They look kind of more like empanada that are like braided on the outside
Reminds us of a lot of fish curries we had here in Malaysia, very boldly spiced
Our first stop is Salahuddin, a family-owned business and it's been here 83 years
How old is this? 83. Eight three? Wow. And this oven has been here since. You use wood? Yeah. Wow
So old school. The brick where they smoke, bake their baked goods it's also been since
the beginning. And imagine having baked goods baked on an 83 year old oven. Now about try it
I'm a huge fan of places like this - these old world classic you walk in there it's no frills, you just
got pictures on the wall and I just love it. It's like stepping back into time really old world
place. So this karipap aka curry puff really interesting when you look at it. I'm used to the ones
that look kind of more like empanada that are like braided on the outside and more round. This is like
a triangular very flaky looking and it's like this interesting yellowish color. It reminds me, if you're
a fellow New Yorker, it reminds me of the old-school Jamaican beef patties you get at the pizza store
- at the pizza shop. So this one looks good. This is the kambing, it's the mutton, so I'm gonna go ahead and take a bite
Now the crust of this is unbelievably smoky. I can't believe how smoky
this tastes. This is not even when you get to the filling, this is just the outside.
It's just definitely a product of that wood- fired oven. Never tasted anything like this
So the filling you have a mix of the minced mutton and the potato.
That smoky flavor also does penetrate to the filling. Oh wow this is the smokiest karipap
you're ever going to taste. It's that old world craftsmanship here.
So we also got something sweet here. We got the coconut bun that's really nice and soft
here. And when it's ripped open like this you see all that brown shredded coconut
in here probably with some sugar. Let's take a take a bite of it. It looks really good.
If you're a coconut lover like me, you gotta get this coconut bun because you get that nice
crunchy coconut texture. It's not too sweet. You really get that hit of coconut flavor. Very strong
It seems like baked goods are one of the major things that you really have to get here in Johor Bahru.
This is a banana cake and it is from a place that's been here since 1919. Every banana cake
you get or they give you is very fresh warm. They advise you to open it a little bit to let it air
out and it's still warm. It's been sitting here on our table for like probably 15 minutes and we're
about to uncover why people would go in line, take bags of it. See how delicious this banana cake is
for ourselves. Smell wow that's a lot of bananas. So this bakery Hiap Joo is very famous here. Might
be the most famous place in all of Johor Bahru. It's incredible. So normal times you have people
come here from Singapore. I'm sure they load up on this. Smells amazing. It's just so - I love how
it's so warm it's so soft, fluffy. I can't even talk about it anymore, I'm gonna take a bite.
Mmm oh my god.
This really is one of the lightest fluffiest. It melts in your mouth
It has that banana flavor, but it's not too strong. So if you don't love banana, give this one a try.
You might be sold on it. And what I love about it - it's not too sweet. It's got a slight bit of buttery
flavor to it, but it's really well balanced. It's really more like a banana bread than banana cake.
And the thing is about it, there is no place there to sit and eat. This is all takeaway. So there's a
kopitiam across the street. We actually went a little down the block to a spot called Chaiwalla
It's a cool coffee shop. They have espresso, which I love. I think this cake is going to pair
perfectly with this espresso. We highly recommend, especially if you like espresso cappuccino just
outside of your classic kopitiam coffee, come here because it goes so well with this banana cake.
Wow. And what's cool about it too at Hiap Joo, they use an old-school wood-fired oven so kind of like
at Salahuddin Bakery it's an old world spot they've been in business for so long for good
reason. The hype is real and then some. Definitely do not miss Hiap Joo when you're
in Johor Bahru. Can't stress it enough. Can easily polish off a whole tray of this.
Another legendary Johor eats and this one is pisang goreng
from Pisang Goreng Mawar. It's right outside their successful soccer practice
stadium. You will not miss this place also because it is always crowded with locals.
Pisang goreng is a classic tea time snack here in Johor. And pisang goreng is fried banana so that's
what the pisang is banana goreng is fried. And they have all these crispy bits too. So
this actually reminds us a lot of the seafood we get in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.
They would fry it and have these crispy bits. You can even just eat the crispy bits like this.
Hear that crunch? So each piece is this size so they're sliced. I'm gonna try one by itself first.
the pisang raja. That's the bigger banana that one's really extra sweet and really juicy. That's
not always found though. It's a third time here and they only had it the first time. But what makes
the pisang goreng special here in Johor is the sambal kicap dipping sauce. So sambal kicap is
the soy sauce, but it's mixed in with some chili flakes there's looks like there's some sort of
citrus probably calamansi or lime in here so you got to give it a nice dip just like that.
That's the ultimate sweet savory combination there. You get the sweetness of the banana,
it's crispy and then you have that sauce has got a mix of the salty from the soy you have the
little bit of spice you have the little citrusy in there too so it's really just so many flavors
going in there together. The sweetness from the sauce and the banana, the spicy, the salty,
tangy. I love this combo. Can really see why the sambal kicap is so special
for Johor pisang goreng. It's addictive. The more you eat it, the more you like it.
It goes nicely with kopi o kosong ice. Just a plain black coffee iced
to kind of cut through the richness of this snack.
The healthiest meal we've ever had in Malaysia and our favorite. Look at that
We're here at Botok-Botok Ibunda. So we're here for the namesake, the botok-botok.
It's a very special dish and we actually tried it last week thanks to our friend, Linda.
She has just been hooking us up with some of these gems here in JB. We never would have known about
this dish or this place without Linda. So this is something we absolutely loved our first try
here. And we wanted to come back and really watch it be prepared because it doesn't do it justice when you
just have it. It's delicious, but you have to see how it's made too because it's really really cool
to watch. It looks simple, but there's a lot of work that goes into it. So this botok-botok, it's the tenggiri fish,
there's a special curry blend that's in the pot over there. So there's turmeric in there, lemongrass,
galangal, all types of other spices in there. And they use all these different leaves. So this
stuff, you can eat just the leaves and the spice so it turns into like a paste after it's steamed.
So you wrap it up, you have the leaves, the fish, the spice blend you wrap it up in the banana leaf and it
gets steamed. It's very healthy. Yeah Jumi behind the camera's eating and I'm about to do the same.
Look at that. It's just covered in this spice.
That is just insane there's so much flavor in here. The lemongrass is so strong
you have lime leaf in here too. It's spicy, it's not really creamy because it's more like a drier paste.
It reminds me a lot of some of the more aromatic fish head curries that we've eaten here in Malaysia.
So this dish does have some Javanese roots as well, but this is distinctly Malay flavor
and I can taste it too. It definitely tastes like a lot I mentioned a lot of fish curries we had
here in Malaysia. Very boldly spiced. I haven't even touched the fish yet.
That's how flavorful these greens with this spice is. Like we see all the food we eat, we need more
of these greens in our life. We can eat this every day, it'll help balance us out and make
us healthier. I could just eat it just like this, but the fish here, the tenggiri, is very dense.
I'm gonna go ahead and scoop it up with some of that spice paste.
The fish is very dense. It's nice - clean taste. It pairs perfectly with the spice blend, but I
gotta tell you. I could just - I treat it like a bonus. I could just eat these leaves with this
spice all day long, that's just that's how good it is. Definitely one of the best ways to get
your veggies in. And for you pescatarians, this is the dish for you too. Really one of the healthiest,
most flavorful dishes we had in Malaysia. It's a combined flavorful, healthy. Not easy to do. No oil
The hardest thing. The hardest thing to do. We love just the history behind it. Just it's like
family business down through third generation now. And the business was only started relatively
recently, but the recipes come down from third generation now. And what's cool too is
that this - the botok-botok. You can buy it here, but they also sell it to some other restaurants and
warungs around JB. So they supply other places with it. It's a very labor intensive dish, especially
to make that spice powder like the spice blend. So not everybody's able to make it, so they specialize.
We are at the coolest place in Malaysia. This place has been here since the 1920's. Look at this place.
It is so cool to be here right now. We are about to have a drink. This is a toddy, or a coconut wine.
Oh it smells so strong. It's fermented distilled coconut wine.
So I'm so used to drinking this red, deep red almost kind of look like a
red wine. I liked it so much we actually brought back a big bottle of it to take home. And
that's the beautiful thing about here it's also so cheap it's three ringgit for a mug and if you
know about Malaysia and the beer and wine prices here, they're very expensive. Like a can of beer is
normally going to run you about eight ringgit. So I'd much rather have a glass of this for three ringgit.
Reminds me a little bit of pulque in Mexico, the fermented agave, but the consistency is
definitely different. That one in Mexico is kind of gloopy. This one's a little more smooth, but it
does have a little bit of carbonation to it. It's a little bit sweet. I like that it doesn't taste
strong when you drink it, but you can start feeling it after some of that mug. This is a
must-visit spot. I love the flavor it's just so smooth you sit here you chill the vibe.
It's like nowhere else we've been in Malaysia. That's kind of vibe