Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: Johor Bharu

Showing posts with label Johor Bharu. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

YummY! - Authentic Korean Food @ Korea House Johor Bahru

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YummY!

Jotaro's Food Review

Authentic Korean Food @ Korea House Johor Bahru

Nong Chik, Johor Bahru, Malaysia - September 2018
We were on a trip down to attend the Brompton Malaysia Day Cycling Event in Johor Bahru and had drove down a day earlier. It's been a while since I was last at the city, it had changed very much and so I was eager to see the many new suburbs that have cropped up and to try out the new food outlets too! And we were most pleasantly surprised to find a Korean restaurant, the Korea House, located at a new stretch of slightly up-market looking street in the Nongchik affluent neighbourhood.
And we were charmed by the nice Korean lady running the place, her soft-spokeness and detailed decoration of the place had lent an authentic Korean air to her place. And to cater for the Malay majority of the locality here, their food is "Pork & Lard" free.

We kicked off with a Buchimgae (부침개), a Korean Pancake, but this was not the regular one this was a Kimchi Pancake loaded with vegetables. The one here was thinner and crispier something akin to a crispy thin pizza. Taste-wise, with the kimchi it was stronger than the usual pancake.
This pancake is also referred to as kimchi-jeon (김치전), and is primarily made with sliced kimchi, flour batter and sometimes other vegetables. However, meat (ground pork) is also often added, the ones served here was vegetarian, sans the pork. The dish is good for using up ripened kimchi. Kimchibuchimgae is often recognized in Korean culture as a folk dish that anyone could make easily at home with no extra budget.

Our mains was this Grilled Chicken Bulgogi, looking very red with . It came piping hot served in one of those dark clay pots sitting on a timber tray.

It came with thin slices of chicken which had been to enhance its flavour and tenderness with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, and other ingredients such as scallions, ginger, and onions. This dish was served with a side of lettuce, which we used to wrap a slice of the cooked meat, with a dab of the ssamjang, it's a hands on ssam style!

Our dinner came with the usual accompaniment of Korean Banchan (반찬) side dishes. My favourites were the cuts of small mushrooms... and surprisingly the mash potatos!

Our dinner continued with a lovely Tofu Stew Soup; It was mildly chilli hot, something easy to go with the chicken. I am not sure, but the tofu tasted unique and could possibly be made by the restaurant themselves.

While we were touring Jeju Island on our bicycles; we had had Grilled Mackerel almost at every meal, finding them to be very tasty and fresh. On seeing that Mackerel was served on the menu, we did not hesitate to order. Unfortunately, although the fish did taste nice, it was not that fresh.

A look at our overall dinner; overall a satisfactory meal except for the fish.

Interestingly Makgeolli (막걸리) is served here. We had politely sat at a quieter corner of the first floor and ordered this. Makgeolli is a milky, off-white and lightly sparkling rice wine has a slight viscosity that tastes slightly sweet, tangy, bitter, and astringent.

Chalky sediment gives it a cloudy appearance. As a low proof drink, it is often considered a happy, communal beverage. Served in unique peach-shaped porcelain cups, the drink went very well with roasted cashew nuts that was served compliments of the house 😋.

View of Korea House ground floor dining area. For those who want privacy, there is ample seating at the first floor too.

Up at the first floor, several shelves and counters had Korean antiques on display, setting a warm mood for diners. The above is a brass dragon bell.

At another counter, next to a nice teapot were these cute porcelain figurines of rural Korean children. Behind them was a collection of miniature traditional Hahoetal Korean masks.

A nice antique brass clock....
which reminds us, it's time to leave.

But not before saying our thanks to the manager, Mdm. Ham, a Korean who had been residing in Malaysia for almost thirty years.

Korea House Johor Bahru

21, Jalan Kolam Air 2, Taman Nong Chik, 80100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

Tel: +60-07-2071772 / +6016-7589367 (Mdm. Ham)
Hours: 12:00pm to 3:00pm | 6:00pm to 9:45pm (Mondays: Dinner only)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Korea-House

E-mail: johobaru@naver.com
GPS & Directional Map: 1.46493, 103.73688

(Click here for Google Street View)

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Thursday, October 18, 2018

YummY! - Laksa Johor @ Imano's Cafe Johor Bharu

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / FootSteps / YummY! / Malay Food / Laksa Johor @ Imano's Cafe Johor Bharu

!YummY!

Jotaro's Food Review

Laksa Johor @ Imano's Cafe Johor Bharu

Nong Chik, Johor Bharu, Johor, Malaysia - September 2018
We were on a trip down to attend the Brompton Malaysia Day Cycling Event in Johor Bharu and had drove down a day earlier. It's been a while since I was last at the city, it had changed very much and so I was eager to see the many new suburbs that have cropped up and to try out the new food outlets too! Some of these new outlets are rather creative, such as Imano's Cafe which is located at a new stretch of slightly up-market looking street in the Nongchik affluent neighbourhood.
We were there for a light bite during afternoon tea and the little we ate gave us a hint of how good the rest of their menu should be.

We started of with a simple appetizer, on their menu it's just described as "Beancurd" and that description belies this modest dish. It came looking very dark, swimming in a pool of deep brown sauce, and crowned with an embellishment of bean sprouts, onion rings, and a sprinkling of finely cut spring onion. A sprig of green parsley and a red cut of chilli added some colour. Without this topping, the dish would have looked like the Tau Kuah Rendang from the neighbourhood stall.

The beancurd (tau kuah) by itself was nothing to shout about; it was just soft and plain tasting - unlike the Hakka tau kuah which has an interesting underling musky flavour. It is their kuah (sauce) that makes this dish wonderful. Cooked with an assortment of spices and herbs (don't ask me what) which all lent their hint of distinctiveness of taste and aroma to the overall flavour. Yes, it's the sauce that makes this a killer and I would agree to the five star rating that was indicated in the menu!
At RM6-90 for just one piece of beancurd, the price may look steep but don't forget that the sauce took a fair bit of preparation that makes it all worth it.

From the Asian Delights section we ordered the "Udang Lemak Cili Padi"; this prawn curry had a five-chilli rating which gave a strong indication that it will be very, very, very, very, very chilli hot. But it wasn't so hot, our trained palates could easily accept the hotness.
It was served with a scoop of rice, ulam (Malay fresh salad leaves). There was also a small separate bowl of sambal belacan (as if the dish was not chilli hot enough). Ok, I am just jiving here, the sambal belacan was to go with the ulam and white rice 😋😋.

The prawn curry may look like Malacca's Assam Pedas, but it was definitely much better. It was cooked with santan without being overly creamy or thick. A well-balanced curry that wasn't cooked with too much spices, which would have otherwise masked the prawn flavour.

Now comes the dish that attracted us to this place in the first place - Laksa Johor. Again it's the curry soup that won us over. It had lots of fish bits well cooked into their full-bodied spice full curry. Our only complaint was that it came with too little of the tasty curry, and before we ate half of the noodles the delicious curry had been lapped dry by us. They made up for it by bringing more.... Yipeee! !Yummy!
Another wonderful five-star dish.

Here's Imano's Cafe Food Menu. I am already eyeing some of the other five-star and five-chilli rated dish 😊.

Imano's Cafe Drinks Menu.

IMANO'S CAFE

31 Nongchik Riverside Commercial, Jalan Kolam Ayer 2, Kampung Mohd Amin, 80100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel: +60 19-726 4393

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imanosjb/

Website: https://imanoscafe.business.site/
GPS & Direction Map : 1.46575, 103.73659

(Note: Google map location is wrong, I have given the right coordinates but direction map is to Potpourri Botique Hotel next door)
(Click here for Google Street View)

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