Have you noticed that there are a lot of good eateries mushrooming around Johor Bahru over these few years due to the rapid developement? It is kind of ironic sometimes, as you can see that bunches of restaurants and cafes are also growing.
Practically speaking, everyone of us love food and also are looking for a cheap yet delicious food right? For you to have an idea in mind, let JohorTrip brings you to a food exploration at KSL City Mall for finding some great KSL food stalls that sell good food without breaking your wallet.
Cheap and Good KSL Food Nearby KSL City Mall
1. Ah Hua KueyTeow
Some people call this restaurant as “RestoranSekeeKwayTeow”, since this stall is located in a coffeeshop at JalanSegget. “Sekee” here imply taxi drivers.This restaurant is the only stall remaining over there, and it is full with all reminiscence feeling, as the interior design and items are all antique, including the walls, the tiles, the clock, and even the calendar. It is confirmed that all the customers will bring back loads of childhood memories, especially with charcoal aroma lingering in the air.
The restaurant is manned by only two people, and all the ingredients and broth are cooked by a lady, one of the owner of the restaurant. The broth she cooks is so unique is because the noodles and the soups are cooked over charcoal stove, which imparts certain consistency to the heat. Besides, althoughthey do not use any MSG or artificial flavourings in its rice noodles, the soup is still very delicious, and all of them are cooked with fresh ingredients, not pre-cooked or in large batches.
In order to guarantee their noodle’s standard, Ah Hua KueyTeow only serve a simple list, which is only dry or soup traditional Teochew style KwayTeow. Thus, do pay a visit to Ah Hua Restaurant if you happen to travel to Johor!
Additional Information:
Address: 30, JalanSegget, Johor Baru Town 80000 Johor Bahru (within walking distance of City Square Mall)
Opening Hours: 8am – 2.30pm (Sun – Thurs), Closed Fri, Sat and alternate Thurs
2. Carabao-Authentic Thai Restaurant
This restaurant is made entirely of wood, without a single brick and cement. Thus the overall environment will let the customers to immerse into the strong feel of nature. The restaurant is also divided into two parts, one part is the main dining space with regular wooden tables and chairs.
As for the food in this restaurant, Tom Yam soup is a must to order in this restaurant. Although the colour of the Tom Yam soup is lighter than the normal Tam Yam soup, but it does not lose it taste! The soup is still keeping its expected hotness and spiciness, as well as the fragrance of lime leaves and lemongrass. This boiling hot soup definitely opens up your appetite! The next must order dish goes to the wet version of salted egg prawn, which is hardly be seen in Johor Bahru. The gravy of this salted egg prawn is mainly made from salted egg and butter with a hint of curry leave, but not overly strong, and this dish is a perfect match with rice.
Another section of the restaurant comes with Chiang Mai “Kantoke” cubicle style seating. The whole restaurant is open air without air-conditioning, and with all the ferns plants in the premises, it really makes the customers back to the nature! Besides of enjoying dinner, this place is also a very suitable for gathering or small party, as it is very spacious and according to the owner, it can accommodate up to 200 people.Thus, do list them in your visiting list when you ever come to Johor!
Additional Information:
Address :16, JalanDato Abdullah Tahir, 80250 Johor BahruBusiness Hours : 12.00pm – 3.00pm / 6.00pm – 1.00am
Website : http://www.carabaorestaurant.com/contact.htm
Tel : 07-335 9333
3. You Kee XO Restaurant
When people think of You Kee XO Restaurant, they will automatically remember the two giant urns placed prominently at the shopfront. These huge urns are used to simmer their famous herbal soups, and the soups are all boiled under constant charcoal fire for a good 15 to 18 hours. Every day, they serve 2 different types of soup on the menu. Whenever there is an order, the staff will then lift the pots of hot soup from deep inside the giant urn.
Besides of all the mouthwatering soups, they also serve some scrumptious dishes to pair with your soup. The dishes which are highly recommended to all the customers are roast meat platter, which has the classic combination is roast duck, siew yoke, and char siew. The next star of the dishes are You Kee’s Crystal Char Siew, which is a glistening mound of pork belly slathered in a gooey sauce the color of dark chocolate. Moreover, since this restaurant is named as XO restaurant, you definitely should not miss their XO roast duck with golden-brown skin on top of a fine layer of fat and juicy duck meat beneath.
Additional Information:
Address: LG-33, KSL City Johor Bahru, 33, JalanSeladang, Taman Abad, 80250, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 10am to 9pm daily
4. D’ Shanghai
Trying to look for good dim sum restaurants in Johor Bahru? D’Shanghai is definitely one of the top choices! Although this restaurant is quite crowded, there are still enough seats for the customer to wait in the waiting area. It is a busy restaurant so you might have to wait for 20 minutes to be seated.
This restaurant is famous with their different varieties of dim sum offered. Besides of dim sum, this restaurant also serves fried rice, noodles etc.There were quite a number of varieties on the menu. You will be spoilt for choice.When you happen to be there, do not forget to order their highly recommended D’Shanghai special Dried Shrimp Chili, which they are also sellingin bottle format. The taste can be assured when you dip your Dim Sum in this chili. The other foods which are highly recommended such as XO fried carrot cake, dry Wanton Char SiewMee, fried prawn dumpling with wasabi mayonnaise sauce, Liu ShaBao, Prawn dumpling , Xiao Long Baoare very welcoming by most of the customers as well. All the food served are relatively fast but they are all warm, as they make sure all the foods they serve are fresh and tasty.
After all, the environment of the restaurant is good, spacious and cozy with friendly services. If you want to dine in an air-conditioned place and in big groups, D’Shanghai is one of the places for your consideration.
Additional Information:
Address : KSL City, Level2-132 (Next to MBO Cinema) No.33, Jalan Seledang, Taman Abad, 80250 JOhor Bahru, Malaysia
5. D’ Laksa
As the title suggest, D’ Laksais a restaurant in Johor Bahru, claims to serve authentic Penang Assam Laksa. There are two outlets in JB as of now, one in KSL City Mall while the other is at Sutera Mall. As for the one in KSL City Mall, it is just located at the ground level where TESCO (supermarket) is.
The bowl of the laksais filled with finely shredded cucumber, onions, pineapple and lettuce, and the taste tamarind broth is guaranteed! You cannot tell how delicious it is until you try it yourself! The broth is an explosion of flavours with just the right balance of sour and spicy with a hint of sweetness.
Besides the assamlaksa noodles, they also offer assam fish balls as a snack. Some D’Laksa outlets even offer fruit rojak as well.The taste and texture of the fish balls are just like any bouncy mass-produced fish balls in the market, and they are coming with the same soup base as the assamlaksa.
However, this laksa is actually originated from Johor Bahru, so that would explain the difference in the colour of the broth as theirs is unlike the Penang version of assamlaksa.
Additional Information:
Address: 5, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/1, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor
Hours: 10:00AM – 10:30PM
Phone: 019-790 9737
6. Soon Soon Heng BakKutTeh
Coming to the Soon SoonHengBakKutTeh restaurant, the ordering system is super easy. You just need to tell them how many paxyou are dining in, what to add in your soup (fried beancurd skin, enoki mushrooms, offals, fish maw, pacific clams, etc), and the side dishes you wish to add on (you tiao, salted vegetables, braised peanuts, etc). After that, you will thenbe ushered to a table which sometimes you would need to share with other people.
The BakKutTehhere is charged by the no. of pax, for either 1, 2, 3 or 4 persons. Besides the regular BKT, they also have sesame oil chicken, ginger & wine chicken and braised pig trotters.The homemade barley drink here is highly recommended, as it is not too sweet, and the whole barley grains at the bottom of the cup that could be easily sucked up with the straw serves a nice chewy bite. The broth of the bakkuttehis somewhat between peppery and herbal, and it has a perfect balance of pepper with a subtle tasteof herbs and/or other spices, and there are plenty of pork ribs in it as well!
Besides, the youtiao they serve is a perfect mix and match with the soup, as it is all crispy and fresh with no reused oil smell. The other side dishes which customers can order are braised pig trotter, braised peanuts, salted vegetables, and more, and the taste are all delicious too!
Additional Information:
Address: 43, JalanSerigala, Taman Abad, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor
7. New Lucky Seafood Restaurant
Restoran New Lucky is a Chinese seafood restaurant located near the junction to Taman Sri Tebrau that serve delicious traditional Chinese food. This is a nice restaurant to go if you are travelling in a group, especially for Chinese New Year reunions (reservation may be required) and other celebrations.
In this restaurant, the first top recommended signature dish will be their Signature Lobster Soup which using home recipe boiled hours soup base cooked with deep sea fresh lobster topped with fried garlic cube. That is one of the top class dishes which presented by the founder, Mr. Ah Choi’s home recipe from his hometown.
After taking your first bite, you will be able to find out thet the texture of the lobster meat are tender and juicy enough, following by an exotic taste of the signature soup base bursting in your mouth.
Another recommeded dish of their would be their Signature Garden Chicken. It is prepared by using traditional feeded garden wild chicken marinated with their in-house secret recipe before boiled and steamed under low heat. This process is to maintain the silky soft meat texture and brings out the original chicken stock in every bite.
You will never regret after consumed especially tipping onto their home made chilis and ginger paste that provide an additional spiciness to the dish.
Additional Information:
Address: 1-5, Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Operating Hours: Daily, 11:00AM-11:30PM
8. Sushi World
Do not miss out Sushi World if you are craving for sushi! Try to look for it along KSL and for sure you’ll gonna find one. Sushi world serves your favourite sushi for only RM3, and it comes with variety types of sushi! Choose as many sushi as your appetite desires!
Additional Information:
Address : KSL City Ground Floor (Across from Converse) 33, Jalan Seladang, Taman Century, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor
9. Yit Foh Restaurant
Yit Foh Restaurant is a wanton mee shops which has established for over 30 years. It is so famous with its taste and flavor in JB. This restaurant is so famous because the whole egg wantann oodles they use to serve are all made from their own factory, using their own recipe, were firm, crunchy and springy.
Besides, all the noodles are also bathed in copious sauce, which is a plus for the noodles. The drippy sauce’s aroma is fragrant and subtle, though with strong hints of sesame oil. It also tasted slightly spicy from the chili paste mixed into the sauce. Besides, the char siew slices they serve are fresh, and the wantan soup is light and naturally sweet, as well as the wantons are excellent which come with smooth wanton skin. This restaurant want to ensure their customers get to taste a perfect set of wantan noodles.
Additional Information:
Address: 153, JalanHarimau, Taman Century, 80250, Johor Bahru
Hours: Daily 24 hours (Closed on Thursdays)
Non Halal
10. Chicken Up
Chicken Up in Johor Bahru is a famous Korean themed food. The first Chicken Up outlet in JB was very well received, where it is always seen to have a long queue since it opened a couple of months ago. The restaurant are designed with bright and cheerful indoor decoration, and it welcomes all the customers with K-pop song playing in the background.
The top 1 dish in this restaurant is Ganjang Soya Chicken Wings. It comes with 4 chicken wings deep fried till crisp outside which is coated with a Korean style soya sauce blend.The golden brown wings are crispy outside, and the meat inside is a little firm and dry. There is not much flavour in the meat, as most of the flavouris coming from the soya sauce blended on the skin.
The next most ordered chicken is Spicy Yangyum Chicken. This chicken is also a crispy fried chicken, and comes with a thick sticky glaze sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds. The glazy sauce is an interesting balance of robust sweet, savoury, and mild spicy flavours. The fried battered skin retained some crispiness despite the sticky coat of tasty sauce.
Besides chicken, there are also other delicious dishers serving in this restaurant, such as Toppoki with Cheese and Seafood, which is actually crab, spongy rice sticks, fish cake slices, mussel, squid ring, as well as prawn and vegetable in a thick soupy Gochujang red chili paste sauce and melted gooey cheese. The Gochujang sauce has robust savoury, sweet and spicy flavours.
Additional Information:
Address: Shop 14,15 Holiday Villa FIrst Floor, Johor Bahru (Opposite KSL Mall), 260 Jalan Dato Sulaiman Taman Abad, 80250 Johor, Malaysia
Also read: Best Korean Food In Johor Bahru
11. Naughty Nuri’sWarung
The design of Naughty Nuri’sRestaurant is huge inside, occupying two shop lot spaces. It is furnished with heavy wooden tables and benches, which always reminding customers of jovial beer halls. Naughty Nuri’s is famours for their BBQ pork ribs and martinis. Besides of the breathtaking indoor design, this restaurant also offer an outside open area for customers to enjoy their food in a more natural place. Comment on the designing of this restaurant alone, this is definitely a good place to party as there are plenty of food choices and drinks.
The famous dish in Naughty Nuri’sbelongs to their baby back ribs.The meat fell off the bone easily and was tender and juicy. There is no porky smell, or if there is any, it is masked by the thick sweet-savoury-tangy glaze wrapping the ribs. There is even a slight smokiness from the bits of char on the ribs. Besides, Naughty Nuri’s also serves BabiGuling – Balinese style BBQ suckling pig. These requires pre-ordering a day ahead as the suckling pigs need at least 5 hours of slow grilling over charcoal embers. For customer who keen to try out Bali food, do not miss this restaurant in JB!
Additional Information:
Address: 1, Jalan Serampang, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 Johor Bahru
12. Pasar Malam ( Night Market)
Pasar Malam , also named as Night markets, is always a place to go for everyone who loves food, as you can easily spot variety of food in the market, serving from different races as well. In JB, there is a famous must go Pasar Malam every Monday, located just outside KSL mall and resort! These stalls open as early as 4.30pm and closes at 10pm, and it stretches from KSL City to Grand Paragon. In this Pasar Malam, you can easily find cheap and delicious food, ranging from poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables.
Customer can also get a trendy salt baked chicken in this PasarMalam, as well as Roasted Duck, Pan Fried dumplings, Thai Pork Cutlet, Dim Sum, and many more! Besides food, you can also get variety of pretty clothes in this PasarMalam, as they basically have everything!
Additional Information:
Address: KSL City Mall area to Grand Paragon Hotel
Operating Hours: only Monday, 5:00PM onwards
Also read: Johor Bahru Pasar Malam (Night Market)
13. Restaurant Kak Kak
Restaurant KakKakis a Dim Sum restaurant which offers you excellent service by presenting you extensive selections of dim sum on a cart once you manage to find a seat, thus, it can be easier for the customers who are first time trying out Dim Sum in JB, and you just have to point out the dishes you prefer. This place is often crowded, their dim sum is delicious, and most importantly, the prices are reasonable.
At the back of the dining hall, dim sum is still made the same old way by hand and with seasoned bamboo steaming trays and tall steel steaming towers. The best part of this restaurant is that they serve variety of Dim Sum, and most of them can be rarely seen outside. Thus, do not miss out this special Dim Sum restaurant if you are Dim Sum lover!
Additional Information:
Address: No. 9, JalanMaju, Taman Maju, Johor Bahru
Hours: 5:00am to 12:00 noon (closed on Tues)
Non Halal
