Mok Gao Beef Noodle (莫搞牛肉粉) is very famous in Kulai and is highly recommended by locals. It has probably the "best beef noodles in Johor" as coined by netizens.
Located along Lorong Satu in Taman Kulai, not far from Kulai Bus Terminal, Mok Gao is not easy to find for first-timers seeking the eatery. Tucked in a secluded corner and without a signboard, it is highly unlikely that anyone can walk pass and "stumble" on a good beef-noodle-place, you will need to know its exact location to find it.
The restaurant spans across three shop units, including a unit with "26菜板" (26 Choy Ban) printed on a signboard. Customers can also buy Hakka choy ban (vegatable dumpling), which is another Kulai must-try, when eating noodles at Mok Gao.
Mok Gao has been selling their delicious beef noodles at its current location for more than 60 years. Apart from beef noodle, Mok Gao also serves pork noodle. Variants of both noodle dishes with other ingredients are also available in both dry and soup versions. Note that both beef and pork noodles are sold before 10am or until finished. After 10am, seafood noodle will be sold.
The signature beef noodle (牛肉牛肚粉) comes with very soft and tender chunks of beef with additional slices of cow tripe. The clear broth is surprisingly tasty with beefy flavour of the beef — never have I tasted such delightful flavours before. I truly agree that Mok Gao's beef noodle is the best in Johor — so far.
Mok Gao's dry-version beef noodle is a hot-seller and sold out very fast. Only early birds get to eat it — I got to try it only on the 3rd visit. The dry-version uses a specially-concocted sauce that is well balance in taste and mixes well with the beef and noodle. It is a nice dish but my personal preference is the soup-version.
The pork noodle soup (猪肉肝粉) comes with tender lean pork on vermicelli and optionally added with some slices of nicely-cooked pig liver. With similar clear broth, the taste is lighter and without any beefy flavour. The whole bowl of pork noodle is gone before you know it.
A bowl of mixed beef soup (without noodle) comes with similar beefy-tasty broth with more pieces of tender beef, crunchy cow tripes and tender tendons.
It has to be during lunch time, or after 10am, to go for their seafood noodle. I had a seafood kway teow soup. There are big prawns, slices of pork, big fishballs and not-bitter bitter gourd in clear soup. This is nice too.
The handmade choy bans, with different fillings, are really popular here and I tried one with chive-and-egg filling. It tastes great too. I will try other flavours and buy some back next time.
Although Mok Gao is located in Kulai, it is just 40 minutes by bus from JB Sentral. Be early if going for their beef noodles. If the beef noodles are sold out or you are late, the pork and seafood noodles are great dishes to go for too.
Address:
31, Lorong Ismail, Taman Kulai, 81000 Kulai, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
5:30am to 1:45pm | Daily