Johor Bahru GPS friendly travel and food guide (part 1)

If you are traveling to Johor Bahru for a short vacation by car, you may refer to this simple traveling guide as where to find a hotels, foods, shopping and attractions with GPS coordinates. (if you don't have a GPS device, just key in the coordinates into Google map in the smart phone, it'll navigate you to the destination)

There were many friends of mine visited JB from other state of Malaysia and also from Simgapore during school holiday and long weekend. Most of the time, they would like to try out different hotel and especially foods around Johor Bahru area, my simple guide is to share the popular area in JB where you can stay, shopping and eat.

I divided into few areas, like JB Town, Century Garden (include Pelangi, Sri Tebrau and Sentosa), Skudai area (include Nusa Bestari and Bukit Indah), Nusajaya (include Gelang Patah), Johor Jaya (include Molek, Desa Tebrau, Gaya, Mount Austin and Setia Indah), Permas Jaya and Kulaijaya.

Johor Bahru Town
Which is close to CIQ, Causeway to Singapore, and also Johor Bahru Sentral where all the ground transportation located.

Travel distance to CIQ - approx. 2-4km.
Travel distance to Senai Airport - approx. 30km.
Travel distance to Nusajaya, Legoland and others -  approx. 25km

Recommended Hotels :-
*  Puteri Pan Pacific (4*) (N1.46099 E103.76171)
*  Hotel Aman Sari (N1.46421 E103.76201)
*  Tropical Inn (N1.46545 E103.76068)
*  Double Tree Hotel (4*) (under construction) (N1.46560 E103.75980)
*  Thistle Hotel (5*) which is less than 5km from town. (N1.46169 E103.74320)
*  Grand Blue Wave Hotel (N1.46082 E103.76898)
*  Suria City Hotel (N1.46056 E103.76857)
*  Sentral JB Hotel (N1.46165 E103.76913)
*  Zon Regency Hotel (in duty free zone) (N1.47088 E103.78299)
*  Straits View Hotel (just refurnished recently) (N1.46056 E103.73742)
*  M-Suite Hotel (N1.46479 E103.73046)

Shopping Complex nearby :-
*  City Square (N1.46183 E103.76353)
*  KOMTAR (which is under upgrading now) (N1.46352 E103.76263)
*  The ZON Duty Free Mall (N1.47075 E103.78314)

Attractions :-
*  Jalan Tan Hiok Nee (historical street)
*  Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum (N1.45590 E103.76323)
*  Royal Abu Bakar Museum (N1.45504 E103.75656)
*  Art Gallery Johor (less than 5km out of town area) (N1.46667 E103.74765)
*  Johor Old Chinese Temple  (N1.46069 E103.76304)
*  Danga Bay (N1.47680 E103.72388)

Recommended Foods (based on local's favorite) :-
Breakfast
*  Hwa Mui Kopitiam (which is the first Hainanese kopitiam in JB) (N1.45732 E103.76432)
*  Qin Garden (N1.45700 E103.76434)
*  Yong Mui Beef Noodle (N1.46086 E103.76722)
*  Ah Heng Char Koey Teow - 7am - 3pm (N1.46863 E103.78055)
Lunch
*  Mei Hua Bak Kut Teh (N1.46084 E103.76754)
*  Johor Bahru famous Stulang mee rebus (N1.46309 E103.77426)
*  The Roost Juice Bar (N1.45707 E103.76401)
*  Waterwork Laksa (N1.47157 E103.73658)
Tea break
*  Goreng Pisang Mawar (N1.46176 E103.74192)
Dinner
*  The Teow Chew popular fish noodles (night) (N1.46378 E103.77188) 
*  Yong Yong Ikan Bakar (night) (N1.46090 E103.73847) 
*  Lazio Italian Restaurant and Bar

Century Garden (include Pelangi, Sri Tebrau and Sentosa)
One of the popular and crowded area in JB which contain of 4 residential area - Pelangi, Sri Tebrau, Sentosa and Century, it has lots of good foods within.

Travel distance to CIQ - approx. 8km.
Travel distance to Senai Airport - approx. 28km.
Travel distance to Nusajaya, Legoland and others -  approx. 24km

Recommended Hotels :-
*  Crystal Crown Hotel 3* (N1.48674 E103.76593)
*  Grand Paragon Hotel 4* (N1.48112 E103.76166)
*  KSL Resort 5* (N1.48590 E103.76291)
*  Mutiara Hotel 4* (N1.48800 E103.75759)
*  Holiday Villa (under construction) (N1.48706 E103.76190)
*  11 Century Hotel (N1.48652 E103.76147)
*  Grand Sentosa Hotel (N1.49268 E103.76883)
*  Hallmark Regency Hotel (N1.48090 E103.76209)
*  New York Hotel (N1.47879 E103.76104)
*  Hotel Selesa (N1.47777 E103.76297)

Shopping Complex nearby :-
*  Holiday Plaza (N1.48828 E103.75969)
*  Pelangi Plaza (N1.48053 E103.76504)
*  Leisure Mall (N1.48384 E103.77396)
*  KSL Mall (N1.48551 E103.76291)
*  Sentosa Plaza (N1.49281 E103.76855)
*  Danga City Mall (N1.47427 E103.75525)
 
Attraction :-
*  None

Recommended Foods (based on local's favorite) :-
Breakfast
*  Poh Kee mee pok - 宝记Teow Chew Koey Teow  (N1.48076 E103.75686)
    7.30am - 2.30pm, rest on alternate Thursday.
*  Hainanese pork congee 海南猪肉粥 - Multi Mart Kopitiam 7am-2pm. (N1.48506 E103.76010)
*  Ah Hwa Koey Teow 亚华粿条 7.30am - 4.30pm (N1.48562 E103.76102)
*  Ho Seng Kee Wantan mee 何成记云吞麵 8am - 4pm. (N1.48670 E103.76058)
*  Koey Teow Kia (粿条仔) at Ka Hoe Kopitiam (N1.48079 E103.76673)
    6.30am - 12.30pm, rest on alternate Wednesday.
Lunch
*  Nyonya Curry Fish head and curry pork ribs at Mui Sheng stall. 11am - 3pm (N1.49092 E103.76233)
*  Menu Please Bistro 11am - 10pm, rest on Monday. (N1.48083 E103.76612)
*  Soon Chiang Bak Kut Teh  顺江肉骨茶
*  Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh 8am - 3pm, rest on Monday.
*  Ah Seng Steam Fish 8am - 3pm, rest on Monday.
*  Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh 顺发肉骨茶, Jln Sutera (N1.49410 E103.78239)
*  Yew Swee Laksa 友水辣沙 8am - 4pm, rest on Sunday (N1.48294 E103.76486)
Tea break
*  Dong Hong Traditional Chinese kuih 东鸿糕粿 (N1.48701 E103.76803)
    5pm - 10pm Business on Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue. Many different type of traditional Chinese snacks which called 'kuih'.
Dinner
*  Century Curry Fish Head 世纪沙煲咖哩鱼头 at Cedar Point Hawker Center (N1.48126 E103.76296)
    5pm - 11pm, rest  on Monday.
*  New Storey Seafood Restaurant (N1.47833 E103.77514)
*  Tsuki Japanese restaurant (N1.48207 E103.77496)
*  Kim Chi Korean BBQ Restaurant (N1.48170 E103.77479)
*  The City Cafe (N1.49719 E103.76284)
*  Kong Inn Seafood Restaurant 港一海鲜餐馆 (N1.49348 E103.77278)
*  Penang Hokkien prawn noodles hawker 槟城福建虾麵 (N1.49305 E103.77090)
*  Lemon Tree Restaurant 12pm - 11pm, rest on Monday (N1.49135 E103.76201)

There are still many more delicious foods within the area that I cannot list all of them, this is just a simple guide for you if you want to travel to Johor Bahru by car.

I will continue on the next post for other area. Stay tune!

(I will update this blog post from time to time, please feel free to visit back. Thanks.)

The Kulaijaya popular and famous Char Koey Teow during the evening

The nameless yet famous char koey teow stall (N1.65992 E103.60263) is located along Jalan Ibrahim of Kulai Besar. It's easy to spot the stall by coming through Jalan Ismail (which is the street on the left from JB direction after KFC, Maybank and BSN Kulaijaya), once turn in...the second turn on the right. Another landmark same row with the stall is Clinic Chai which is 2-3 shops away...

The stall is open around 5pm, and the owner set his own target daily and the rice noodles finish very fast around 7.30-8pm. Even their business hour stated 4-9pm, but hardly can see the wok continue to fry after 8pm due to the local demand.

The nameless and famous char koey teow stall in Kulaijaya

We were there around 7.30pm and luckily the owner said the koey teow still available, and we only ordered 2 plates because we had to spared some space in our stomach because of our Kulai food trail in that evening.

I noticed the skillful old man keep frying the koey teow non-stop since we stepped in...

Even he was trying to posed to my camera, but I missed it!...

The pleasing plate of Char Koey Teow spread out the nice aroma when it served on the table, it was a simple flat rice noodles fried with eggs, bean sprouts and cockles without the chives and lards. I like the fresh cockles very much, unlike many stalls in JB providing the frozen cockles which totally kill the sweetness of it...

Char Koey Teow of Kulaijaya street stall

There's actually still rooms for intense "wok kei" (literally breath of wok over the high heat in Cantonese), maybe it was due to the local preference of the taste.

From the short chat with the owner, I realized that the stall had been operated since 39 years ago and been through the third generation. It must be the magical taste that kept the long history of the local delicacy - Char Koey Teow.

Do drop by if you happen in the area during the stall operating hours, it might surprise you by the plate of delicious Char Koey Teow of Kulaijaya.

Kulaijaya Char Koey Teow Stall

Along Jalan Ibrahim of Kulai Besar

Business hour : 5 - 8.30pm

Rest on every Tuesday

GPS coordinates : N1.65992 E103.60263

Location map of the Popular Char Koey Teow stall in Kulaijaya.

My trip to the Machapking Durian Farm at Machap, Johor.

Visited the Machapking Durian Farm (N1.90353 E103.24766) on the end of March 2014. We reached the farm around 10am and met up with the farm owner - Mr Cheng who is a humble, polite and knowledgeable guy. According to Mr Cheng, his farm has about 50 acres, one thousand of durian trees, palm oil trees and many more...
It's located quite a distance from the main road of the Machap town, and only 4WD is able to drive through. We were riding on Mr Cheng's 4WD into the farm...

He was explaining all the way since our farm trip started, and he introduced to us the different types of Durian trees one-by-one...

The Machapking Durian farm at Machap, Johor

 

This is the famous Musangking durian tree

After a while, he stopped the car and let us enjoy the aromatic durian's flower...that was a great moment during the trip!
The photo below was the very initial stage before the flower...

Before blossom...

The photo above showed that all these will be blossom in the evening around 5-7pm...

And some of them were beautiful with flowers...

Another type of the durian flower

After the flowers withered, the branches are going seeding...

The whole area was so beautiful and this was my first time in life surrounded by durian tress and flowers!

Normally the blossom session will be in the evening, and most of the flowers will wither after 6-7am. If you be able to witness during that moment, it's just like watching a flower rain! I can only visualize the beautiful scene...too bad I can't be there during the flowers rain...

The flowers were everywhere in farm...it was a wonderful scene!

Durian's flower

According to Mr Cheng, sometime they will collect all these flowers and cook for dinner, it's just like stir fried the vegetables, and it's delicious! Said Cheng. I would like to taste it too if I have a chance...

We even tasted and drank the nectar, it was really sweet!

Robin had his first try on the durian flower's nectar

Mr Cheng said, basically he only concentrated on the four (4) main species which are : Musangking 猫山王, Machapking, Tek-kah 竹脚 and Kim-Hong 金凤. Beside that, he also has D24, D78, nai-you-bao 奶油包 (his own creation) and many more...

There are also other fruits in his farm, like Philippines rambutan, mangosteen and many more which I didn't manage to get the name...

The flowers of the rambutan tree

The baby cempedak...

And this...I didn't get the name of the fruits...

Mr Cheng showed us another hut which produce the 'enzymes' which use as the 'fertilizer' for all his fruits in the farm.

The enzymes produced by Mr Cheng own recipe...

The enzymes

The water supply for all the trees in the farm is also designed by Mr Cheng himself, once he power on the motor from the water source, the water will goes to all his trees in the farm automatically! Fully automated for the whole fifty (50) acres, amazing!

Mr Cheng visit his farm 3 times a day to monitor and observe the grow of all the fruits, it is become his hobby to take care the trees and the fruits. He 'generously' shared with us his past experience since the day one inherited from his father.
We were having a precious lesson on that day and definitely worth the trip! I will be back to the farm again during the 'golden season' when all the trees full of fruits, before the harvest season.

His durians will be selling at many area within Johor Bahru, his own stall is at opposite the Daily Point Kopitiam, Tmn Molek. And all his durians will be available start from middle of June till August.

Mr Cheng - the owner of the Machapking durian farm

The location of Machapking Durian's Farm in Machap, Johor

The nameless Kulaijaya (formerly known as Kulai) main road Chicken Chop stall

The Kulaijaya Main Road Chicken Chop stall (N1.66207 E103.60152) is famous around the area and many of the local grew together with the chicken chop, located along the main road and next to the Kulaijaya Centre Point Building. It has more than 30 years history and the son of the stall owner is helping his father nowadays...positively will be pass over to his next generation soon in the future.

Kulaijaya Chicken Chop stall

The stall is open on 8pm everyday, and we were quite early that evening...watching they setup the stall and everything...
Once everything ready, their son continue to take order from the customers...

After look at the simple and easy understand menu, we just ordered the popular chicken chop with the additional egg and sausage.

It took a moment to served on our table...the simple and yet popular in Kulaijaya Main Road Chicken Chop.

The Kulaijaya Chicken Chop

The simple chicken chop filled with nice aroma, served with deep fried chicken, fries, baked beans, sausage, soft boiled egg and cucumbers.
It was really 'simple'.

It was crispy on the outer skin and succulent inside. The chicken was just nice, moist and not over cooked. The other side dish also not bad at all. Anyway, with the reasonable price of the chicken chop, we didn't set a high expectation for it but the dish served on table was unexpectedly good!

The chicken chop above cost less than RM12, very filling.
It's simple and nice meal if you really looking for the fast and traditional chicken chop around the Kulaijaya area during the evening. It wasn't heavenly good and value for money.

I just simply like the traditional way of setting and admired the long history of the stall, I will be back again whenever I need a quick bite.

The soft boiled egg served together with the chicken chop

The Kulaijaya Main Road Chicken Chop Stall

Jalan Besar (Main Road),

Kulaijaya, Johor.

Business hour : 8pm - 12am

Rest on every Monday

The location map of the Kulaijaya Chicken Chop Stall

Nyonya Treats Restaurant at Taman Perling, Johor Bahru.

Nyonya Treats Restaurant (N1.48338 E103.68017) is located along Jalan Simbang of Taman Perling, diagonally opposite the Pizza Hut of Tmn Perling. It's about 15KM from Causeway and 25KM from Second Link.

Nyonya Treats Restaurant at Taman Perling.

The restaurant has a nice decor and cozy ambience, but limited seating area. It's advise to make a reservation if you going to dine in during weekend evening.

While we stepped into the restaurant just like a time portal, the retro design with the touch of Peranakan atmosphere is a reminiscent of those golden days. The restaurant is fully air-conditioned and is a good place for family dining and friends gathering.

Nice decoration of Nyonya Treats Restaurant

Another view of the Nyonya restaurant

We (total of 3 families) visited the restaurant on one of the Saturday evening and let me share with you the delicious foods we had in the restaurant. We ordered three types of fish, three types of veggie and others.

1)  Nyonya Assam Fish
2)  Nyonya Fish Head Curry
3)  Deep Fried Slice of Fish with ginger and garlic
4)  Nyonya Chap Chai (Mixed vegetables)
5)  Sambal Petai (bitter or stink bean)
6)  Stir Fried Long Bean with Prawns
7)  Cincalok Omelette
8)  Chicken Pongteh

The above dishes were catered for 6 adults and 3 children.

Nyonya Assam Fish

The Nyonya Assam fish taste sour and spicy, and the sourish and spicy level were balanced and satisfied. The portion was just nice and not over served.

Clay pot fish head curry

As usual, the fish head curry served with piping hot and delicious! The flesh was flavorful and pleasingly firm, curry was rich really goes well with the plain rice, you shouldn't miss this if you are a curry lover.

Deep Fried Slice of Fish with ginger and garlic

This was the dish specially for the children. The slice of deep fried fish served with dried ginger, garlic and bean paste. It was sweet with fragrance of the bean paste gravy. The children were happily enjoyed the fish till empty.

Nyonya chap chai (mixed vegetables)

The Nyonya chap chai is one of the must order dish for every Nyonya restaurant we visit, the reason is because the dish is the Nyonya authentic homecook dish. The chap chai was well prepared and the taste was just perfect, but the portion was rather small...

The sambal petai (stink bean)

The petai was fresh and the special made sambal went well with it. The sambal had a balanced sweet and spicy taste that made us can't stop enjoying it.

Stir fried long bean with prawns

This dish is not really a Nyonya dish, it's available easily at most of the Chinese restaurant within Malaysia. The long bean was not overly fried, provided some crunchy bites and the prawns were fresh!

Cincalok omelette

This is another dish we will order while visiting a Nyonya restaurant. The Cincalok omelette was served with nice fragrance and taste just nice, not salty at all. The children had it happily.

Ayam Pongteh (chicken)

The Ayam Pongteh is an authentic dish from Baba Nyonya, we won't miss to enjoy this meal on every Nyonya restaurant we visited within Malaysia. And in Nyonya Treats Restaurant, the chicken was well prepared and cooked to perfection. The meats were tender and easily drop from bone while you bite on it. The dish is cook with bean paste and potatoes, it had the strong taste of the sweet bean paste in the chicken...

Ayam Pongteh (chicken)

Nyonya Treats Restaurant serve varieties of Nyonya foods, and the above dishes we tried were satisfied. Beside, the prices also reasonable. The total bill for the savory dishes we had was around RM180.00 included drinks (for 6 adults and 3 children).

It is a another good restaurant to having a nice Nyonya food within Johor Bahru area, we having our dinner there after the children's fun from the Legoland. It's another good choice for those who want to dine in after the whole day activities at the Theme Park.

Do drop by the restaurant if you happen to be around at Taman Perling, and I believe you will like it even you are not the fan of Nyonya food. :)

Nyonya Treats Restaurant

280, Jalan Simbang, Taman Perling.

Tel : +6012-7692934 (Ms Jessica Chun)

Business hour : 11.30am - 3pm, 5pm - 9.30pm (Close on Monday)

Email : nyonyatreats@ymail.com

Location map of Nyonya Treats Restaurant at Taman Perling, Johor Bahru.

The Little Big Club in Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park at Nusajaya, Johor.

The Little Big Club in Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park is located beside Puteri Harbour and Traders Hotel Nusajaya, Johor. The theme park is open for public since few years ago, and only until now we had a chance to visit it.
We decided to visit The Little Big Club instead of Sanrio Hello Kitty Town because of my daughter prefer Barney than Hello Kitty. Anyway, it's very much depends on the children...and this theme park is 100% design for children. :)

The Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park, Nusajaya - Johor.

The Little Big Club is located on the 2nd and 3rd floor in the Theme Park building. As for the ticket price, you can refer to their official website for time-to-time promotion.
Once you get your 'ring', we proceeded to the entrance of the park...

The 3 lovely and friendly ladies at the entrance to the park

Once we stepped in, the joyful laughter if the children were filled up every corner of the area...

The children big playground mostly is located at the 2nd floor, you can see the children running in and out every where in the playground. And the performing stage also located at the 2nd floor, the interval for the shows are about every hour, don't forget to get a copy of the shows time table at the entrance!

One of the show just started when we stepped in...it was the Thomas the Train

There's also a cafe at the 2nd floor, where the parents can rest and relax while their children having their fun time in the park...

The cafe below the escalator...

The Barney's house is at the right of the entrance...

After an hour at the 2nd floor, we proceed to 3rd floor...

All the rides are located at the 3rd floor of The Little Big Club...

Overview of the 3rd floor of The Little Big Club, Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park

Let me show the rides one-by-one...

The Knapford Station

It's also the Thomas Train ride, beside that there's another huge children playground in the Knapford Station...

The Train of Thomas and Friends

One of the slide for the playground in the Knapford Station

Bertie The Bus

The Bang Bang Car

Harold's Helitours

Colin's Crane Drop

Follow by a row of cafes and restaurants...

The cafes and restaurants available at the 3rd floor

After the cafes, next will be the Wellsworth Station. Which was maybe an office for their stuffs or others...

The last ride at the 3rd floor is the Windmill.

Windmill

We watched most of the show (2nd floor) in the Theme Park, it was really fun and the children were really happy when they saw their childhood idols came up to the stage...

The show on the stage

The children dance together with their favorite characters!

And the most welcome - Barney and friends!

The game within Barney and the children

We spent almost 4-5 hours there until the theme park close at 6pm, the last show on stage was all the superstar! And I heard the children streaming too! Haha!

After the last show, you can take photos with your favorite characters one-by-one with your own camera and also their professional photographer in the theme park. But...it was only limited time, be hurry if you want to take photo with all the favorite characters in The Little Big Club.

It's really a good theme park for family and children (age 3-12), where you can see the joyful moment and the non-stop laughter all the time! It was a priceless moment to me and my family! Worth the ticket prices!

The Traders Hotel is located just next to the Family Theme Park

Unless the children do not know the characters in the theme park, or else they will be very happy and enjoy themselves! Some of my friends asked me about the park...actually I shouldn't be the one to rate the park, let the children do the talking! And their laughter in the park already proved how good the park is...

The last session while we exit the park, the route guide us through a souvenirs centre where you can buy all kinds of toys for your children.

Entrance to the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town

It's also a nice place for weekend city escape from Johor Bahru, the traveling time from JB city to the theme park is only around 30-40 minutes. For more info and ticket price, please refer from their official website (the URL below).

Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park

Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya, Johor.

Operating hour : 10am - 6pm Mon - Sun (daily)

Official website : http://www.playtime.com.my/

Location map of Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park