For the uninitiated, JB is short form for Johor Bahru, the Malaysian city nearest to Singapore. It sits just across the causeway, which is the most common route used by Malaysians and Singaporeans to visit each other’s country. There are other ways to visit Singapore from Malaysia. For example, some elephants found in Pulau Tekong a Singapore island in the north were believed to have swam over. Anyway, without further delay, let me present to you my first Xiaomi Mi3 food series.

We were famished when we arrived, because of delays caused by one of us, who had “lost” his passport. After 2 hours of frantic searching at home and in the office, he found it and we were on our way. Of course, we had already missed breakfast by then… So, when I hit the buffet table, I headed straight for the rice. Pictured is a very unique sambal (hot sauce), because it contains durian flesh. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Yumz…

Fried Durian. It is the whole durian seed with flesh intact, dipped into batter and deep fried. I don’t really dig fried stuff, so I was not taken by it.

Durian kueh. This one agrees more with me, as it is steamed. I felt that more durian could have been added and less starch, as the smell and taste is quite mild.

Durian cake. A pretty but normal piece of cake.

Roasted durian. Ok, this one is new to me too. It is again a whole durian seed with flesh intact wrapped in aluminium foil and thrown into a BBQ. The result, a charred lump of durian.

The climax and what we were there for. The fresh durian. After all the different durian dishes, we all still felt that the fruit tastes best fresh. Rich and creamy with a slight bitter undertone.

After that, a cup of nice and smooth Rose Coffee to wash the food down. Satisfied.

PS. If you are wondering why everything is durian based, it’s because my friend had found this place advertising a durian feast. So curious us, decided to go and try. In case you don’t know what a durian is, because it is a tropical fruit that’s mostly found in South East Asia. You may read up this wiki entry. If you are inclined to make the trip yourself to JB and would like to visit the places I went to, the durian buffet was at Silka Hotel. Google maps link here. We did not have the coffee at the hotel, but drove about 15min to another place. It’s called The Garden Just Want Coffee. It is part of a chain of Just Want Coffee joints. The one we went to (no prizes for guessing) was garden themed. The ambience and location was perfect for such a coffee place.