Johor Bahru Best Kaya Cake & Fried Rice

YOU WANT CHILLED OR BAKED KAYA CAKE?

My Afternoon Tea Made Perfect By Kaya Cakes

If I am not wrong, long time ago it was Bangawan Solo in Singapore that offered a chilled kaya cake which made me fall in love with kaya (coconut jam) in the first place.  And then over the years, I believe they stopped making it, and if I chanced to stumble upon one of these chilled kaya cake during my strolls in Singapore, the gelée coconut topping and filling in the center would be either too gooey or gelatinous for my liking.  And while we are talking about Singapore, what's with the over-priced cakes?  I am not talking about those uber-priced ones at PS Cafe and the likes, I am talking about a piece of banana cake for S$2 at BreadTalk?  Sorry I quite like banana cakes, but when I was last at BreadTalk, I could not bear to part with my S$2 / MMR6 when I know my humbly priced but mega delicious kaya cake is waiting for me in Johor Bahru.

Cake Delight Opens From Breakfast To Afternoon Tea

So imagine my absolute delight when I found Cake Delight in Johor Bahru!  The bakery I found a few years back is a mom and pop traditional business at a corner shophouse cum cafe (sort of).  Cake Delight satisfies not only my kaya cake fix, but offers a delectable spread of pastries and desserts for the sweet-toothed members of my family.  

However, I would always call before heading off to the bakery as my current favorite - baked kaya cake is quite the crowd darling and sells out pretty fast as soon as it is out of the oven. What keeps me coming back for more is the FRESHNESS!  They baked the cake every day, and so when you take a bite into the cake, you still could taste the moist kaya within the not-overly-sweet pandan flour.  So the texture is one of soft moist and yet dense - instead of what you get at more expensive cakery whose kaya cake mostly come dry and overly sweetened.

You can see from the photo below, last two slices were left on the shelf when we were there recently to pick up our pre-ordered whole square kaya cake for guests at home. And not only do the taste and size of the cake slice hark back to the ones we used to be able to buy in Singapore cakeshops of yesteryears, the MR1.60 / S$0.60 price tag certainly is nostalgic too for those who remember the good old days in Singapore some twenty odd years ago.

Cake Delight's also bakes fresh each day my daughters' favorite tea snacks - from coconut tarts, chocolate muffins, traditional egg tarts (again at MR1.50 / S$0.55 what's there not to indulge?), to a host of Chinese cookies, snacks and desserts (see photo below) which are getting more scarce through the years.  

Cake Delight Bakery is at 6 Jalan Layang 16, Taman Perling
Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Tel: +607 241 1360

GPS Coordinates: 1.4731181, 103.6779316

FRIED RICE PARADISE 

My next absolute favorite supper treat in Johor Bahru has to be the piping hot kampung fried rice from TT Kopitiam at Tun Aminah precinct.  At first glance you will think this humble small plate of comfort food seems bland and unsophisticated.  But after your first spoonful, I can bet you will be telling everyone around the table that you would want the plate to yourself so "please go order more plates for yourselves!"  - okay at least that was what happened at our table when we first chanced upon TT and its very friendly lady owners who run the tiny corner stall until around 9pm.

What is so special about this simple dish you ask?The long beans in the fried rice are served super crunchy - and the freshness of the crunch with the just-out-of-wok fried rice make every spoonful that much more delectable.  The Chinese waxed sausages (yes, a cholesterol buster...but you only live once!) are cut into small cubes and then fried slightly crispy which add so much taste and bite from this traditional ingredient of humble origin.  My partner would literally chow down each spoonful of the fried rice with a fresh cut red chilli slice dipped in soy sauce - a religiously executed regiment I find amusing.   But rust me, you would not want to give this fried to perfection simple dish a miss should you be at Tun Aminah vicinity.

I Say Fried Rice, My Partner Says Cha Kway Teow

The ever-vivacious TT sisters also churn out delicious Fried Kway Teow.  Though I love my TT Fried Rice, its Fried Kway Teow is no less scrumptious - especially if fresh cockles and crunchy fat bean sprouts are your thing.  The texture of the kway teow in Johor Bahru I find, is some what chewier than its cousin in Singapore. My kids find this more tencile TT version of Char Kway Teow suited to their palettes.

TT Fried Rice & Stuff is located at the corner coffee shop opposite Restoran Wah Cai at 86 Jalan Pahlawan 2, Taman Tun Aminah, Skudai, Malaysia.

Tel: +6019 750 5616

Happy Makan and Jalan in JB!