Friends Favourites: Johor Bahru eats

This installment of Friend's Recommendations will be in two parts. Part 1 is published today, and Part 2 next week. This is a rather special post, as it introduces the street food of Johor Bahru, the border town just across the causeway in Malaysia. Our guide is the famous blogger Tony Johor Kaki.

Tony is one passionate blogger...his passion is to tell the stories of the hawkers and street vendors in Johor. Hence the name Johor Kaki. Visit his blog for a more complete picture of the exploits...all very interesting.

We met to do part of his walking tour of the old town Johor Bahru. Today's post will feature two hawkers...one selling beef noodles, and another with laksa.

First the beef noodles.

Beef noodles...using a mix of fresh beef, chilled beef and frozen beef...depending on what flavours and texture this hawker wants to bring out in the particular order.

We ordered a dry version and a soupy one...

Very robust tasting. The soup stock was quite beefy, with subtle herbal flavours. The meat was very tender.

I particularly liked the tendons...very tender. The soup version was a bit more run of the mill.

Interesting first taste of JB. Though for me, the highlight of our walking tour was to come later...this was a good first taste. In comparison to what we can get here in Singapore, I feel, perhaps we are not so different. I still prefer the Nan Zing Zhou, which I have blogged about here.

Next, a short walk away is a stall selling laksa.

The laksa is the lemak style, using coconut milk, but not as strong as the version we get in Singapore as personified by the Katong Laksa. Here, the offering is more similar to what is known in Penang as Kari Mee..

The soup is more spicy rather than rich coconut. The ingredients are first rate. I particularly liked the deep fried fish balls. The bowl came with lots of tofu, and fresh cockles. Superb tasting. The noodles were also nice, soft.

The tour continues next week.

Ah Yong Beef Noodles @ Restoran Yong Mui 永美茶餐厅-家乡牛腩面
Off Jalan Lumba Kuda
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/MCnNt
GPS: 1.460827,103.767247
7:00am to 3:00pm (Closed on Wednesday)

Tan Kee Cathay 国泰 Laksa
149, Jalan Lumba Kuda, 80300 Johor Bahru (inside Restoran Shang Ji)
Map: http://g.co/maps/qysgr
GPS: 1.461162, 103.767403
8:00am to 3:00pm (Closed on Mondays)