116. Galbiati Gourmet II

I was going to buy a cake but the ones at Galbiati Gourmet were too big so I dropped the idea of getting one from there. I was quite surprised that there weren't many customers on a saturday lunch as opposed to the crowd on a saturday night. The crowd was over at the 24 hours noodles stall at the other side. But I bought a slice of lavender cheesecake @$6 to satisfy my temptation. Haha. It was nice. Must-try! The cheese wasn't too strong. I like the lavender which was blended into the cheesecake. It wasn't too much, just the right amount. I have yet to taste their tagliatelle!!

115. Restoran SF

Restoran SF (顺风楼) is just about 2 km from the pontian market. I have been to Pontian many times and have not heard of nor seen this restaurant. An uncle of mine recommended this restaurant to me last week and it happened that I was in Pontian this afternoon and so lunch was settled there. The restaurant is pretty spacious. It has air-conditioned seatings at the second floor. The first floor is an open concept seating, mainly because it faces the sea directly. The sea breeze was so cosy, it can jolly well do away with the air-cons.

Black pepper lobster @RM84

The lobster was said to be caught locally. High expectations for it but it wasn't exceptionally good. Cheap though. Though it weighed 700grams, there weren't much meat. The one which I had at kukup had much more meat and it weighed only 600grams. Cheaper too.

酥炸青眼 (Crispy fried squid) @RM12

I was attracted to this 青眼 on the menu. I have no idea what it was. After asking the waitress who took orders then I know it was a type of squid. It was a good dish to go along with beer. The meat was tangy and it tasted a bit like fish cake.

Fried kangkong with garlic @RM8

娘惹蒸罗鱼 (Nyona style steamed fish) @RM70

The sauce speaks it all. The nyona sauce used here was more of peanutty. It tasted a bit like the satay sauce and tamarind mixed. The later lesser in content. If the peanutty taste could be lessen and maybe make it more spicy, the nyona sauce would have been tastier.

Total bill for 4 pax was RM183.30 (~SGD 73). I felt the price was quite reasonable. However, the food wasn't so palatable. The waiting time for the food was quite long. We waited for about 20-25 minutes but there weren't any other customers other than us.

Restoran SF
No.42 Jalan Delima 3,
Pusat Perdagangan Pontian,
820000 Pontian, Johor
Tel: 07-6868003

114. Malaysia - Pontian Market

Let me introduce this place. A place where the Malaysians there love and hate us, Singaporeans. This is the pontian market. A place which attracts many Singaporeans everyday. Singaporeans travel all the way to this market for the fresh fish haul up from sea. They have a wide variety of fish, sometimes a lucky catch, they will have lobsters. Besides fish and seafood, there will be vans selling fruits. When it is the durian season, the van will be loaded with durians, mangosteen season, the mangosteens and etc. Food....food food and food...it always attracts Singaporeans, no matter how far they are.

Why the Malaysians there love us? Because Singaporeans go there to buy their fish. Not 1 fish, 2 fish but whatever you have, they take it. The fishmongers just love Singaporeans so much. "Towkays and Lao ban niangs.....buy finish all my fish and I earn big bucks."

Why the Malaysians there hate us? The price of the fish was jacked up because of Singaporeans. The fishmongers took the chance to "chop carrots". Though some fish were more expensive than those sold in Singapore, Singaporeans will still buy them. Just because they were fresh fish. Definitely differ in taste!! The poor malaysians who reside there had to buy expensive fish. So, it is not surprising to chance upon the Malaysians there scold "Si Singa-po lang". Haha.

113. Malaysia - Kedai Roti Dan Kek M.1

Pandan chiffon cake @RM7

This kedai roti dan kek M.1 shop sits in the middle of the stretch of shophouses along Jalan PT. Mesjid. Kedai meant a place in Johor. This bakery sells roti and cake (kek). As for what M.1 means, I have no idea. Again, it is a shop which looks so ordinary. They have the bread and cakes in the front space and the baking is done at the back of the shop. Everything is freshly made. The pandan chiffon cake was divinely delicious. Must-try! It was so so so fluffy and light. Also, it was not too sweet. It was simply ambrosial~! The 10-inch pandan chiffon cake cost only RM7! Cheap and delicious. I'm so glad that I have found such a good pandan chiffon cake.

Banana muffin @RM0.80

The banana muffin is another must-try! Same thing....fluffy and light. Usually the banana muffins were pretty oil-laden but this one not the least bit oily and it wasn't dry. It was like the pandan chiffon cake....so delicious.

Kedai Roti Dan Kek M.1

761 Jalan PT. Mesjid, 820000

Pontian, Johor

Tel: 07-6870254

112. Hua Yuan Coffeeshop

Hua Yuan (华园) Coffeeshop is located at a HDB void deck behind the Hua Nam Dim Sum at Sim Ming Road. You wouldn't have noticed it because it is pretty much like a coffeeshop with nothing much to offer. Well, if you are there for lunch, I guess you will be pretty much amazed by the crowd. I am a frequent patron of Hua Yuan but many times I went there at tea-time but today was during lunch time. There are a few nice food to recommend in this coffeeshop.

Rice rolls(chee cheong fun) @$0.80 per roll

This is the chee cheong fun which I always eat whenever I'm there. Must-try! I'm not sure what is the name of this stall because they hung a red banner over their signboard. But, you can see that they have a smaller signboard which said handmade steamed yam cake and etc. Their chee cheong fun and steamed yam cake are delicious. The sauce they used for their chee cheong fun was a clear sweet sauce as opposed to the black sweet sauce we usually have. The plain rice rolls was good even without fillings. They used the same sauce for their steamed yam cake. Sometimes...simple is good.

Porridge from 华英饭店. Relax. This porridge ain't served from a hotel. It is the name of the porridge stall in the coffeeshop. I was surprised to see a long queue at this stall, from the stall all the way out to the main corridor of the void deck. Wow. What's so nice about it? So we ordered from the porridge stall. See the dishes above? Plus 6 bowls of plain porridge, the total cost was just $18.90. It was very cheap. So, this explains for the long queue. The dishes and porridge were not too bad but not exceptionally good.

Besides these two, the traditional kaya toast and thick toast from the coffee stall are good too. I didn't try them today. Thick toast is only available from 2pm onwards.

Hua Yuan Coffeeshop

Blk 23 Sin Ming Road