Johor 2025 Day 8: Eats at Batu Pahat (峇株巴辖)
- Rick
- Jun 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 31
Tuesday, 3rd June 2025
I knew of 4 joints along Jalan Bukit Pasir, namely Han Kee Cake & Cafe (汉记面包西果店), Local Aroma Cafe (道香咖啡馆), Macau Kopitiam and Tsim Sha Tsui Kopitiam, where one could go for traditional toasts and buns with traditional kopi for breakfast. I had been to Local Aroma Cafe in April 2024 and thought of visiting the other three on this trip, one coffee shop a day, but did not expect Tsim Sha Tsui Kopitiam to be closed for 4 days starting this day — a plan could never keep up with changes.
To get to any of the above 4 coffee shops, I would need to take the "long and tedious path" again from 888 Boutique Hotel to Taman Banang, taking about 20 minutes.
9:25am, I came to Macau Kopitiam (澳门茶餐室). It was nearly full but I managed to get a table in the air-conditioned section just as a small group of breakfasters left. I ordered a Kopi-O kosong, a pork cutlet bun and a thick toast with a half-boiled egg. The pork cutlet bun was a Macau specialty and definitely a must-try at Macau Kopitiam. The thick toast was really thick and I doubted I could finish it initially, but it was very soft and fluffy and not as filling as it seemed.
After breakfast, I went to get some medications and supplement from BIG Pharmacy in the estate opposite Burger King. As the sizes of the medicinal items were a little bulky, I decided to head back to the hotel to drop them and to cool down a little from the morning heat. I had no plans on what to do this day except eat.
At close to noon time, I headed out to GN Food & Biscuit (满發糕饼店) again and bought another 2 flavours of the Teochew la piah, a sun biscuit and a short tube of Hokkien hiong peah. I munched on the sweet-savoury chicken floss biscuit while walking to AEON BIG Batu Pahat. The other biscuits were sealed and I would eat them on the journey in the next few days.
Despite the building up of clouds in the sky that masked out the sun occasionally, the heat was still unbearable. I window-shopped in the cooling AEON mall, bought some cut fruits, sat at the entrance where there were some benches and ate them.
1pm, seeing that the sun had gone behind the clouds, I took the "long tedious path" again to Mong Bakery (梦) behind Burger King in Taman Banang. It was located on the second level of a Chinese religious goods shop along a row of shophouses. Oh, there was also a Family Bakery (芳邻西点蛋糕) outlet here — for the popular ogura cake.
Seated in a corner of Mong Bakery, I ordered one of Mong’s Special Latte, called Violet, which was a yam-flavoured iced beverage, a Yam Coconut Jelly Matcha Chiffon cake and Smoked Duck Kimchi Don as main dish. The beverage, the cake, the don, the staff and the vibe were simply fantastic. I would want to come back again next time. Actually, there is a cafe, named Kokoro Don, in Johor Bahru near to Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk that is affiliated to Mong Bakery — I had been there once. And the boss of Kokoro Don was at Mong Bakery too — the Smoked Duck Kimchi Don was prepared by him.
While relaxing and enjoying the cake in the cafe, I booked a Mayang Sari Express bus to Muar, via Easybook's app, for RM5 at 12pm the next day and also 2 nights at a homestay in Tangkak. I also noticed that I was making lesser transactions via TnG eWallet in Batu Pahat as compared to Kluang. Most retails in Batu Pahat used the cross-border DuitNow QR but public buses were mainly cash-oriented. My depletion of cash was also drastically reduced.
I also tried transferring money from my YouTrip debit card to Touch n’ Go eWallet but foreign cards were not acceptable. I tried topping up my ManjaLink card via Senang Pay with YouTrip and it worked! In conclusion, although TnG eWallet saved the hassles in dealing with small amount of money, it was not user-friendly for foreigners.
I sat in the cafe for 2 hours before leaving at 4pm and retreated back to the hotel via the long and tedious path again. This would be the last time I gonna walked this path.
I rested in the hotel for 2 hours before coming out again for dinner at 6:30pm. I did not want to go far and came to San Yuan Gourmet again. I had just a Mini Wok Laksa Noodle this time, which was served as Mini Wok Laksa and a dry-tossed noodle. I still felt that the portion of noodle was quite a lot.
After dinner, there was no where to go except back to the hotel. I packed my belongings and noted that the number of stuffs had increased — and I was only half-way through the journey. I would need to control my purchases till the last few days of the trip.
Day 9: Batu Pahat to Tangkak (东甲)