Feng Zhen Lor Mee 鳳珍鹵麵 - Taman Jurong longest queuing food stall

• Operating Hours: 5 AM - 3 PM
• Operating Days: Closed on Sunday and Monday
• Address: 
• Taman Jurong Food Centre, #03-146, 3 Yung Seng Road, S 618499
• Yew Tee - 787B Choa Chu Kang Drive, S 682787

It's very easy to know where is this stall in Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre, just look for the queue on the 3rd floor. 

They have a second branch at Yew Tee.

The queue is never ending but it was clearing fast. So I ordered $3.50 portion.

I was expecting only shredded thin fish meat and fish cake as ingredients like any other Lor Mee stalls, but what I got for this bowl of Lor Mee is the generous amount of ingredients like fried meat balls, fish cake, egg, braised pork belly, and flaky fish meat alongside with vinegar, garlic and chilli sauce. Fish meat is something that we rarely see nowadays in Lor Mee. For this price, this is really value for money.

You could mix it all to eat it, it was really a good gravy along with the vinegar.

Besides the generous ingredients, the thick gravy is another highlight. Some of the Lor Mee gravies tend to be over starchy that makes you not finishing the whole bowl by yourself, the gravy here is thick without being overwhelming, it's full of flavour. I have not tasted such for a long time. 

All the braised item tastes good having absorbed the flavours of the gravy even to the egg yolk as well.  

Need not worry about that strong cinnamon smell, this gravy does not have smell or taste of it.

If you have the chance to drop by Taman Jurong Food Centre, I would recommend you to try Feng Zhen Lor Mee. Among the Lor Mee. I would say this is one of the best in terms of value and taste.

Chao Zhou Fishball Noodle 潮洲魚丸粿條面 - $3 for 5 Big Fishballs....With Noodle!

• Operating Hours: 8 AM - 1 PM
• Operating Days: Thursday to Sunday
• Address: Kim Keat Palm Food Centre, #01-20, 22 Toa Payoh Lorong 7, S 311022
• Their Homepage
• Facebook Page

Chao Zhou Fishball Noodle started from pushcart back in 1968, founded by Mr. Lim Lee Seng. And you could not get them every day, one of the few stalls in Singapore that closed 3 days a week.

The queue at Chao Zhou Fishball Noodle was long and never ends, it was not because of the slow service, they prepared my order in under 2 minutes.

One of the owner was preparing the fishball.

A closer look of the fishballs, it was unusually big that you won't see it anywhere else. You can add fishball for 40 cents each if you think 5 fishballs is not enough for you.

Ordered Fishball Mee Pok Dry which comes with 5 huge golf size fish ball. Only for $3!

The dry version comes with a mixture of chilli and ketchup sauce, it was a really good balance of spiciness and sweetness. Noodles were tender and springy. I would love to have another bowl of it!

Another highlight is the handmade huge and bouncy fishball, before you try to eat it, use a spoon to scoop one of the fishball and shake the spoon, you could see how bouncy it really is! And their fishball does not have fishy smell unlike most of the fishball we had, I have really nothing to complain about. 

For $3 you get not only 5 fishballs, but with noodle! I will sure return again for it again!

D'Shanghai 大上海點心酒樓 - Dim Sum restaurant offer much more than Dim Sum

• Operating Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: 
• KSL - Taman Century, 80250, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
• Sutera Mall - 1, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/4, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
• Permas Jaya - 56, Jalan Permas 15/1, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Malaysia
• Facebook Page

Trying to look for good dim sum restaurants in Johor Bahru? D'Shanghai is definitely one of the top choices. D'Shanghai is also available in KSL City and Permas Jaya. We went to the one at Sutera Mall.

The Oriental exterior in red with big Chinese words "大上海" on the top (a translation of "Big Shanghai" in Mandarin) can be easily spotted from far.

The place was quite crowded but there were enough seats for us in the waiting area. It was a busy restaurant so you might have to wait for 20 mins to be seated. Typically, the environment will make you feel like you are dining at Crystal Jade or Tim Ho Wan.

There are a lot of varieties of dim sum offered. Besides dim sum, this restaurant also offered fried rice, noodles etc.

There were quite a number of varieties on the menu. You will be spoilt for choice.

They recommend D'Shanghai special Dried Shrimp Chili which they sell it in bottle format too. I'm sure anyone will enjoy the Dim Sum dip with this.

The first item that came was the XO fried carrot cake. This is one of my favorite here, it was fried with bean sprouts, spring onions, eggs and Taiwan sausage.

The exterior of the carrot cake was very springy and chewy, while the interior was soft and tasteful! It was something I have not tasted before, a good dish to start off with.

Next item brought to us was the dry Wanton Char Siew Mee.

The dry version was really really dry, till all the noodle were in a pile together. We had to use the spoon to separate it up. Overall the noodle was a bit too soft for me as I like my wanton noodle to be cooked slightly harder. The char siew and the wanton were also pretty normal, but it was a good portion for one.

Their next chef recommendation, fried prawn dumpling with wasabi mayonnaise sauce was very crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The wasabi mayonnaise adds another novelty taste to the fried dumpling but it tastes good on its own as well.

Liu Sha Bao 流沙包 is a mixture of egg custard with salted egg's yolk, which the mixture will usually flow out of the bun like golden sand. But it was not hot at all, so not that much of the 'lava' flow, but it is still good to have it if you visit.

Their Prawn dumpling 蝦餃 was plump and juicy with shrimps just barely visible through its translucent dumpling skin. When you take the first bite, the elasticity of the minced shrimp and meat mixture has a nice contrast to the skin. The skin was neither soft nor feeling plastic-y, definitely, a must have!

The Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 here is their highlight dish. It is often referred as soup dumplings. The skin is extremely thin and we can easily see through the content in each dumpling. The broth in the dumplings was really good that we finished it all three clean just within minutes!

Siew Mai was also one of the chef recommendation here. Each of it was filled with at least one shrimp, with a generous amount of pork given. The meat was tender and does not split into pieces when you take the first bite.

Steamed rice rolls 猪肠粉 is another dish which we will usually order whenever we eat dim sum. We ordered the one filled with You Tiao, and they came with the sauce separated.

The skin was thin, soft and chewy. As for the You Tiao, it is crispy to our mouth, but it was too oily for our liking. Be sure to share with three or more people for one portion.

The food served was relatively fast but they were all warm, none of the dishes were steaming hot, the temperature of the food was acceptable so do make sure you finish your's food ASAP so not to get them cold.

Price is definitely not cheap for the locals, however, their Dim Sum is one of the best I have eaten in Johor Bahru (though still not comparable to Din Tai Feng or Tim Ho Wan).

Overall, the environment was good, spacious and cozy with friendly services. If you want to dine in an air-conditioned place and in big groups, D'Shanghai is one of the places for your consideration.