Very unfortunately this year is that special year. While eagerly driving into JB last week with my family, we were told the unexpected news that the durian season had started early last month and so now is already the peak. Maybe you would think something like ‘fwah! just nice now can whack the good durians since the prematured ones already dropped last month’. But for durians fanatics like my dad, it is bad news because this only mean that the durian season is coming to an end very soon and there isn’t a lot of time to enjoy those good durians.

If you’re driving into JB for durians, it is wise to actually avoid buying it in Johor Bahru which is technically the area just after you cleared the custom. Ok that area has good prices for many things like kopitiam food, pirated discs, chewing gums, cigarettes, basically almost everything is cheaper than what you can get in Singapore but yet you have to beware if you’re going to buy fruits there especially durians. Reason being there are a lot of unscrupulous sellers who would charge extra high for normal durians or they’ll cleverly change the A grade durians you’ve selected behind the tables and put in lousy grade durians into the bag.

Then I also heard of other stories like how the weighing machines were manipulated to give a higher reading which then you’ll pay for more. Now basically the nickname for these stalls are ‘Gold Seller’. They are trying to sell anything you want to buy but at the price of ‘gold’. Ok it’s very easy to spot such stalls. Usually they’ll operate from a makeshift table which is the back of their van or lorry with all the side chasis opened up. So what you’ll see is a durian stall connected to the head of a vehicle.

The thing is even if these durian sellers are trying to sell you real good quality durians, the prices are usually a tad higher than if you were to drive for about another 15kms into the Kampong. In Kampong area(usually along the road to the town Pontian), there are many stalls along the roads just outside those durian plantations and they’re usually going for something between RM$3 to RM$15 per kg depending on the quality.

For people who are really crazy about durians, they are willing to pay a lot more for the kind of quality that are just maybe 20 to 30% better than those durians that cost a lot lesser. Well not me, for me durians are still durians so all I care about is the freshness. As long the tip of the durian is fresh and when I shake it, the seeds doesn’t move inside, then it’s good. And using just this method, 90% of those durians I’ve bought are usually good even if it cost just RM$3 per kg.

In this trip, the main thing for us was actually the seafood in Kukup. But while driving along, we were in awe of the many many durian stalls and so we decided to quickly make it to the seafood place and make it a quick one before we happily stopped at every stalls along the way back to check out those durians. We had the usual stuff at Kukup like crab, fish, prawns, fried kampong chicken, mee goreng and noodles which costed us RM$129 which was about SGD$50.

Well we could had lowered the price had we got our seafood from the wet market along the way but didn’t bothered this time round as the durian became the main thing along the way. And that’s not the final price yet, considering we got back around $30 for petrol money later on when we pumped it to full, so that’s about around SGD$20 for a seafood meal for 5 person and that kind of price is something you can only fantasize in Singapore. Well, then we further got a few bags of durian weighing at least a walloping 50kg and if you take the money we managed to save on those durians(compared to those price you have to pay in Singapore), then the seafood meal was more than free and technically, the seafood place had given us some Ringgits after they served us a fantastic meal.

A good seafood meal for 5 plus a bag of 50kg fresh durians in Singapore would set you back around $500 no less. There we spent like SGD$150 with our petrol tank filled to full. The savings are astronomical. They have their business, we have our discounts. It’s a win win deal for both parties. So if you have a car then may I ask ” Lu Tan Si Mi ” ?

Price: SGD$50+

Recommendation: Everything

Conclusion: Simply unbeatable prices. Quality can’t be compared to high class restaurants but value is hard to beat.

Likes: Everything that has sambal in it.

Dislikes: No pork used. If they used pork lard for Mee Goreng or Steamed Fish then it would definitely be more fantastic.

Address		Overall Rating
Restoran Makanan Laut 66A Kukup Laut 82300 Kukup 82300, Johor p: 607-6960597		Food: 8/10   Value: 10/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

In our night kopitiam scene, another form of Cze Char has been quietly penetrating the market in the name of Hong Kong Cze Char which is essentially a flavour of the Hong Kong stir fry. For those who have been to places like Hong Kong, Sydney, London, Toronto or any other major cities for that matter, I’m sure you would have, at one point of your travelling, entered the Chinatown and walked into a Hong Kong eating house for a meal. For me, the main difference between Hong Kong food and our local food is that Hong Kongers tend to like their cooking a little more salty and most of their chef cooked as if chinese wine manufacturer gives them a free supply for a life time!

They do use a lot of wine in their cooking which resulted in an unmistaken ‘Hong Kee’ restaurant aroma, a fragrance no other cuisine in the world has. Usually for me, when I see a Salt & Pepper blah blah blah, then that line is a must try for me. At least once. The usual stuff would be Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs, Salt & Pepper Chicken or Salt & Pepper Squid, Fish or whatever. They always can make me empty my bowl of rice super fast!

Ok I’ve heard of this purportedly famous Cze Char place sitting in the corner coffeeshop in Balestier a few times from friends. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is actually a Hong Kong Cze Char, well at least that’s what the signboard says.

But the thing is I did not see any Salt & Pepper dish on the menu. Well I let my partner make the ordering instead and to be on the safe side, I requested that she go for dishes that she had tried before and found them nice. We got an Assam Fish, a Tofu Prawn and a Garlic Kai Lan.

Assam Fish

The sauce of the Assam Fish was good which tasted somewhat more like a Thai sweet sauce or something along that line.

Tofu Prawns

The Tofu Prawn was full of that ’stir fry’ taste but otherwise not something I would visit that place again just because I crave for it, simply because I had tasted better ones elsewhere.

Garlic Kailan

The Garlic Kai Lan is far-fetched from what I know of how a Hong Kong style Garlic Kai Lan should taste. It just lacked that bit of something that can’t really make me enjoy this dish like how I would otherwise at a Hong Kong eating place. Well, so my opinion is they only added a Hong Kong to their signboard for fun.

Cze Char meal

Chilli Sauce

Their menu doesn’t look like one and the taste of their food neither too. Well, you might have been there and ordered some dishes that you think can be a dispute to my opinion? If so please write to me and I’ll be glad to hear from you!

Price: $40+

Recommendation: Tofu Prawn

Conclusion: Definitely not comparable to the real authentic HK flavour. Prices are a little high for a corner kopitiam. Not sure about other dishes but those we ordered today was very normal. Real cantonese flavour no enough!

Likes: The dishes were decent especially the Tofu Prawn.

Dislikes: Not authentic enough.

Address		Overall Rating
Somewhere on Balestier Road		Food: 6/10   Value: 6/10   Service: 6/10   Ambience: 5/10   Cleanliness: 5/10   Overall: 6.75/10