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...

Park Village @ Damansara Utama PJ

Actually I had been told about this place a few years ago when I was still working with Thule. The bicycle shop (Joo Ngan's Son) next door, Edwin, had told me that Park Village's food was very good but I never stepped into that place. But one thing that I noticed at that time was the huge crowd of people going in and out. Until Jenn came here first... and then brought me here.

Having breakfast here on weekends can be frustrating... especially when you have to compete with other patrons for seats.

Tents were set up outside during weekends only to accommodate customers.

But it's worth the wait... as the food was made fresh from the kitchen. Look at that!

Not forget to mention the kuih-muih as well

A dedicated spot just for the spiced fried chicken... which was always not enough
One worker chopping the fried chicken

The newly fried chicken waiting to be replenished...

Prices of the list of food were shown...

Long queue just to wait for your turn to order

Equally long queue for you to pay the bill once you are finished :)

The lady boss was occupied all the time just to collect money...

Nasi lemak + ayam goreng - sambal was great! Chicken was still hot and great to go with the rice...

Nasi dagang - my all time favourite dish whenever I came here. Normally I had this in Kuantan & couldn't find any other place that whipped out this particular dish as good.. that is, until I found this place. I always had additional "kuah" to go with the rice and fish meat... acar was also given!

Half boiled eggs + roti bakar - just as nice! the roti was crispy and the eggs were nicely done

Teh Tarik - not too sweet, just perfect for me!

Leo's verdict - by far the best place to have nasi lemak, nasi dagang and teh tarik in PJ area. This restaurant had been featured in newspapers and magazines as well. If you are planning to come here for breakfast, please do so before 9am... or else be prepared to queue for a long time just to order, and also to find yourself a table.