 stalls are selling fish soup over there, I was basing on my own judgement and the crowd to determine which stall that I'm going to try, and I had chosen Han Kee.

Literally, I'm in the line for taking the order and gradually there are more people came and joined the queue, soon I'm convinced that I'm on the right place. I wasn't wait for too long to get my food, and I found a place to sit down to enjoy my fish soup.

At first, the soup looked crystal clear and tasteless for me, but I was wrong, it was flavorful and tasty, the soup taste surprisingly sweet and savory, the chunky slide fish was firm and bouncy, apparently, the fish was very fresh, and the meat taste sweet and salty as well; it was well marinated, The lecture was well supporting to balance the saltiness of the soup; and the sprinkled of deep fried chopped garlic also enchanted the fragrant of the soup, it was so amazing.

After having my fantastic fish soup, the queue was getting longer and ridiculous, it was insane, but I think it was worthy.

Restaurant 1933 at Capitol Building

A casual night, my friend summoned me and my other friends for dinner using whatapps group chat. One of my friend, Carl is regularly food hunting and sharing with his friends and today he brought us to a restaurant in Capitol building that his friend is working there and decided to give it a try.

The food of the restaurant 1933 is mainly western, according to Carl's friend, he said that during the year of 1933, Singapore is still under British colonial, Western food is classy and expensive, no much people can afford it. Therefore, the owner attempt to bring us back to the time and enjoy the food back then.

The restaurant is open concept, the decoration is modern vintage.

Anyway, let's talk about the food, first of all, it's the salad, we had ordered 2 different types of salad, the first salad is fruit based, the dressing tastes like Italian dressing, it's sweet and sour. I have nothing much to say about it, another salad is more like Asian style salad, it added minced pork and cooked shrimp. My friend Kwan claimed that it has some fishy taste, it's because it's a cold dish, cooked minced pork in cold salad might not be taken by everybody. (it's because of fish sauce)

And here comes our mian course, first of all, it's Carson order, fish and chip, the batter fish was perfectly deep fried. It looked amazing, and the decoration is truly an eye candy. 

The next one is grilled cod fish, it's belong to Paul, I did ask for him to cut a small piece for me to try, the fish was cooked just nice, despite it was grilled until golden brown, the softness of the fish is well preserved. The taste is just ok for me.

My main course is cordon blue chicken, it was very difficult to manage the chicken and make sure it was fully cooked and the wrapped cheese was melted when we grilled it. And this dish had done an excellent job, the timing was well controlled. And the chicken is not only just chicken and cheese, The cheese was wrapped by a slice of ham and the ham was covered by the chicken and the chicken was covered by final layer of bacon. It's a remarkable dish

Kwan ordered a steak, it looked wonderful for me, and I couldn't help myself to ask for a small piece to try... Again. Well, it tasted just ok for me. 

The last dish is Carl's pork chop, it's taste was also quite ok for me, overall for all the dishes, the chef did a wonderful effort to cook and decorate them, especially the presentation of all the dishes, it looked perfect for me. However, if the dishes cannot satisfy my taste bud, all the dishes are very decent and less breakthrough for me. But it was quite good experience.

At last, how can we just ended without dessert, we were recommended to get the pandan sponge cake and chocolate layer cake. Worth to mention, the Pandan chiffon cake is fantastic, it was added sugar Melacca to enhance the favorite, and it works.

Once again, thanks Carl for this wonderful dinner and superb experience. 

EP Xian Fish Soup 一品鲜鱼肉汤专卖店 Indahpura, Kulaijaya

It's a beautiful Sunday morning after waking up late from bed, it felt so great just laying on bed until late morning without rushing to work. Suddenly, my hometown friend called me out for a brunch and drove his car coming straight to my home to pick me up.

He brought me to restaurant that only selling fish soup, that locates at Indahpura, Kulaijaya. Named EP Xian 一品鲜, where the owner is a young couple who happens to be my friends; they enjoy spending time for sailing boat and fishing sometime, and therefore, they have a rich of  knowledge in fishing and fish's species, and plenty of suppliers contacts. Their specialized hobby becomes the big advantage for their business. When I arrived there I realized their business is quite good, most of the table were occupied. Again, I convince good food will bring crowds.

My other hometown friends were all there as well, we had a long chitchat and a lot to catchup since we haven't met each other for quite sometime, and therefore we took a long time to place order even though there are not so much options from the menu.

We had ordered dry-stirred thick rice noodle(Beehoon) with combination of fried fish and sliced fish, my friend ordered the same thing but with noodle. When food delivered, it looked just ok for me. The soup looked clear and broth but very tasty, the strong sense of the ginger taste in the soup perfectly combine with freshness and sweetness of the fish, the celery really help enhancing the flavor of the soup, very refreshing. At last, a sprinkle of fried garlic that mixing in the soup pushing the tastiness to a different level.

Despite the fish slices is not chunky but it's very fresh, the firmness and chewiness of the fish slice said it all. the sauce for the noodle taste just right, obviously I can see the ingredients of the sauce contains minced pork and diced mushroom. It's my childhood taste, Simple and nice.

I had great time and enjoyed the good food there, I would love to come back here again. If you just happen to drop by Indahpura, Kulaijaya. it's definitely worth to try.

Morganfield's in Star Vista, Buona Vista

Two days ago, One of my close friend asked me out for dinner since his loves one was out of Singapore, I hate to say this, but he seem devastated and lost. Wake up! Friend.😓

I was at the centre west side and he was at the downtown area, so we had chosen a place where is near for both of us to meet up, Star Vista, Buona Vista. I love the architectural concept of Star Vista, the hall and corridor are open concept and outdoor feel. Plus a green field right in front of the building, makes you feel that you are closer to the natural, yet the building was still looked modern and stylist. 

During that night, they are having a fitness workout event of Zumba dancing, it's open for public. We could see the crowd are surrounding and following the instructor on the stage and dancing Zumba together. 

Well, we struggled for making decision of the dinner, suddenly we stopped by a restaurant and it literally caught my friend's eye. Morganfield's. It was pretty crowded that time, but it was a good sign for me, I always believe that good food brings big crowd. 

Soon enough we were seated had placed the orders, my friend had ordered their house spare rib in 400 grams. That's quite a big portion; and I had ordered their recommended hamburger. And we had ordered the half pint of Asahi beer each in promotion price of 4 dollars. 

Then, here came the worst part of the night, we had waited for quite a long time, the table next to us came later than us but their appetizer served faster than us. It was a bit fustrated but I didn't ask the waitress as she didn't show up even since....

Finally the food was served, the burger seem a bit smaller than I expected... (Imagine I expected a whopper but it turns out a whopper jr.).... But it tasted really good, the chunky beef patty was tender and juicy, with the combination of bacon, stirred fried onion and American cheese, the taste was amazing. Only the size of the burger wasn't enough for me, especially when I'm starving.

The ribs was also very good, an authentic American spare ribs, the meat and bone are easily to be separated, it was very juicy and flavorful, the ribs served with small portion of mashed potato and steamed veggies. The taste was just right.

The overall dining experience was ok, only thing bother me is the food waiting time that took too long, the taste of the food decent and recommend. Try not to come with empty stomach next time.

Ma Maison in Bugis Junction

My friend Kwan invited me for a dinner after work, and I was just happen to be nearby Bugis area; and it is not far to travel from his office to Bugis; therefore, we decided to settle 'thing' here. Apparently, Kwan is quite familiar Bugis restaurant and he recommended a Japanese Western restaurant which is located inside Bugis Junction.

I was surprisingly found a hidden gem, this restaurant is nice and cozy, it was decorated just like a fancy restaurant from Japanese movie. The waitress immediately approached and asked me whether have a reservation. I said no; then she requested me to wait although there are plenty of empty tables. Apparently, they are all reserved. After about 15 to 20 minutes waits,  my table is ready, Kwan was also arrived.

Soon enough we had placed our orders, and the place started to fill with people gradually. our first dish to be delivered is their baked soup, which is strongly recommend by Kwan. A cut piece of French bread soaking in a strong favorite of soup, sprinkling with Mozzarella cheese on top and baked until golden brown. The soap has very strong taste of onion, the first taste of the soup is very heavy, matching with thick milky smell of Mozzarella. It's surprisingly compatible.



The second dish is baked potato with cheese, they use the tiny potato with shrimp and Mozzarella; it looked great and nice presentation. But for the taste, I didn't like it. I thought it was like baked potato skin that we usually seen in normal western restaurant, but it was not, mostly because of the tiny rough skin potato that I'm not fancy with.











Next dish is the squid ink Spaghetti, the taste was just decent, no much thing to be mentioned; I can't really taste the fishy squid ink taste, it was just a normal Spaghetti for me.










And then, the hot pot salad arrived, the mixed of fresh vegetables such as bell paper, cauliflower, broccoli, mushroom, lady finger, cabbage, tomato and etc all cooked in a hot pot with light seasoning, the colorful vegetables has a catching look and freshness of vegetable combination taste. It's simply delightful.












Next, it's Omelette rice. the presentation was really nice, especially the tender and juicy egg blanket on the fried rice, the brown source on the side; truly an eye candy that caught my eye while it arrived. After tasted it, I thought it was just ok, The fried rice is using ketchup and just plain fried rice without any other seasoning or ingredients; egg is tender and juicy as I expected, the sweet and salty brown source is quite match with egg, but rice; I think it was little bit over favorite. but overall, it was quite decent for me.








Paul arrived quite late, we have almost finished every dishes, then we re-ordered some other food for him. first of all, it's the sausage platter, it was normal grilled German sausage; it looked pretty nice but I didn't really try on it, I can't comment much...

Another add-on dish is baked pasta carbonara, it smelled very good, but I was really stuffed by that time; otherwise I would like to try it, anyway, I still remember that Paul did mention about the shell shape pasta was too soft, but it still taste good.









In the end, we decided to get a dessert for the closing, Kwan approached to the display counter to choose; and he got a peach cake. I'm not a big fan of dessert, the sweet and refreshing  peach cake really boast up my satisfaction for the dinner that night.








Lastly, when we asked for the bill, they provided a key for us to 'check out'. That was pretty cool.
Overall, the environment of the restaurant score high, I really like the classy and coziness that restaurant gave me. The taste of the food, I would said it was above average, some food not even reach my expectation. The food presentation was remarkable, if you enjoy to take food photo, it gotto be the right place.

L’Entrecote The French Brasserie at Suntec City

Another casual night, Kwan and Paul invited me to join their dinner, different than the other times, Carl also joined us. We met at Suntec City entrance with a big screen, I had no idea for what we gonna have for dinner, just followed their steps and leaded me to a restaurant, L'Entrecote the French Brasserie.

The restaurant is neat and cozy, what caught my eye was the table, instead of putting table cloth, they put white paper to cover the table top; which reminds me that I had been an Italian restaurant once, they also put white paper as table cloth, and provided crayon that allows kids to draw or sketch on it while having dinner.






Kwan strongly recommended their signature steak with fries to me, which is also highlighted on their menu. I don't have any reason not to choose the steak; hence, Kwan and I chose the steak, Paul ordered baked fish with rice and vegetable, and salad; Carl ordered stew beef with penne pasta.







They didn't take too long for delivering the food, the steak just looked fantastic. it was perfectly medium grilled and cut into size, the yellowish sauce covered on top of the tempting steak; with a large portion of golden brown french fries on side, do I have any more description for the dish? I can simply skip the fries as it was just normal fries, but worth to mention is the fries was unlimited to top up. Well, the steak was tender and juicy as expected; the sauce was really fragrant and unexpectedly mild. I though it would be very strong tasted, but it was certainly not, it reminds me Rendang beef, but it doesn't like Rendang that having a strong favorite, you can smell there are different kind of herb and spices but it still preserved the taste of fresh beef. However, Kwan told me his first experience was so much better.

Stew beef with Penne Pasta

Baked fish with rice and Vege

Green Salad

I didn't tried their food, Carl's pasta looked pretty good for me either; the fish looked quite dry for me, but good thing is they providing sauce on the side.

After finishing the main course, we decided to get a dessert, profiteroles de l'entrecote; aka the vanilla ice cream puff with chocolate syrup on the top and dazzling almond chips. The dessert was just ok for me.

Overall, the expereince was quite decent and memorable. Will I go for second time? sure. why not.