Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Before I begin, I realize that I have put this post under 'Travel', but as shown below, I honestly spent my entire weekend eating my way through the city.

Johor Bahru. Or "JB", as affectionately referred to by most Singaporeans. JB is the second largest city in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur, located at Malaysia's southern tip, which happens to be a 1.5 hour car ride from downtown Singapore. There is really no sightseeing to be done in this city. Most Singaporean locals visit JB multiple times a year to spend a weekend enjoying the cheap, delicious food that the city has to offer, and I asked my friends if they would take me so that I could see what the hype was all about.

My three friends and I left at 11pm on a Friday night to make the trip up, as this would allow us to encounter less traffic at the border. We stayed at a hotel in the so-called "hipster area" of JB, as that was closer to the food. :)

Food in Malaysia, especially JB, is extremely cheap by both American and Singaporean standards. A normal meal is 1/3 the cost of a meal in Singapore and 1/4 the cost of one in the U.S. Seriously, I ate delicious nasi lemak (which I have written about in another post) and an iced coffee for lunch for only USD $2.

To add on to this, over the course of the weekend, I also ate authentic hot pot, Korean BBQ with 8 different flavors of pork belly, lots of matcha drinks, and visited 3-4 hole-in-the-wall bars and food stalls over the course of the 36 hours I was there. It's safe to say that my next few meals once I got back to Singapore tasted extremely bland after this weekend.

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Hot Pot

A classic Chinese dish that I had tried in the US, disliked, and tossed the thought of ever eating again to the back of my head. Convinced to give it another shot, wow, I do not think I can ever bring myself to try this in another form back in the US because it was just too good to be true here.

We ordered a selection of meats ranging from Iberian pork to cow intestine (tasting this was an experience, to say the least), along with two different kinds of soup, many veggies, and hand-drawn noodles. On a table on the side is a complimentary range of sauces that one can personalize to their own taste. I mixed sesame sauce with peanuts, celery, green onions, chili sauce, and garlic to use as my dipping sauce for the meats and veggies. Having never tried this before, I was guided through every step of the meal by my entertained friends, who laughed at my confusion, as I cooked the meats and veggies in the soup, dipped them in my sauce, and washed everything down with mango jelly for dessert.

Palsaik Korean BBQ

There's one in LA if any Americans reading this want to go visit! In true foreigner fashion, I walked into this restaurant expecting the standard Korean BBQ that is served in the US. You order some meats, cook it yourself, eat the sides from small plates - you know, the usual. Little did I expect a menu full of sets that each contained 8 different kinds of pork belly along with a choice of soup for the table. Furthermore, the waiter cooks the meat in front of you, and the tray on the table is tilted ever so slightly to allow the extra sauce to filter out of the pan so that the flavors don't mix.

Lo and behold, I sampled pork infused with wine, miso paste, curry, ginseng, pine leaves, garlic, and more. I don't think I have ever tasted meat this savory and flavorful before. This was accompanied by seafood soup, kimchi pancakes, and the normal condiments that are usually served (kimchi, salad, etc). Once again, my friends were very entertained at how awestruck I was through this entire meal, and I do wonder when I will taste pork like that again.

Matcha

The last highlight of this trip would definitely be the matcha drinks - the classic "basic" Asian drink, for which I was teased about drinking the entire time. I had a matcha smoothie and tried my friend's matcha latte - both pictured below. The smoothie came with matcha ice cream, a donut, and whipped cream - aka diabetes in a cup. And of course, the coffee shop had to take it up a notch by making a dog in the latte instead of the standard leaf design.

Johor Bahru is truly the place for you if you want to spend a few days eating cheap, delicious food and relaxing with a group of friends. If I was a native Singaporean, I would definitely be in JB a few times a year - no doubt about that.