JB You've Done it Again
Many cafés.
When I was at University, many many years ago, quite a few of my friends (and, indeed, two of my first loves) were Malaysians so I’m sure some of them would have mentioned JB to mean Johor Bahru. To me, however, JB signfified something else for many years - a shop that seemed to cover all the bases when it came to CDs and records: JB Hifi. They’re an Australian outfit that originally only had a few shops (I think just Melbourne and Sydney), with huge record collections, and it was always so exciting to go in to their shop and find things unobtainable in New Zealand. Now, they’ve become ubiquitous and much less interesting: I prefer Johor Bahru.
It’s by no means a glamourous city, but it is a very comfortable place to hang - mainly because it does cafés so well. I’m a bit saddened when Google doesn’t bring up Flowers in the Window, a place from last time, when I search for coffee but luckily, as I wander, I find it - it’s listed under its alternative name, Sourdough. Downstairs is just a small space but, to be honest, it’s all I found last time: it was only as I was leaving, I noticed the stairs.
It’s upstairs that counts, however - a hugely homely space where I can relax over a coffee with a book. I’m there quite a while, so there are more customers than the photos suggest.
The city is not totally lacking in nice looking buildings - I don’t know what the red building is, I think the mosque is obvious and the other building is the city hall, built by orders of the Sultan on top of the hill to overlook the city. I don’t know how it was done, but it was built during WW2, when the Japanese were in occupation (and the war meant resources and attention were focussed elsewhere).
I have plans to go back to Flowers in the Window for lunch, but am attacked by a feeling of great lethargy, and retire to the hotel for several hours. Dinner is a non-event - there’s a place I want to go to in the mall, but wander around for an age and never find it so just grab some random Thai food. The place is there - I see it next morning when I go in to the mall for a late breakfast. Although Antipodean Gold claims to reference the European café tradition, it more directly references New Zealand: it is owned by an expat Kiwi and many of the menu items have very distinctive New Zealand names - Punakaiki Crepes is the best example. This is not the reason I go - it has been voted as Asia’s best café and Malaysia’s best roastery. I am not hungry so go for a snack sized mushrooms on toast ($4). It’s too corporate to ever be my favourite café but the staff looking after me were truly wonderful.
My time is up at the hotel, but I am not ready to go (this proves to be a continuing theme). Rather than stay in the same hotel, I move about 3 km, to a suburb called Taman Melodies. One street here (Jalan Beringin) has an extraordinary range of places to eat and drink (including two craft beer bars) so I move to the V Hotel to be close to the action. The hotel is on the main road north - the shops around me suggest a preoccupation with cars: many places for car parts, car repairs, car detailing and car sales (Perodua anyone?). Ironically, I have every evening meal at the nearby food court rather than Jalan Beringin: it is so good, it stays open until 2 in the morning and it has cheap cold beer to go with my food.
It’s fairly quiet when I go in a bit after 8, quite a bit busier when I come back at 9:30 and even busier when I go in the next night after 10. I have a really good roast pork on rice on my first visit - I go to a craft beer place and have a proper Penang style (so quite dry) char kway teow on the way back, then a good old chicken rice the next night. It sounds bad - when I go to a Malaysian food court, it is routine to have six glasses of beer with my dinner! That’s because the glass is always tiny - it’s just one bottle. I think maybe they mhave these small glasses because it’s easier to keep beer cold in the bottle than the glass.
For my craft beer fix, I go to a place called Hops On and also called Beer Spot for a collab between a Vermont and a Singaporean brewery, but inspired by a visit to New Zealand. It’s a double IPA so about 8% alcohol and quite a heavy beer to drink in a hot place. The bar is rather small, but they still find it hard to fill on a Friday night.
I spend Saturday café-hopping Jalan Beringin - starting at the far end with the very busy Keijometo: I finished here last time so was not in the mood for a long stay. As it happens, it is such a busy place (I waited in a queue for a seat), it isn’t a place to linger but it looks great. Plenty come to pose for photos.
Next up is a serious coffee place, Clod Coffee Bar and Roasters. They present me with a wee book describing every coffee they sell by their flavours - nothing is described as tasting like coffee so I am a bit flummoxed. When I finally pick one, it’s out of stock, so they suggest one that tastes of “peach, lychee, red flower and raspberry” from Ethiopia. They give me a card with a picture to show its flavour profile and listing these tastes. It’s a bit much for me, frankly. I find out that this is also the other craft beer bar in the area, but the selection of cans in the fridge is not great and their tap beers (all Garage Project) are probably not fresh so I don’t come back.
After that experience, I need a real coffee so pop in to nearby Hiritsu Coffee Roastery. For many years, I have watched Masterchef Australia and seen them talk about financiers but not quite worked out what they are, so when I see one on the menu, I dive in.
Last, it’s time for Swell - the first place I tried last time. There’s a bakery out the back doing cookies and pies - I can’t resist a beef pie. It’s lightly spiced and pretty good.
Four coffees in and I can definitely feel it! It’s been a great day and I’ve only scratched the surface. There are several other similar places - including Nimmies from the other night - as well as proper restaurants (a steakhouse and an Italian) and more casual places. One odd thing is that the street is otherwise residential, so I don’t quite know how there’s such a concentration of food here. But I’m here for it!
Cheers!