Laksa Johor at Dann's Café in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

I wanted to try out the best Laksa Johor and naturally I posted the question in Johor Sedap halal food group for help.

Dann's Laksa Johor was one of the few favourites recommended by Johor Sedap group members. Dann's Laksa Johor came famous with lots of media publicity. Dann's Café was named among the Top 50 Laksa outlets in the whole of Malaysia by Tourism Malaysia in 2009/10.

Dann's Laksa Johor was certainly as good as the better ones that I've tried in Johor Bahru.

 

At the neat, well appointed, comfortable air conditioned café, Dann's delicious serving of authentic Laksa Johor can be had for a reasonable RM5.

The fish based gravy made by Dann's follows a traditional family recipe that uses a variety of different fishes blended together with lots of herbs and spices. The thick gravy was layered on the bed of spaghetti.

 

Authentic Laksa Johor uses spaghetti which complemented the spicy, fragrant, savoury and grainy gravy very well. At Dann's, the gravy had nutty crunchy bits, some of which I believe were bits of chai po (preserved vegetables), making the gravy more interesting. 

Dann's does special order Laksa Johor too. Dann's will make the laksa gravy with Ikan Parang at RM9 per serving. Enche Kamalludin, the owner, shared that Ikan Parang makes the best gravy for Laksa Johor. For special order, the minimum order required is 20 servings.

Observing the other customers I noticed that Dann's fried rice and Nasi Briyani are also very popular.

Enche Kamalludin who hails from Pakistan told me that Dann's Café is the first in JB to serve the Hydrabadi style of nasi briyani.

I am a big fan of nasi briyani, so this is something that I must surely come back for.

 

Restaurant name: Dann's Café
Address: 42, Jalan Sagu, Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/lvvYg
GPS: 1.547242,103.764613
Hours: 10:30am to 9:30pm
Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

I wanted to try out the best Laksa Johor and naturally I posted the question in Johor Sedap halal food group for help.

Dann's Laksa Johor was one of the few favourites recommended by Johor Sedap group members. Dann's Laksa Johor came famous with lots of media publicity. Dann's Café was named among the Top 50 Laksa outlets in the whole of Malaysia by Tourism Malaysia in 2009/10.

Dann's Laksa Johor was certainly as good as the better ones that I've tried in Johor Bahru.

 

At the neat, well appointed, comfortable air conditioned café, Dann's delicious serving of authentic Laksa Johor can be had for a reasonable RM5.

The fish based gravy made by Dann's follows a traditional family recipe that uses a variety of different fishes blended together with lots of herbs and spices. The thick gravy was layered on the bed of spaghetti.

 

Authentic Laksa Johor uses spaghetti which complemented the spicy, fragrant, savoury and grainy gravy very well. At Dann's, the gravy had nutty crunchy bits, some of which I believe were bits of chai po (preserved vegetables), making the gravy more interesting. 

Dann's does special order Laksa Johor too. Dann's will make the laksa gravy with Ikan Parang at RM9 per serving. Enche Kamalludin, the owner, shared that Ikan Parang makes the best gravy for Laksa Johor. For special order, the minimum order required is 20 servings.

Observing the other customers I noticed that Dann's fried rice and Nasi Briyani are also very popular.

Enche Kamalludin who hails from Pakistan told me that Dann's Café is the first in JB to serve the Hydrabadi style of nasi briyani.

I am a big fan of nasi briyani, so this is something that I must surely come back for.

 

Restaurant name: Dann's Café
Address: 42, Jalan Sagu, Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/lvvYg
GPS: 1.547242,103.764613
Hours: 10:30am to 9:30pm
Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

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Claypot Catfish at Restoran Top Chance 聚品鲜 in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

I was food spotting around Taman Daya at about 2:00pm when a full house at Top Chance 聚品鲜 restaurant caught my attention. Top Chance looked like any other run of the mill family run seafood and zhe char restaurant ubiquitous in Johor and Malaysia.

As usual, I scanned the assembly of dishes on the tables and saw that almost all the tables had that claypot with a gooey dark gravy with lumpy chunks inside. I stopped and asked one of the staff what that claypot dish was and was told that it was their popular claypot catfish.

Bingo! My suspicions confirmed. Catfish braised in sweet, sour and savoury sauce is one of favourite dishes :) So I sat down and ordered one to try out.

 

The claypot catfish arrived still popping hot bubbles, releasing a pleasant aroma from the dark steaming concoction.

 

The next thing that struck me was the catfish head because so far, I have not had claypot catfish served with the head.

 

The catfish flesh was fresh, tender and fatty. The smooth scaleless skin added to the texture of the dish. The soft flesh was naturally sweet and I didn't notice any of that muddy smell associated with catfish (which is basically a scavenging bottom feeder).

 

The key to a good claypot braised catfish is its sauce. Top Chance's sauce was thick like a syrup and its flavour was robust and pungent. In the gooey tacky dark soy based gravy, I found stalks of lemon grass, chunks of ginger, chili padi, dried chili peppers, peeled onions, whole garlics, and curry leaf. All these ingredients and more, blended together to create a tangy, sweet, spicy and savoury gravy.

 

The flavourful gravy combined well with chunks of tender, smooth, fatty catfish flesh and skin resulting in a creamy, tasty treat.

 

The catfish meat came with bone on and was a little bony, so be careful there.

The catfish liver was softer and smoother than chicken liver and tasted similar. This was the first time I ate a catfish liver - not sure if it is a healthy thing to eat :P

 

The robustly flavoured gravy and sweet catfish flesh complemented the light and fresh tasting steamed white rice perfectly.

After my sumptuous meal which came to RM28 together with two plates of steamed rice and drinks, I spoke with the owner MR Fong to understand more about his restaurant. MR Fong had been running Top Chance with his family for over twenty years.

 

MR Fong then told me that the catfish I just ate was live and was cut only when an order was made. This was the first time that I had claypot catfish with live fish. In other places, the catfish was already cut into chunky cubes ready for cooking.

This explained the catfish head and also the slightly longer waiting time.

I love Top Chance's braised claypot catfish and I shall be back for their braised belly pork with preserved vegetables which MR Fong highly recommended.

 

 

Restaurant name: Top Chance Seafood Restaurant 聚品鲜海鲜
Address: 11, Jalan Sagu 4, Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/JxIpW
GPS: 1.543606,103.765391
Hours: 11:30am to 11:30pm
Non Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

I was food spotting around Taman Daya at about 2:00pm when a full house at Top Chance 聚品鲜 restaurant caught my attention. Top Chance looked like any other run of the mill family run seafood and zhe char restaurant ubiquitous in Johor and Malaysia.

As usual, I scanned the assembly of dishes on the tables and saw that almost all the tables had that claypot with a gooey dark gravy with lumpy chunks inside. I stopped and asked one of the staff what that claypot dish was and was told that it was their popular claypot catfish.

Bingo! My suspicions confirmed. Catfish braised in sweet, sour and savoury sauce is one of favourite dishes :) So I sat down and ordered one to try out.

 

The claypot catfish arrived still popping hot bubbles, releasing a pleasant aroma from the dark steaming concoction.

 

The next thing that struck me was the catfish head because so far, I have not had claypot catfish served with the head.

 

The catfish flesh was fresh, tender and fatty. The smooth scaleless skin added to the texture of the dish. The soft flesh was naturally sweet and I didn't notice any of that muddy smell associated with catfish (which is basically a scavenging bottom feeder).

 

The key to a good claypot braised catfish is its sauce. Top Chance's sauce was thick like a syrup and its flavour was robust and pungent. In the gooey tacky dark soy based gravy, I found stalks of lemon grass, chunks of ginger, chili padi, dried chili peppers, peeled onions, whole garlics, and curry leaf. All these ingredients and more, blended together to create a tangy, sweet, spicy and savoury gravy.

 

The flavourful gravy combined well with chunks of tender, smooth, fatty catfish flesh and skin resulting in a creamy, tasty treat.

 

The catfish meat came with bone on and was a little bony, so be careful there.

The catfish liver was softer and smoother than chicken liver and tasted similar. This was the first time I ate a catfish liver - not sure if it is a healthy thing to eat :P

 

The robustly flavoured gravy and sweet catfish flesh complemented the light and fresh tasting steamed white rice perfectly.

After my sumptuous meal which came to RM28 together with two plates of steamed rice and drinks, I spoke with the owner MR Fong to understand more about his restaurant. MR Fong had been running Top Chance with his family for over twenty years.

 

MR Fong then told me that the catfish I just ate was live and was cut only when an order was made. This was the first time that I had claypot catfish with live fish. In other places, the catfish was already cut into chunky cubes ready for cooking.

This explained the catfish head and also the slightly longer waiting time.

I love Top Chance's braised claypot catfish and I shall be back for their braised belly pork with preserved vegetables which MR Fong highly recommended.

 

 

Restaurant name: Top Chance Seafood Restaurant 聚品鲜海鲜
Address: 11, Jalan Sagu 4, Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/JxIpW
GPS: 1.543606,103.765391
Hours: 11:30am to 11:30pm
Non Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

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Cendol and Coconut Juice Stall in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Most residents of Taman Daya would know about these mobile cendol and fresh coconut juice stalls at the junction of Jalan Sagu 9 and Sagu 10. Suppiah had been running the stalls for 19 years at this street corner and his son Mani joined him.

The two stalls open at 9:00am and close at 7:00pm everyday. I was there on a Friday afternoon and there was a constant stream of customers of all races and ages. Most were regulars as they chatted with Suppiah and Mani like old friends.

Some ate the cendol and drank their fresh coconut on plastic stools along the five foot way. Many took away to enjoy the cendol and coconut juice at home.

 

Suppiah now runs the coconut juice stall.

 



Suppiah is very swift with that chopper. Three or four quick slashes, and the coconut is ready to serve!

 

This refreshing fresh young coconut for RM3.

Gentle scraping with the spoon shaved the tender coconut flesh off the inside of the green coconut. Delicious natural flavours, nothing more, nothing less, nothing added. Perfect.

 

A Chinese regular customer drove by and passed Suppiah a baby milk bottle which the latter promptly filled up with fresh coconut juice. When the customer was paying Suppiah, the latter responded "Free for your baby." It was such a everyday, matter of fact, pure and simple heartwarming gesture.

I asked the customer curiously "Can babies drink this?" as I thought that coconut juice is "too cooling". The gentleman replied that all his three children drank coconut juice since they were a year old. Coconut juice is good for digestion and strengthens the immune system, he added, before quickly getting back into his car with his children inside.

Mani runs the cendol stall. Mani hand shaves the ice block with a traditional ice shaving machine, something very few cendol stalls do nowadays.

 

Mani ladles in a cupful of syrupy gula Melaka.

 

Then a scoopful of coconut milk and pandan jelly "worms".

The green pandan jelly "worms" that cendol lovers love.

The take away version has a mix of shaved ice and ice cubes to keep the cup of cendol cold for a longer time. The usual "dine in" version served in a small bowl was similar to those in other cendol stalls.

Ice cold cendol and fresh coconut juice, the perfect combination to chase away the tropical afternoon heat.

Restaurant name: No name mobile street corner cendol and coconut juice stalls
Address: At the junction of Jalan Sagu 9 and Jalan Sagu 10 in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/K5vEN
GPS: 1.544180,103.764139
Hours: 9:00am to 7:00pm daily
Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

Most residents of Taman Daya would know about these mobile cendol and fresh coconut juice stalls at the junction of Jalan Sagu 9 and Sagu 10. Suppiah had been running the stalls for 19 years at this street corner and his son Mani joined him.

The two stalls open at 9:00am and close at 7:00pm everyday. I was there on a Friday afternoon and there was a constant stream of customers of all races and ages. Most were regulars as they chatted with Suppiah and Mani like old friends.

Some ate the cendol and drank their fresh coconut on plastic stools along the five foot way. Many took away to enjoy the cendol and coconut juice at home.

 

Suppiah now runs the coconut juice stall.

 



Suppiah is very swift with that chopper. Three or four quick slashes, and the coconut is ready to serve!

 

This refreshing fresh young coconut for RM3.

Gentle scraping with the spoon shaved the tender coconut flesh off the inside of the green coconut. Delicious natural flavours, nothing more, nothing less, nothing added. Perfect.

 

A Chinese regular customer drove by and passed Suppiah a baby milk bottle which the latter promptly filled up with fresh coconut juice. When the customer was paying Suppiah, the latter responded "Free for your baby." It was such a everyday, matter of fact, pure and simple heartwarming gesture.

I asked the customer curiously "Can babies drink this?" as I thought that coconut juice is "too cooling". The gentleman replied that all his three children drank coconut juice since they were a year old. Coconut juice is good for digestion and strengthens the immune system, he added, before quickly getting back into his car with his children inside.

Mani runs the cendol stall. Mani hand shaves the ice block with a traditional ice shaving machine, something very few cendol stalls do nowadays.

 

Mani ladles in a cupful of syrupy gula Melaka.

 

Then a scoopful of coconut milk and pandan jelly "worms".

The green pandan jelly "worms" that cendol lovers love.

The take away version has a mix of shaved ice and ice cubes to keep the cup of cendol cold for a longer time. The usual "dine in" version served in a small bowl was similar to those in other cendol stalls.

Ice cold cendol and fresh coconut juice, the perfect combination to chase away the tropical afternoon heat.

Restaurant name: No name mobile street corner cendol and coconut juice stalls
Address: At the junction of Jalan Sagu 9 and Jalan Sagu 10 in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/K5vEN
GPS: 1.544180,103.764139
Hours: 9:00am to 7:00pm daily
Halal

Date visited: 9 Nov 2012

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Tim Sum @ Restoran Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼 in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru

Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼 is a favourite tim sum joint among locals in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru and has a following also from Singapore.

Gim Cheng offers a wide range of fresh traditional tim sum served hot in push carts or on trays.

Like many family owned and run restaurants, the boss is personally on hand to ensure the quality of the food and service.

So it is not surprising that even though we were rather random in our pick of tim sum, they all turned out to be delicious.

I especially liked the custard egg tarts. The fragrant pudding is smooth and creamy while the crust is fluffy, crispy and flaky.

I love the ambiance of this place. Parking is easy. The dining area is bright, airy and cool under the shade of large trees. The clientele is convivial. Very relaxing and cosy. The service is efficient, responsive and friendly. A perfect place for a tasty and sumptuous traditional Chinese breakfast and tea without burning a hole in the pocket. By the way, all that delicious food and drinks set us back by a reasonable RM55.70 (SGD23).

Restaurant name: Restoran Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼

Address: 2 Jalan Sagu 36, Taman Daya

Map: http://g.co/maps/5udg3

GPS: 1.549307,103.76485
Hours: 7:00am to 2:00pm

Non Halal

Date visited: 21 Feb 2012

Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼 is a favourite tim sum joint among locals in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru and has a following also from Singapore.

Gim Cheng offers a wide range of fresh traditional tim sum served hot in push carts or on trays.

Like many family owned and run restaurants, the boss is personally on hand to ensure the quality of the food and service.

So it is not surprising that even though we were rather random in our pick of tim sum, they all turned out to be delicious.

I especially liked the custard egg tarts. The fragrant pudding is smooth and creamy while the crust is fluffy, crispy and flaky.

I love the ambiance of this place. Parking is easy. The dining area is bright, airy and cool under the shade of large trees. The clientele is convivial. Very relaxing and cosy. The service is efficient, responsive and friendly. A perfect place for a tasty and sumptuous traditional Chinese breakfast and tea without burning a hole in the pocket. By the way, all that delicious food and drinks set us back by a reasonable RM55.70 (SGD23).

Restaurant name: Restoran Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼

Address: 2 Jalan Sagu 36, Taman Daya

Map: http://g.co/maps/5udg3

GPS: 1.549307,103.76485
Hours: 7:00am to 2:00pm

Non Halal

Date visited: 21 Feb 2012

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