Paloh is one of those small towns where the Malaysia Railway (KTM) train stops and which heydays were past with the arrival of the North South Expressway.
On the way back to Johor Bahru from Kuala Lumpur, we dropped by Paloh, taking a 45 minutes detour after exiting the Yong Peng toll.
Why come to Paloh? Because Johor Kaki is committed to put every good Johor hawker on the World Wide Web. Never mind that it is in a forgotten old town as long as it is in Johor.
Our KL readers Ooi and Koe who visited Paloh before gave us some leads. When in Paloh, we further asked the friendly locals we met about what food is popular here.
Two stalls and a kopitiam were mentioned often. I've earlier blogged about Ling Nam kopitiam, a heritage treasure trove. The stalls are the wanton mee stall at the small food centre beside the bus station, and the curry mee stall next to the disused Capitol Theatre.
Arriving at Paloh, our first stop was the bus station and food centre at the centre of town. There wasn't any bus at the bus station on a sunny Thursday morning. And, there was plenty of parking space at the food centre.
This was the food centre on a Thursday morning in Paloh. The food centre like Paloh town itself, was half shut.
The wanton mee auntie was not full of enthusiasm about being photographed and interviewed :P Theirs is a "nothing much 没有什么" stall, she humbly said.
My friend Kumes liked this wontan mee. The noodles were crunchy and the sauce was soy sauce based with a bit of sesame oil. Personally, I like my wanton noodle crunchier and more fragrant.
Auntie and her son make everything themselves - the noodles, wanton, and charsiew. Nothing is very artisanal here but it's simplicity has it own charm, reflecting small town laidbackness and authenticity.
The wontan mee stall opens around 9:00am and closes around 1:00pm. There is no specific off day. When it is about 1:00pm, the auntie just packs up everything and closes the stall.
The curry mee stall is just about 50 metres away, in the zinc roofed provision shop right beside the disused Capital Theatre. You can't miss Capital Theatre when you are in Paloh town, as it's the largest structure in town. The imposing name and the facade of the disused building, tells of grander days.
The curry mee stall has been around for over 50 years since the time of Mdm Lim's father. But, much of the younger generation of the Lim clan today are in the bigger cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Mdm Lim's name is Ah Choo, so this stall is known as "Ah Choo curry mee".
This curry mee is overflowing and spilling over the sides with noodles, bee hoon, fish cake, pork ball, char siew and other ingredients. Everything is handmade at the stall except for the mee and bee hoon.
The curry was not the lemak kind and rather mild in flavour but this is easily fixed with their "power" sambal chili. The fiery sambal is solid with plenty of chili and dried shrimps.
These two stalls would not be enough for me to recommend to you to take the long detour to try them. But if you happen to be in Paloh, let's say because you took the KTM train, you may want to try these stalls recommended by the locals.
Our last stop in Paloh was Ling Nam kopitiam - this one, I'll suggest, you don't want to miss :)
Restaurant name: No name wanton mee and Ah Choo curry mee near the bus station Address: At the Paloh bus station Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Eo0VF GPS: 2.189051,103.194242 Hours: Wanton mee (9:00am to 1:00pm), Curry mee (9:30am to 8:00pm) Non Halal
Date visited: 7 Mar 2013
Paloh is one of those small towns where the Malaysia Railway (KTM) train stops and which heydays were past with the arrival of the North South Expressway.
On the way back to Johor Bahru from Kuala Lumpur, we dropped by Paloh, taking a 45 minutes detour after exiting the Yong Peng toll.
Why come to Paloh? Because Johor Kaki is committed to put every good Johor hawker on the World Wide Web. Never mind that it is in a forgotten old town as long as it is in Johor.
Our KL readers Ooi and Koe who visited Paloh before gave us some leads. When in Paloh, we further asked the friendly locals we met about what food is popular here.
Two stalls and a kopitiam were mentioned often. I've earlier blogged about Ling Nam kopitiam, a heritage treasure trove. The stalls are the wanton mee stall at the small food centre beside the bus station, and the curry mee stall next to the disused Capitol Theatre.
Arriving at Paloh, our first stop was the bus station and food centre at the centre of town. There wasn't any bus at the bus station on a sunny Thursday morning. And, there was plenty of parking space at the food centre.
This was the food centre on a Thursday morning in Paloh. The food centre like Paloh town itself, was half shut.
The wanton mee auntie was not full of enthusiasm about being photographed and interviewed :P Theirs is a "nothing much 没有什么" stall, she humbly said.
My friend Kumes liked this wontan mee. The noodles were crunchy and the sauce was soy sauce based with a bit of sesame oil. Personally, I like my wanton noodle crunchier and more fragrant.
Auntie and her son make everything themselves - the noodles, wanton, and charsiew. Nothing is very artisanal here but it's simplicity has it own charm, reflecting small town laidbackness and authenticity.
The wontan mee stall opens around 9:00am and closes around 1:00pm. There is no specific off day. When it is about 1:00pm, the auntie just packs up everything and closes the stall.
The curry mee stall is just about 50 metres away, in the zinc roofed provision shop right beside the disused Capital Theatre. You can't miss Capital Theatre when you are in Paloh town, as it's the largest structure in town. The imposing name and the facade of the disused building, tells of grander days.
The curry mee stall has been around for over 50 years since the time of Mdm Lim's father. But, much of the younger generation of the Lim clan today are in the bigger cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Mdm Lim's name is Ah Choo, so this stall is known as "Ah Choo curry mee".
This curry mee is overflowing and spilling over the sides with noodles, bee hoon, fish cake, pork ball, char siew and other ingredients. Everything is handmade at the stall except for the mee and bee hoon.
The curry was not the lemak kind and rather mild in flavour but this is easily fixed with their "power" sambal chili. The fiery sambal is solid with plenty of chili and dried shrimps.
These two stalls would not be enough for me to recommend to you to take the long detour to try them. But if you happen to be in Paloh, let's say because you took the KTM train, you may want to try these stalls recommended by the locals.
Our last stop in Paloh was Ling Nam kopitiam - this one, I'll suggest, you don't want to miss :)
Restaurant name: No name wanton mee and Ah Choo curry mee near the bus station Address: At the Paloh bus station Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Eo0VF GPS: 2.189051,103.194242 Hours: Wanton mee (9:00am to 1:00pm), Curry mee (9:30am to 8:00pm) Non Halal
At the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference and Awards (MITBCA), we bumped into reader Ooi and her hubby Koe (owners of Serai Inn in KL). I mentioned that we will be food hunting in the smaller Johor towns on the way back to JB. Ooi immediately suggested Paloh which she had just been to recently. Ooi suggested that we try the wanton mee, curry mee, and the traditional kopitiam, Ling Nam.
So yesterday, as we headed south after MITBCA, we diverted to Paloh. It turned out to be a most interesting and fruitful trip. Thank you so much, Ooi and Koe :)
After exiting at the Yong Peng toll, it was another 30 km of windy, twisty, undulating roads passing oil palm plantations and the occasional small rubber plots.
Paloh is a small town. The whole town could be covered in 15 minutes of brisk walking. That grayish building in the middle is Capitol Theatre. It had its last screening a long time ago.
Ling Nam kopitiam is that pink shop with blue wooden windows, on the left along Jalan Abu Bakar.
This is the interesting, sun beaten bamboo curtain at the shoe shop next to Ling Nam kopitiam. The motif looked so charmingly 1960s.
We ordered Mr. Wong's famous kopi and kaya toast.
Each kopi personally made by Mr. Wong, who had been running Ling Nam for over 50 years, was robust, full bodied and smooth.
Ling Nam's kaya toast is unique. The slices of butter and kaya filled the pocket made by cutting open the thick slice of toasted white bread.
Mr. Wong squeezing his famous homemade kaya into the toasted bread pocket.
Kumes enjoying the delicious kaya toast and kopi.
The bread which Mr. Wong got from the town's traditional bread man was very light, airy and especially crispy after Mr. Wong's skillful toasting.
We wanted to buy some old style bread to bring home but the bakery was already closed when we were leaving Paloh (around 2:00pm).
Have you tried coffee made with well water? This is Mr. Wong drawing water from the 60-foot deep well at the back of Ling Nam kopitiam.
The well water was so clean that you can drink it straight from the well, without boiling.
Mr. Wong is passionate about the heritage of kopitiams. He patiently shared with us, the story behind the early versions of fizzy drink bottles. Mr. Wong shared that early fizzy drinks were called "Holland water" 荷兰水 because they were first imported from Jakarta (then, a Dutch colony).
Mr. Wong showed us the various types of milk tin openers. He then demonstrated his skills in opening a milk tin with a old style can opener blindfolded within 3 seconds. Amazing.
These bottles of "candy" caught my eyes and I couldn't resist asking Mr. Wong what they were.
Mr. Wong poured out the colourful "candies" onto the marble top table.
It turned out that these were paper "bullets" made by rolling empty cigarette boxes. People growing up in the 60s and 70s, would fondly remember playing with these during their growing up years. Mr. Wong is a good shot with the "lastic" which he uses to shoot at lizards and cockcroahes in his kopitiam. Mr. Wong takes great pride in keeping his kopitiam spic and spank, there was not an insect nor lizard in sight.
Small town kopitiams have a rustic charm and human touch which are rarely matched by modern cafes and coffee shops. To me, the time we shared with Mr. Wong was well worth the 30 km diversion off the North-South highway.
As we said our goodbyes, Mr. Wong gave each of us a bottle of Ling Nam's fresh kaya. Thank you, Mr. Wong.
We will be back again :)
Restaurant name: Ling Nam kopitiam Address: 26, Jalan Abu Bakar, Paloh, Kluang, Johor Map: http://goo.gl/maps/P8P61 GPS: 2.188622,103.194000 Hours: 6:30am to 3:00pm No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
Date visited: 7 Mar 2013
At the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference and Awards (MITBCA), we bumped into reader Ooi and her hubby Koe (owners of Serai Inn in KL). I mentioned that we will be food hunting in the smaller Johor towns on the way back to JB. Ooi immediately suggested Paloh which she had just been to recently. Ooi suggested that we try the wanton mee, curry mee, and the traditional kopitiam, Ling Nam.
So yesterday, as we headed south after MITBCA, we diverted to Paloh. It turned out to be a most interesting and fruitful trip. Thank you so much, Ooi and Koe :)
After exiting at the Yong Peng toll, it was another 30 km of windy, twisty, undulating roads passing oil palm plantations and the occasional small rubber plots.
Paloh is a small town. The whole town could be covered in 15 minutes of brisk walking. That grayish building in the middle is Capitol Theatre. It had its last screening a long time ago.
Ling Nam kopitiam is that pink shop with blue wooden windows, on the left along Jalan Abu Bakar.
This is the interesting, sun beaten bamboo curtain at the shoe shop next to Ling Nam kopitiam. The motif looked so charmingly 1960s.
We ordered Mr. Wong's famous kopi and kaya toast.
Each kopi personally made by Mr. Wong, who had been running Ling Nam for over 50 years, was robust, full bodied and smooth.
Ling Nam's kaya toast is unique. The slices of butter and kaya filled the pocket made by cutting open the thick slice of toasted white bread.
Mr. Wong squeezing his famous homemade kaya into the toasted bread pocket.
Kumes enjoying the delicious kaya toast and kopi.
The bread which Mr. Wong got from the town's traditional bread man was very light, airy and especially crispy after Mr. Wong's skillful toasting.
We wanted to buy some old style bread to bring home but the bakery was already closed when we were leaving Paloh (around 2:00pm).
Have you tried coffee made with well water? This is Mr. Wong drawing water from the 60-foot deep well at the back of Ling Nam kopitiam.
The well water was so clean that you can drink it straight from the well, without boiling.
Mr. Wong is passionate about the heritage of kopitiams. He patiently shared with us, the story behind the early versions of fizzy drink bottles. Mr. Wong shared that early fizzy drinks were called "Holland water" 荷兰水 because they were first imported from Jakarta (then, a Dutch colony).
Mr. Wong showed us the various types of milk tin openers. He then demonstrated his skills in opening a milk tin with a old style can opener blindfolded within 3 seconds. Amazing.
These bottles of "candy" caught my eyes and I couldn't resist asking Mr. Wong what they were.
Mr. Wong poured out the colourful "candies" onto the marble top table.
It turned out that these were paper "bullets" made by rolling empty cigarette boxes. People growing up in the 60s and 70s, would fondly remember playing with these during their growing up years. Mr. Wong is a good shot with the "lastic" which he uses to shoot at lizards and cockcroahes in his kopitiam. Mr. Wong takes great pride in keeping his kopitiam spic and spank, there was not an insect nor lizard in sight.
Small town kopitiams have a rustic charm and human touch which are rarely matched by modern cafes and coffee shops. To me, the time we shared with Mr. Wong was well worth the 30 km diversion off the North-South highway.
As we said our goodbyes, Mr. Wong gave each of us a bottle of Ling Nam's fresh kaya. Thank you, Mr. Wong.
We will be back again :)
Restaurant name: Ling Nam kopitiam Address: 26, Jalan Abu Bakar, Paloh, Kluang, Johor Map: http://goo.gl/maps/P8P61 GPS: 2.188622,103.194000 Hours: 6:30am to 3:00pm No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
