Water Works Laksa @ Jalan Kolam Air, JB

This is the last stale post in my draft! So after this I can catch up with my latest food hunt in Kuching and Pattaya! WOOT! So I'm a proud Johorean and even if my state isn't as famous as Penang in terms of food, we still have pretty good food if you know where to find.

I bet most people have heard of Water Works Laksa at Kolam Air, JB but I decided to note this down in my blog because this place always reminds me of my grandparents, my mum's side that is. My grandparents, I call them ah kong (grandpa) and ah ma (grandma) would often patronise this place usually for breakfast and then pack back their famous laksa and otak- otak for us. My ah ma still does that till today though whenever my uncle brings her for breakfast there.

I personally find that the laksa is a little overrated though they do have really good otak- otak. But the otak- otak aren't produced in house anyway. But whenever I hear about this place, it makes my heart all fuzzy because it's has a sentimental value attached to it. I miss my ah kong;'(

So if you haven't tried it, give it a go!

Water Works Laksa

Jalan Kolam Air, JB

This is the shop that you are looking for. 

The road leading there is a one way street so if you miss it you will have to make a round back to that one way street. People usually park illegally along the roads but yeah, so far no problem from the police HAHA

I'll show you the otak- otak which I like first! I think it tasted better when we had it there at the shop. Somehow when it gets packed back home and reheated it doesn't taste as good but by no means lousy.

A basket of otak- otak placed on every table

If you're not interested in it then just don't touch it and you won't be charged. But for me, I doubt a basket is enough LOL

Inside!

Another thing that I like about Water Works laksa is that they have their own in house drinks like this cincau drink! Love how natural and homemade it is. Not as sweet as other shops usually served them which is a plus because I'm not a big fan of sweet stuffs. Yes, despite my flabby body I don't have a sweet tooth. Can't say the same for carbs though. I loveeee crabs especially when it comes in the form of bread and pastries :X

Cincau drink

The famous laksa!

I think this is the small version of the laksa. If Ive not mistaken it comes in different serving portion with respective prices. A small one would cost about RM5 I think? Sorry this blog post has been sitting in drafts since a few months ago so my memory fails me.

You see the greenish garnish on the laksa? Well, that's something that I don't personally fancy because it makes gives out this weird smell and taste. Not sure what leaf is that though? Is that like turmeric leaf???

The taste of the soup infected by that garnish gives me a headache. No joke, I really don't like that garnish just like how some people really hate parsley. OMG is that parsley?!

Side dish, fried beancurd skin. DAMN expensive!

Mum ordered an extra serving of fried beancurd skin and for that few miserable hollow pieces they charge us almost the same price as a bowl of laksa! I forgot how much exactly but I remembered clearly that it was so not worth it. I think they gave us like 5- 6 pieces of beancurd skin without any fish paste inside k! So expensive and after eating them, my throat felt funny like how you would feel after eating oily stuff. 

Oh! I found a picture of the menu for your easy reference!

Okay, I got to go finish my work and then start on my Kuching and Pattaya food hunt! To whoever who's still reading this, thanks for sticking on despite my lack of update for more than a month. PhD kills seriously. 

Tampoi Laksa Shangrila, Johor Bahru

Still very much in the holiday mood but my sister's exam has just started so she's practically on lockdown LOL In which leaves me without a shopping partner. Feel like going malling today and to watch Night in the Museum but scared to disturb her:( Hoping she reads this post then ask me out instead hehehe

So back in JB, I met up with Wawa and Simren. Two of my very close buddies! This time Simren suggested for us to have lunch at this rather new shop in Taman Tun Aminah, very close to The Store. 

I was okay with whatever place that she recommends because the last time I recommended Bob's Kitchen it was so expensive yet food was not up to par.

Tampoi Laksa Shangrila

95G Jalan Pendekar 2, Taman Tun Aminah

Johor Bahru

07- 5628629

Tampoi Laksa Shangrila

Something good about meeting up somewhere outside town is that you are guranteed a parking most of the times and it's much more peaceful too. No need rush and fight with people who are also rushing for God knows what reason.

Oh talking about rush, I realised that JB has really rude drivers! I was actually shocked at how many JB drivers were rudely cutting in lanes, not giving chance for people to switch lanes, how they purposely accelerate when they obviously saw you coming out of a junction etc. What happened to my state men?!

Back to Tampoi Laksa Shangrila, they have sufficient variety on their menu so they would be suitable food for all! People like me would obviously jump for their signature laksa and health conscious people like Joyce would opt for their noodle soup kot? Lol

Menu

Interior of Tampoi Laksa Shangrila, simple and neat

Took a picture of their original shop's signboard!

Chee Cheong Fun (Big) RM5.90

Since Simen had already tried and tested this food place before recommending it to us, she was probably sick and tired of the noodles HAHAHA (Thank you Simren!) So she ordered Chee Cheong Fun! Was so glad that she did because I wanted to eat everything on the menu!!

Chee cheong fun is one of my favourite food because it's steam flour topped with sweet sauce! Takes off the guilt a little. But I'll usually eat it with side dishes like fried wanton, fishcakes and whatnot :P

Tampoi Laksa's chee cheong fun was good! The sweet sauce was thick and nice also! 

Ice water RM0.60 | Ice Cincau RM2.50

I scrooge a bit by ordering ice water. I wanted cincau like what they ordered but I was thinking RM2.50 can buy me one big block of uncut cincau d! So I stucked with ice water:S

Tampoi Laksa (Small) RM5.50

Wala! This was my lunch that day! Tampoi Laksa!! The laksa gravy was so fragrant and flavourful, it tasted exactly like the back lane one off Jalan Harimau at Century Garden there! Very generous with their ingrediants also like egg, fishcake, tofu and fishball. Love the sambal!!!!

But the small was small la, I think the amount of noodles given was whacked by me in about 5- 6 spoonful only. I finished my meal rather quickly, regretted a bit for not ordering big but if order big, later sure too full. Sigh, food dilemma.

Rojak (Large) RM10

Lastly, we ordered a BIG rojak to share! This was really good as well. The prawn paste was thick and generously given. You can witness their generousity looking at the amount of peanuts they sprinkle on the rojak too! The only downfall is that they didn't give as much Yu Char Kuey as I would like, but still very yummy!

I'm so hungry now. I gotta find food, most probably biscuit:| Ughhh, the torture. Should I go back JB again this weekend? Hehe

Ais Tingkap, Lebuh Tamil & Fried Oyster, Chulia Street Penang

It's Friday!! WOOT! That means today will be the last day cooking home cooked food! KFC come to mama! I'm trying the Cheezy Zinger Mash Potatoes soon! Actually I was secretly hoping that I could have KFC today instead of tomorrow. I crave fried chickennnn!!

Talking about food, this bog post marks the start of my Penang food posts! It seems like going to Penang for food has become a yearly affair. 2 years ago, I went to Penang with my bestie Nit! That was when she was still an omnivore. Last year, I went to Penang with youngest sister, Rebecca and this year I went to Penang with...

Naomi!!! That's  us in the bus heading to KLIA2 early in the morning

Thank God for the cheap air tickets by Air Asia that cost exactly the same as bus tickets! So we fly to Penang with ease! Travelling time only took about an hour compared to 4 hours by bus. Also, I'm not sure if I'm getting older or what but I'll tend to get bus- sick (i.e. seasick but in the bus).

Her first time at KLIA2

We wore the same t-shirts like very typical holiday goers! Hehe

The only thing with taking flight is that we had to be in the airport early. Actually we weren't that early because we woke up later than planned LOL

So breakfast was at KLIA2. We saw the breakfast menu at KFC, this egg zinger burger for RM5+ so I thought okay la reasonable for a set meal. Turns out, that was the price for a la carte! A full meal (Burger + Hash brown + Drink) cost RM10+!!

Grr.

Both of us looking good with fresh makeup XD

Touch down at Penang airport within a blink of the eye! From the airport we were suppose to board the Rapid Penang 401E bus that would drop us off right in front of our hotel.

But since there was a 401 bus waiting and the Rapid guy told us that he had no idea when 401E will arrive, we decided to hop on the 401 bus that takes us to Komtar.

I was pretty proud that I knew my way around Georgetown fairly well because it's my third time there and I managed to even help these two tourist with directions! Teehee.

It was a 15- 20 minutes walk from Komtar to Chulia Street so we stopped halfway for some refreshing drink. This was recommended to me when I last came and I like it! So I had to let Naomi try it out.

Ais Tingkap 

Lebuh Tamil, Georgetown

Ais Tingkap man just opened his stall for the day at about 11am 

Menu for your reference

Ais Tingkap, RM2 per cup!

It really is THE drink to have when you are strolling around sunny Georgetown! It's ice-y syrup with coconut water topped with coconut flesh and basil seed!

It's also THE drink to have because the owner of the place is such a sporting and friendly person! His friends saw me taking picture of the stall so they ask me to go into he drink making area for a picture instead!

The Ais Tingkap man was initially rather shy but at last he posed for a picture according to his friend's cue! He's friend asked him to show the thumbs up HAHAHHA

My favourite picture of the entire trip!! This picture look like I'm those food TV host! My dream job LOL

Not long after, we walked to our hotel located at Chulia Street. After checking in, we left our stuff there and headed off to my favourite Fried Oyster stall which is situated along Jalan Chulia! Just 5- 10 minutes walk away!

Crispy Fried Oyster @ Lam Ah Kopitiam

Chulia Street, Georgetown

(In front of the bomba place. At the junction of Chulia Street and Beach Street)

Uncle frying oyster

About this place, I've gotta give you a heads up that you would need to wait for quite some time for your food to arrive. The uncle takes about 10- 15 minutes to dish out his fried oysters (He makes about 5 plates before serving them).

Also, there are very limited seats at this coffee shop so you would need to keep an eye for empty seats. It's a norm for people to share tables there so if you see an empty seat you would just have to kindly ask the person who is already seating if you could join them LOL

Lam Ah Kopitiam, no seats how???

Thanks to this uncle and his wife (not in picture) for sharing their table with us! Eventually they moved off to another table to share someone else's table and no one else wanted to share our table so... all the better! hehe

Or else, the lady boss of the coffee shop (she sells drinks there) would help allocate a seat for you. If you prefer to not share table, she will ask you to simply sit first then when there is a free table available she will send you there.

Crispy fried oyster in the making

It's very very important to note that this uncle's fried oyster is the best because it's crispy!!!! Unlike elsewhere where the flour batter will be wet and soggy (the normal way fried oyster is being made), this uncle deep fries his egg batter and then separately tops it off with juicy stir fry oysters!!!!

I think I've read somewhere that you could request for the normal way of wet batter also but WHYYY? :P

Whenever I'm in Penang I'd always opt for his fried oysters. I don't find the need to eat fried oysters anywhere else on the island LOL

CRISPY Fried Oysters

See what I mean by crispy! Btw, this is a small serving RM5. If you want double of this portion, of which I really recommend, tell the uncle you want the Big one! RM10! Very worth it because he give you lots of oysters and double the amount of yummy sweet chilli sauce!!

I'm using so many exclamation marks (!!!) to describe the fried oyster that I think the button is quavering LOLOL

Uncle refilling his batter, I realised that all his measurement are by estimation so hard to copy!

Penang White coffee, RM2.30. Another thing that I usually order in Penang is their white coffee! Love how aromatic their coffee is! My sis and I stashed back 4 bags of coffee for our coffee addict parents :P

Happy girl with Penang White Coffee. Feel a little bad pulling her here and there to try out all kinds of food within such limited time. 3D2N in Penang is insufficient!! Next time must extend vacation!

One more shot of the crazy good fried oyster aka Oh Chien aka Oh Luak:

Seong Kee Yong Tow Foo @ PJ Old Town Market Foodcourt

I was thinking how fortunate housewives are these days.

Like earlier today I woke up at 12 noon (again, LOL) and then I sluggishly dumped my clothes and my detergent (for indoor clothes drying!) in the automatic washing machine and waited for my laundry to be done. When it beeped, I took my clothes out and... googled for the weather forecast today:P

Apparently it's high chances that it will be raining today with a humidity of 74% and wind 10km/h. So I decided to hang my clothes inside (turned fan on to mimic wind speed, wtf) instead of out so I won't have to rush downstairs like a mad woman to 'save' my clothes when it rains later.

Plus! Knowing the temperature of the day helps me to estimate how early in advance I should take out the chicken for defrosting too! See, what I say about fortunate housewives!

Btw, I'm not married. Just saying LOL

(In case the readers think I'm an irresponsible sluggish housewife who wakes up super late everyday and then stay at home doing nothing till Le Mari comes home)

Though not a housewife, I definately have some housewife traits like scrooging. This trait would probably impress my future MIL :X

Seong Kee Yong Tow Foo

Stall #35, PJ Old Town Market Food Court

Orange signboard makes the spot!

Since I was planning to have my Starbucks Christmas drink: The Toffee Nut Frappacino (Grande, RM16), I thought that I should only spend about RM7 for my lunch. So I decided to drive to PJ Old Town Market Food Court. 

Directions to the food court.

I googled and found that I could find yummy Yong Tau Fu here. Actually I was thinking more of Chee Cheong Fun but the lady said she don't have it anymore. So I settled for rice.

 Order chit

I was quite happy that the Yong Tau Fu seller was very friendly. I went over to her stall timidly because I couldn't see any Yong Tou Fu that I could point out to (Usually stalls display their Yong Tau Fu for self selection), I didn't see any price also so I couldn't gauge the price of my meal.

But she then quickly gave me the order chit so I was like phewww. Saved me from much awkwardness. I was so excited because I could see what to order and quickly write down the quantity of items I wanted, forgetting that I still don't know the price!

Anyway, my meal came 10 minutes later and OMG I think it's the freshest looking Yong Tau Fu I've ever seen!

 RM13.80 for 2 Brinjals, 2 White tou fu, 2 Fishballs (which I didn't order but came with anyway), 3 Fu Chok and rice.

OMG. My budget was only RM7 so lunch exceeded by RM6.80:( But then the Yong Tau Fu was really big compared to the ones that I usually have at Damansara Uptown's foodcourt! So even if she charged me RM1.50- RM2 for an item it was worth it!

See the sweet sauce (brown sauce in the picture)? That's like super yummy!!!! Best sweet sauce ever tasted:') Goes with the fried chicken as well!!

Fried Yong Tau Fu items

I really really really loved the fried Fu Chok! 

I love it because inside that very crispy soybean sheet, there's one big lump of fresh fish paste!!! So generous for this item seriously! Usually elsewhere, they would just swipe a bit of fishpaste inside just for the sake of it and charge you similar price.

Also, check out my favourite brinjal! I was soooo big that it look quite freaky to eat! LOL So worth the money spent la even if exceeded my lunch budget.

Soupy Yong Tau Fu items

The white tofu was freaking huge as well! Soft soft one with a big fat opening in the middle to stuff fish paste. Very very yummy!! The soup was flavourful but with zero MSG! Taste like homecooked soup! I loves* 

 Fishball was okay la, I prefer fried fishball than fishball in soup. I'm an unhealthy eater :P

See? Fish paste overflowing!

Chicken wing RM2.80

And then we ordered 4 chicken wings from the same Yong Tau Foo shop because I read rather good reviews about it. Nearly ordered 6 out of excitement but good thing I listened to my sis and ordered 4 because by the time we ate the wings, we were both so full already.

The chicken wings were really crispy and the flesh falls off easily from the bone so you will waste nothing! The batter tasted of curry powder, it's no wonder its yellowish colour. But then this obviously can't beat my favourite ayam goreng from Nasi Kandar shops!

My sis' Bak Kut Teh meal from a Tai Tai looking lady a few shops away. It weirdly came with duck meat RM16

Sugar cane RM1.50 each

So in the end, my so called cheap lunch cost about RM20!!!! That's like nearly triple of my initial budget:( But then so yummy especially the Fried Fu Chok! So I didn't get Starbucks that day and I didn't have dinner too LOL Talking about scrooging, gah!

Roasted Duck @ Restoran Lapan Dua Dua 822, Johor Bahru

I was back in JB for a few days last week and before I came back to KL I managed to have lunch at my favourite roasted duck shop! I've tried many roasted duck elsewhere but nothing comes close to this shop's roasted duck!

Been patronising the shop since I was little so it's safe to say that they have had 15 over years (maybe more) of experience roasting duck! I've had posted pictures of my duck rice/ duck noodles on Instagram and Facebook before but I thought that their duck is so awesome that it deserves a place in my blog! hehe

Restoran Lapan Dua Dua 822

36 Jalan Nakhoda 1 

(Opposite TUTA market)

Shop entrance

Watch out for the yellow/red signboard and you will easily find the shop. The shop is situated right opposite the Taman Tun Aminah (TUTA)'s market so that will be your landmark. 

There is a rojak stall right outside 822 Duck Shop too, it belongs to the lady boss' sister. I've tried her rojak before and it's rather tasty- no scrimping on prawn paste so that's good! If I've not mistaken, her rojak is sold for RM5 per serving. 

Shop interior

This is a typical coffee shop so expect the expected LOL No aircon all okay? Only got ceiling fan, gotta rush for seats (but usually the seats are sufficient even when fully packed), cutlery are placed in a holder exposed just like normal coffee shop.

A beverage that I would recommend is their Sour Plum Juice! It's call "Suan Kan Suan Mei" juice. That's like the best sour plum juice ever and it's homemade! The drink is a lemon drink (I suspect they blend in some lemon skin as well) with sour plum and honey (I think)! Yums.

Not to be confused of the sour plum drink and sour plum sauce ya!

Sour Plum Sauce

One of the reasons why this roasted duck shop is THE KILLER ROASTED DUCK shop is because they have their own special sour plum sauce. Sweet and sour, and when it's dipped with your duck... Ooh La La!

I love the taste of the sour plum sauce as I chew on the the crispy duck skin (and fats)! The combination of those two are heavenly!!! Holy cow, I should of packed one whole duck back to KL that day for dinner.

If you are taking away the food, make sure you request for the sour plum sauce because if you don't they will only provide you with the brown duck sauce (for the rice) and chili sauce. I'd get all grumpy if my mum forgets to ask for the sour plum sauce LOL

Duck rice that comes with free bitter gourd soup, RM6 I think

Braised tofu and Braised Egg, RM1 per piece (not too sure of the exact price)

Salted vege, RM2 per serving (I think)

I think their salted vege's standard has dropped quite a bit. Last time, the gravy used to be more concentrated, slightly sour and spicy. The last time I had it, the gravy was rather diluted so no oomph to the vege.

Additional serving of duck

LOOK AT THE CRISPY DUCK SKIN!!!! Slightly burnt one taste super good one! OMG, feel like going back to JB just for this duck. I can taste the duck meat and skin and thin layer of fat rolling on my tongue now while I write about it. 

The duck meat doesn't have that overpowering duck smell. Mum usually asks for lean duck meat so that there will be thin layers of fats just to stimulate the entire eating experience but not too much to gross you out.

Favourite braised tofu and salted vege

Tonnes of boxes prep for take aways

One last picture of my roasted duck rice.

THE FREAKING CRISPY SKIN AND FATS UNDERNEATH!!

I cannot! 

p.s. They also serve their Roasted Duck with wanton noodles as well. Very tasty too!