Simple, Hearty Breakfast...

A perfect breakfast doesn't mean that you have to splurge on something nice or expensive... a simple breakfast can be satisfying as well. Something that excites your taste bud with its flavourful ingredients and skillful preparation.

My cousin brought me to this particular restaurant that serves one and only one dish... koay teow soup (well, this is what they call their dish here). According to him, this place is extremely popular with both locals and Singaporeans. Normally it will be packed on weekends and waiting for tables are norms here. Luckily we came here on weekdays so parking and table were relatively easy to find. From the outside, Yong Xin looked just like an ordinary harker style restaurant. Tables and chairs were placed outside the pedestrian walk as well as parking spot.

On the inside, wooden tables and chairs were used instead of plastic. As ordinary as it looks, I'm not here to be oh-ed and ah-ed by its design but to see if the koay teow soup is as good as my cousin claimed.

After placing orders, I took some time to take some pictures of the workers in action. The task of preparing had been delegated to the foreign workers, supervised by the owner himself.

The big steel tank where they store the soup.

There are a lot of ingredients that make up for a bowl of koay teow soup!!! Depending on the size that you order, extra ingredients will be given.

Succulent pork slices that made me drooled even before the dish was served!!!

My medium sized koay teow soup - if you like pork noodle, then this particular dish will definitely appeal to you. The presence of seafood noticably oyster, prawns & abalone slices had given it extra sweetness to the clear soup that filled with koay teow and other stuff - minced meat, pork liver, pork slices, pork kidney and seaweed for a bowl of medium sized dish. Sea asparagus will be thrown in to those who order large size.

Deep fried sui kow @ RM3.50 for 4 pieces... the skin was very crispy and yet not oily at all! Perfect!

Leo's verdict - the koay teow soup was simply heavenly! Good till the last drop... and I mean that I literally licked the whole bowl clean right after finishing the ingredients. At RM8, it's worth every penny paid for the koay teow soup. Additional RM2 to upgrade to size Large where they will throw in sea asparagus :) I'll opt for the Large one next time... can't have enough of it!

The Place: Restoran Yong Xin @ Jalan Pahlawan 1, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Johor Bahru

A word of reminder, due to its popularity... there are a few copycat restaurants operating nearby to get a slice of the pie. Just head straight to Yong Xin!

Satay... Chinese style!

After 2 posts on my birthday, back to regular posting where I left off...

Jalan Sutera is a rather long stretch of road... while the Bubur Nasi Istimewa No.1 stall is located further in, you could spot a very bright sign of Restoran See Hai on the left not long after you turn in from Tebrau Highway. Judging from the picture of fish and crab on the signboard, you would have guessed that it's just another seafood restaurants in JB. Well... you are right partly! It's not that hard to see when all the fish tanks are placed at the entrance of the restaurant.

But my cousin, Wai, had other agenda... according to him, this place is also famous for its satay. I can easily eat the famous Haji Samsuri satay (Kajang) if I want la... I said to him. He just smiled and told me that it's different kind of satay that you'd normally find in KL. After the porridge thingy, he brought Gerald and I here straight away. The so-called satay stall was spotted right in front of the restaurant... on the kaki lima (pedestrian walk la..). Tables and chairs were seen placed on the road, just like those mamak stalls. Oh well, maybe Malaysian really like those mamak feel at night. An Indonesian woman was busy manning the satay placed on the grill.

Walking closer to take some pictures, I realised that those were not regular ayam, lembu, kambing or arnab satay that we eat in KL... the prawns on the skewers caught my attention.

Followed by the chicken wing that I have no idea how on earth they managed to make the shape to look like kites...

Squids and chicken heart were also on the menu...

As we were quite stuffed, we only ordered one prawn satay and one chicken wing satay for each of us. And they prepared your order on the spot. Perfect for those who like their satay to be hot. Less than 10 minutes, a plate of satay, cucumber and special-made sauce were placed on our table...

Slightly burnt, they looked simply delectable. The prawns were fresh while the chicken meat was succulent... we loved it!!

Leo's verdict - the delectable satay cost only RM1 each! A reminder... the sauce is very spicy but somehow I loved it. The downside? I was sweating a lot at the end of the meal. Also the price of the tai chow was quite reasonable too... as I managed to browse through it earlier. Maybe I will come for dinner next time I go down to JB again.

The Place: Restoran See Hai @ Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru

Bubur Nasi Istimewa No.1 @ Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru

We arrived in JB quite late at 9pm or so. Feeling tired, we checked into our hotel and were quite lazy to go out after the whole day journey from KL-Melaka-JB. But I had promised my cousin (who lives in JB) to meet up somewhere in JB city centre for supper. It has been quite some time since we met up... very close cousins even when we were little kids. Dragging our lazy ass out, Gerald and I drove to Taman Sentosa following my Garmin's instruction. Something was not right as my Garmin pointed me the other way... but following my instinct, I drove the other way until I reached the intended destination. There are actually 2 Taman Sentosa in JB so please be careful and go to the one nearest to the city centre.

Jalan Sutera is the main road in Taman Sentosa when you turn in from Tebrau Highway. This area used to be gangster territory, with a lot of vice activities during its prime. My friend once told me that he saw gangsters chasing their targets using parang and steel rods... happened right in front of his eyes while having supper nearby. There were a lot of karaoke, night clubs and disco in the surrounding area too... but now only a handful left.

You would notice a row of roadside stalls as you drive along this stretch. As for landmark, if you see 7-11... you are there! Parking is relatively easy to find... and please proceed to look for a stall with the name "Bubur Nasi Istimewa No.1". Quite a funny name if you ask me. Oh yes, the operators were quite loud too... yelling their stalls' specialties.

The whole place is brightly lid and quite noisy with the patrons chatting the night away...

At the stall, they have already prepared the condiments to be mixed together with your bubur (porridge)... basically it's like Teo Chew porridge where you are given a bowl of porridge and you select the side dishes with stir fried kangkung belacan, cockles (ham), and sambal ikan bilis among others.

The condiments include peanuts, belacan, pickled vegetable and salted egg. You only have to put everything (except the salted egg) into the porridge, stir it and eat it!

Their kangkung belacan was to die for... freshly stir fried with slightly fiery belacan!

The sambal ikan bilis was great too! Sprinkle the lime onto the dish to give extra sourish taste on top of the spicy belacan! Yummy...

Ikan pari bakar - fresh but I think the spicy sauce had overpowered the taste of the fish!

Leo's verdict - this place is normally packed with supper crowd even though they are opened from dinner time onwards. The total bill came at RM22.50... which I considered quite cheap. I think that this was the first time I broke my principle of not having supper :) I've been so tactful for so many years...