What better way to start my first blog post than to write about the place where I first started falling in love with food. Batu Pahat. For those of you who are not familiar with this place, it’s in Johor.

Batu Pahat holds a special place in my heart as to me, its a place of F’s: funny jokes, fun times with relatives, fireworks, fruits, fishing, food and more food. It’s my mum’s hometown and I would like to think that it’s mine too. I would get excited every Chinese New Year as that’s the time of the year where we would visit my grandma and relatives in BP.

I’ve never failed to impress my relatives with how much food I can stuff in my tummy whenever I visit. Top food that I’ll ask for are 菜头粿 (Fried Radish Cake), Oyster Omelette and Roti Tissue Pisang. Lunch and dinner in BP are not complete without having at least 2 food stops. As for fruits, a trip to my uncle’s place would provide you with an endless supply of different fruits.

So, my mum wanted to make a trip down to BP to escape the city life and enjoy some food before her surgery. I obviously gladly agreed to accompany her. And so our 48 hours in Batu Pahat begins.

Getting there:
We got to Batu Pahat by bus. The company of our choice was KKKL as it’s seating were comfortable and has the ability to recline low enough for me to sleep comfortably. Very important  It’s approximately RM50 for a return ticket from Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) to Batu Pahat Bus Terminal (3hrs 40min).

PS: I do not have photos of all the food that I’ll be talking about in the later segment as I’ve used up my memory space to take videos of them instead.  Do check out the video above for mouthwatering food footage.

Day 1:

First stop Soon Lai Kway Chap. Oh how I’ve missed this.  It’s essentially flat rice sheets in a dark soy sauce herby broth eaten with a variety of braised side dishes such as pork, egg and duck. It’s hard to find a nice Kway Chap restaurant in KL but if you do know of one, lemme know.
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/AaPBamkqYjF2

There is an alleyway behind this restaurant. My mum and aunt decided to bring me down their memory lane. At the end of this alley is a small house where a family of 11 used to live way back then. The kids (my mum and her siblings) would practice their basketball skills, badminton skills and “Catch Me If You Can” skills. You can still see the lights that they have installed so that they could continue playing at night. They pointed out the spots where they use to see owls, where they use to hide as they enjoyed their ice cream and how they would play catch in the drainage when it was dry. There is also this small square door at the side of the house towards the floor which is now covered where their toilet bowl or “toilet pail” used to be. They would poop in a pail and someone would collect the pail and empty the contents early in the morning through that door. Imagine pooping halfway early in the morning and the pail just disappears from under you. 

Now, nobody stays here no more but birds do. You would hear the sound of birds above from legit birds and recordings to attract more of them. It is at this street where you can find one of the best Char Kuey Teow in BP. Sadly, it was not open that day as seen in the picture above.

Second stop, Chop See Kee aka Ah See Wan Tan Mee. This has been here for many many generations since my grandmother’s time. Don’t forget to add the green chilies that are self-service. You won’t miss it. According to my aunt, it’s tastier at night as that’s the time when the real sifus will be there.
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/8J43bdX2GKT2

While allowing ourselves to digest a little from all the good Batu Pahat food, we decided to visit Xian Leng Aquarium. Not your everyday tourist spot but they have quite an impressive collection of aquatic life for sale . Goldfishes, stingrays, rainbow crabs, blade looking fishes that cant swim straight, elephant looking fishes and more. An interesting place to kill time for fish lovers.
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/NbHCihzEHRv

Phone ran out of disk space for dinner so I’ll just keep that location for next time and move on to….

Day 2:

We started the day with a bang at Da Bei Shui 大杯水 . It’s a one-stop location for a variety of food to choose from. Their fruit juices come with huge chunks of fruit slices and you could choose how big you want your drinks to be. Do try out their Special juice that has watermelon, honeydew, pineapple and one more fruit that I forgot . The next best thing would be the Apom Balik aka Peanut Pancake Turnover. You could choose whether you want it thick or thin. I prefer having it thin  as it’s crunchy and I think there’s more peanut in it.

It does not stop there. If you’re lucky or if you’ve come early enough, there is duck meat noodle 鴨肉面. According to locals, there won’t be any left after 3pm along with the Apom Balik. Yaaasssss!! The duck meat so yuummmss.

Remember this is Batu Pahat. There’s more. Seafood! The lala although small it’s fattened up with juice and the Bali Tong is a must try. Apparently, lala is not a common phrase for everyone as a Sarawakian friend looked at me blankly when I asked whether he has tried it before. Lala are clams. Bali Tong is a species of sea snails . One needs some sucking skills to enjoy the spiral meat of Bali Tong.

Introducing the Art of sucking Bali Tong:
You need to suck it from the ass as the opening is smaller, preventing the scale from coming out with the meat. Caution: The round scale is not edible. That did not work for me and I got laughed at by the elders. If that doesn’t work, suck the front lightly to loosen the meat and proceed to sucking from behind. If that still doesn’t work, you are a failure. Just suck from the front and remember to remove the scale afterward. This somehow sounds wrong but yeah….

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/6rdaKbzNt3n

All of that should cover breakfast and lunch. Now on to Dinner time.

First dinner stop was at 佳味海鲜园 for more seafood. I shall just let the pictures speak to you. 

No trip to Batu Pahat is complete without having my Roti Bala aka Roti Tissue Pisang at 808. This genius guy combined two of my fav mamak food into one. Roti Pisang with the crunch of a Roti Tissue. I’ve tried asking KL mamaks to merge these two to recreate Roti Bala but they would just look at me like I’m crazy. “Roti Tissue is Roti Tissue. Roti Pisang is Roti Pisang. No such thing as Roti Tissue Pisang dei.” Which is why this is a must no matter how full I am. It takes me to heaven and back every single time. I’m surprised that the owner still remembers me. I guess it’s cause not many people know about his secret item on the menu. Yay me! Yay you! Along with this yummy goodness, there is also Oyster Omelette to order. My sister and I could gobble up two plates of this in no time.
Location: 808, Taman Bukit Perdana

Having had enough food, It’s now time for desserts at Batu Pahat Old Street Commercial Centre. I opted for some black sesame ice cream from Little Spoon. Lady D approves . Our main highlight is the claw machines waiting to eat our money effortlessly. I spent RM25 nada  My cousin spent RM100 got a whole plastic bag full of soft toys. She is very persistent when she wants it she will hog the machine till she gets it.  My mum and I would rather spend our money shooting ducks on the other side. That way at least we won something back. Putting Counter Strike skills to good use yo… It was a fun night where even my 60-year-old aunt won something from the claw machine.
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/Ur3kR6FXeQ72

Day 3:

Our final day in Batu Pahat was spent eating this beautiful thing at Lucky Chendol. Location: https://goo.gl/maps/YL1HvZmvyjQ2

Then to Sin Sin Kuih for some awesome nine-layer kuih and rice kuihs for our bus trip back home.
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/oNMyxrtiB5U2

So our 48 hours in Batu Pahat ended. There is so much more to share about. Fishball noodle, lontong, Hai Ke hawker centre….. I’ll just leave it for the next time I visit Batu Pahat again, the food paradise of my heart  Hope you enjoyed this #doseofadventure.

Lotsa Love,
D.