MEE KOLOK FOR BREAKFAST AT HUTAN BANDAR

The only place I know in town where I could get Mee Kolok for breakfast is the food court at Hutan Bandar. I managed to get a colleague to go there for breakfast, once before school reopens next week.

I guess if you cannot go to Kuching, Kuching would come to you.

A few more days to enjoy stress free morning doing things you like.

THE BIG BREAKFAST SESSION ONE DAY BEFORE RAMADAN

1st APRIL 2022 ~ The last activity before the arrival of Ramadan the very next day was to have big breakfast Johor style and again, the morning gastronomic adventure involved going places hunting for local food available.

The first pit stop was the food court at Hutan Bandar. Puan Suhaila seemed to have an addiction to the Lotong Kering sold here and this would be the third time coming here just to buy the dish to be taken away and eaten later in Shah Alam. This place would always be crowded during weekends and finding seats could already be a challenge.

As for me, I saw this stall selling Mee Kolok the last I came here and I decided to join the queue for the noodles originated from Sarawak. The queue got longer after I got my order.

And I love the Roti Jala sold at this place too.

Once we got all the food that we wanted, we drove off to the next pit stop: Selera Johor, planning for another dine in breakfast session there. 

Unfortunately there were no empty seats in sight when we arrived. People must have come here for breakfast that morning after going to the market for the preparation of Ramadan. So the only place I could suggest to my guests was the food court at the Larkin Market which was opposite Selera Johor, just within a short walking distance. I was hoping that the place was good enough for the visitors.

We were actually a bit late for breakfast as some food was already sold out. Nevertheless, we managed to pool different dishes from different stalls on the table - fried rice, Murtabak, Puri, Idli and Java Sate.

And I saw someone smiling behind the face mask while walking towards my table. Reunion happened everywhere. This time with Mr. Hilmi - an ex-students of SMK Kempas who used to be in my English tuition classes when he was in Form 3 and 5.

I was happy because I found a new eating place to take other friends for breakfast when they come visiting.

That was the concluding session of the gastronomic adventure right before we started fasting the very next day. I am looking forward to more exciting gastronomic adventures with Mr. Ridwan Wahid and his family soon.

BREAKFAST HUNTING ONE SATURDAY MORNING JOHOR STYLE

VENUE #1: WARUNG SAGA

As promised, we met there at 9:00 a.m. in the restaurant. Unfortunately, at that time which was still not late for breakfast, only Fried Noodles and Soto were available. We had ordered our drinks before finding out so we had to speedily drank our morning coffee before running out to the next venue.

VENUE #2: SELERA JOHOR

The crowd was bearable when we arrived and we managed to get a table for four inside the food court. It was another spread of Johor food for breakfast: Mee Rebus, Lontong Kering, Nasi Lemak, and Fried Banana and Mushroom. And not forgetting Kacang Pool to be taken away to Shah Alam.

VENUE #3: HUTAN BANDAR

My guests still wanted to get Lontong Kering that they had three months ago from another food court so we drove to Hutan Bandar just for that. The food was to be brought home to Shah Alam, and I just got to know, there was Roti Jala too in the plastic bag.

That should wrap up our gastronomic adventure this time. Looking forward to another get together with Mr. Ridwan Wahid, a friend of TESL UPM class of 1993, and his family members three months from now. I should have enough time to think of places to take them after this.

WHEN IN JOHOR, EAT BREAKFAST LIKE JOHOREANS DO

13th NOVEMBER 2021 ~ As planned, I met Mr. Ridwan A. Wahid and his family members at his hotel at 9:00 a.m. The eating spot chosen was Hutan Bandar where there were a number of stalls serving Johor authentic food for breakfast. There was a huge crowd that morning as it was a Saturday but fortunately, me managed to secure a table.

The guests from Shah Alam tried a variety of breakfast food and I guess my friends just did not fancy the huge crowd. I myself discovered Roti Jala to die for and I am sure I will be coming back for the same food soon.

I am looking forward to another gastronomic adventure with Mr. Ridwan and family when they are back in town - which should happen not long after this.

HOSTING GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURERS IN TOWN - BREAKFAST AT HUTAN BANDAR

2nd OCTOBER 2020 ~ The initial plan was to have breakfast at a place but it did not open on Friday morning so we went to the another place which was also closed. So I suggested we tried the food court at Hutan Bandar and I was glad there was a variety of authentic Johorian food to choose from.

There were Nasi Ambeng and Soto, and Bakso too - and a few kuihs [some sort of dessert] like Karipap, Pulut Panggang and Lopes. And I decided just to have Tosai.

After all the heavy breakfast, we decided to have a short walk in the recreational forest nearby. The weather was pleasant and there were many people walking and jogging in the park.

We had sufficient exercise walking after the meal and would have to reserve some space in our tummies for more food for lunch in the afternoon.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

MY FIRST TIME VISITING HUTAN BANDAR MBJB

After all these years, I finally set foot inside Hutan Bandar MBJB [TRANSLATE: forest in the city] located at Jalan Yahya Awal/Jalan Tasek Utara. This happened as I went to attend a wedding held there. 

It was surprisingly clean, green and well-looked after. And how authentic was the forest in the city? I could hear the sounds of crickets and other unrecognizable insects when I was there so it should be "foresty" enough.

Good news for parents with small kids. There are a lot of open spaces for the kids to run around as well as playgrounds.

The best part is there is a small water park which is opened to the public for free.

There were also people having a picnic under the shady trees - reminded me of the parks I visited during my trips abroad.

This is a place I may consider going later when I have retired - sitting under a tree, reading a book. Hopefully it will still be there by the time I don't have to go to school anymore.