bottomless tummy in johor bahru

Since we have two weeks off before the start of our industrial practical, I practically bored myself enough that I impulsively decided to have an impromptu trip to JB. Luckily my friend was okay with me suddenly wishing to go there despite short notice. So I tried to book a flight ticket but I'm such a poor peasant that I don’t have enough money, so I settled for taking bus instead. Basically I wanted to see what's good in JB but since my friend said the thing that we can mostly do is eat so I take this opportunity to do food hunting instead while also sight seeing.

Ok so my introduction is basically boring so ill get to the food hunting adventure real fast here.

Our first destination is Kacang Pool Haji situated in Larkin, which I think will not need any introduction as it is a quite famous restaurant with JJCM approval too. From outside, the shop looks like a typical kedai tepi jalan but when you went inside, its have that hipster café interior with the walls adorned with pictures of past royal ruler of Johor. 

I have never tasted Kacang Pool in my whole life so I was pretty excited to have one. We decided to order Kacang Pool Daging, Roti Bakar and Milo Tabur as our breakfast. Kacang Pool taste pretty okay for me but it doesn’t give much impression but its good. My favorite would be the Roti Bakar omg the roti bakar was so heavenly like its so softttttttt it melts in my mouth. Definitely would recommend the roti bakar to anyone coming here.

that roti bakar (RM1.50) will melts in your mouth!

first time having kacang pool (RM6); not bad

all time favourite milo tabur (RM2.80)

We decided then to go to Jalan Dhoby because I wanted to try bread from the famous, long standing bakery called Salahuddin Bakery which still use old fashioned oven to bake their bread. Since we are still pretty full from eating the kacang pool, we decided to walk around first and seeing the small town. I like the mix of old buildings with modern shops and all the street arts painted there. We stopped and Chaiwalla & Co, apparently the first container café in JB for a brunch. 

They have teas and coffees and also some desserts but since I cannot drink coffee I decided to order Black Tea Mango, with additional Blackpepper Beef Pie recommended by the waiter. I love the black tea mango, a perfect mix of bitterness and sweetness but the black pepper beef pie doesn’t taste like black pepper much, its more of a carbonara sauce taste instead. 

brunch treat: definitely will buy again the black tea mango (RM8.80).
black pepper beef pie (RM8.80) is so-so 

The seat at the café is pretty limited, around 3 tables and its kinda hot to sit there during day time so I guess that’s why it wasn’t that much customer when we came. 

their signage is pretty vintage

Then we went to Salahuddin Bakery again where I bought their Potato Curry Puff ? and my friend bought their Sugee Cookies (RM3) and another bread that I cant remember the name. This bakery looks like it came from old time, with how the goods are prepared using wood oven and the display

i think written there was the history of the bakery

wood oven

potato curry puff i bought. i like it, but not so much in awe

variety of breads with ginormous size and small in $$$, seriously worth a try!

Next stop to my bottomless tummy is to Kilang Bateri, an old Everyready factory that was refurbished to become a hub for vendors in variety of things including food and drink. The place itself is such a nice place, as it still retain some of the things from the factory, giving a nostalgic feelings while roaming around to see goods sold here. 

landmark of Kilang Bateri seen from afar

yours truly teehee 

I don’t have particular thing I wanted to eat while coming here so I decided to buy Somtam from a shop there. It was pretty good, enough spiciness and I love the peanuts put in it. 

somtam (RM7.90) will never go wrong

My friend wanted to try the cereals from Let’s Get Cereal shop but the sign said the person when for solat so we waited until 5.30 but still not coming back so we are pretty disappointed for that.

maybe the person went tahajud.
ohhh see that varieties of cereals???!!??

how to eat cereal 101

some of the cereals displayed

 We then bought coconut ice cream from IDonut which I loveeeee so much but my friend said it taste too much like santan haha. 

it sells donuts, coffees, ice creams, and coconut shake

coconut ice cream (RM2.90) that tasted so creamy 

At this time my stomach pretty much going to burst butttt I really wanted to taste Laksa Johor so we tried to search in a few places but mostly it already closed L so I had Dominos for dinner lol.

went inside this shop to try their laksa johor
 but unfortunately it already sold out

 The next day, i really wanted to try this cute japanese coffee shop called Miyakori Cafe, despite reading reviews that it was too expensive and taste too ordinary. But, me being such suckers for cute thing, set my foot there to squeal over the cuteness of this cafe.

the front of the cafe

the barista place. that day the barista was so handsome 

decoration that looks pretty on the eyes

the mascots? of the cafe 

 I decided to have Sakura Latte because i read review that said it taste good but unfortunately it only tasted like vanilla. I took a sip of my friend's mocha and its pretty good. The cake is good too, but it feels heavy, i feel already kenyang with 2 bites. 

Dark Mocha Frapperesso (RM14.50), Sakura Latte (RM14.50), and
Miyakori signature Peanut Chocolate Cake (RM13.90)

Lastly, we went to Monsta Cafe because my friend said theres a mini playground that looks pretty at the upper part of the cafe but unfortunately we arrived at a bad time because the cafe is under renovation so we cant go to upstair and the staffs were mostly busy doing works around the cafe, i felt a bit annoyed with the sound of the machine and staffs talking loudly with each other. 

I wanted nachos because i wanted to get rid of the sweetness from previous visit to Miyakori so i ordered Cheese Nachos alongside Chicken Boxing while my friend ordered regular fries that is put inside coffee bag. 

how the cafe looks like from outside

here's the monsta!

Cheese Nachos (RM10.50). I feel like the nachos was
actually that junk food Chacho's and i feel cheated

Chicken Boxing (RM11.00). Taste like normal ayam kunyit

Regular fries (RM11). Taste literally like regular price

So that concludes my visit to JB for 2 days and i really enjoy it. If given a chance (and money), definitely will come again for another food adventure!

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bila nak kahwin?

it seems like when you reached early 20s, the talk of marriage become like a staple of conversation. especially when one of your friend invited you to their wedding and you will be like omg is it finally time to go to our own friend's wedding instead of our parents'?

and this raya, it was like a big topic on how to answer when your elders ask "bila nak kahwin?" and people tried to give sort of like troll or sarcastic replies because they feel offended to be asked those question.

years back, if someone asked me what my plan for marriage, i always said i dont want to get married. like ever. and people will reply "eh mana boleh, tak sunnah lah" among other things. if someone ask me now my answer will reluctantly be that im not ready.

you see, my therapist said im a much too realist of a person. i dont care about bullshit, i dont want to care about other people nonsense unless it affected me directly. in other word, im not much of an emphatizer. this is where the problem i have with marriage. we are all been presented with how marvelous and fairy-tale like wedding and marriage are, how it all a sweet end of a journey after a long tremendous relationship, how two souls finally be given the definite title of their connection yada yada with hashtag relationshipgoals whatsoever. i see marriage as a big responsibility, where instead of minding your own self and feelings, you have extra one person to take care about. or two, or even 10 with years to come. you no longer having to live for your own sake, but for others, because suddenly you are the pillar of someone's life. you cant bail out of it just because you feel it, because a responsibility; no matter how tired you are of it, you have to endure it, because its your job, its your life now. this is where i come in. i cant for the sake of my life care about myself enough, and i dont see how i can take care of other. im a hardcore procrastinator, i cant cook (seeing how now alpha male malays see this as a big flaw), and im sure not ladylike enough for anyone ( well enough for myself atleast).

whenever i tweeted or talked about marriage, it mostly because i love the ideas of wedding, not the marriage itself. its two different things, loving the idea of how you are celebrated for a milestone in your life; wearing pretty gown, pretty backdrops, great photoshoot session with your selected bridesmaids, and the idea of how you now basically share same house with someone you will probably live with years together. im not much keen on the latter, maybe because i cant see yet how i can handle living with someone that is not my family or friends (if i got married someday, dont let my spouse read this, note to myself).

i believe love (in marriage) is a product of hardwork. a persuasion of feelings. a learning process for both people involved. i used to think love is just a feeling we feel; how we see someone for the first time and we feel the thump! thump! thump! in our heart but as i grow into such a cynical person, it gave me a new perspective. because i think, even if sometimes we dont like something, after learning and getting the rope of it, we tend to appreciate things more. in case of myself, i actually hate the colour pink and i remember this one time i said im make myself love that colour by buying my first ever pink shirt. and i tried incorporating all little things pink until i do actually like it ( and obsessed!). thats the reason i think why arranged marriage does work sometimes. im not saying about arranged marriage without consent of the involved party, but rather a marriage between two souls that are willing to try and thrive to make it work. maybe both of them already have their own 'pilihan hati' but kalau dah jodoh, why not? they work harder, because now you have to live with this person, despite if you like him or not, so a hard work is needed. tolerance, is a big part of their life. love? maybe it come later. hence why i think building your marriage solely on love is not enough.

hence why i think im not married yet ( or the fact maybe my jodoh tak lahir lagi :P ).

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