Crab Bro Noodle House (蟹哥哥), SKS City Mall JBCC, Johor Bahru

We recall seeing Crab Bro Noodle House (L2-01 & L2-01 (AA), Level 2, SKS City Mall JBCC, Jalan Storey, Bukit Senyum, 80300 Johor Bahru) on socials and happened to chance upon them while checking out SKS City Mall. Curiosity got the better of us.

The item that called out to us was their supreme tu huang you rice (至尊禿黄油饭). This was basically a set that came with a serving of crab roe with rice and some kimchi with pickled long beans on the side to help with the richness. For those that love crab roe, I'd reckon this would be a no brainer.

There's a cup of ginger tea to help balance the coolness with the heat.

One just has to fold the crab roe with the rice and eat. Loads of briny umami in this one with a crustacean savoury sweetness. And if that wasn't enough, that shot of that vinegar on the side made it even easier to inhale the bowl. Nice. 👍🏼

Fried rice with more crab roe and crab meat was pretty good eating too but between this and that supreme tu huang you rice, the latter kicked more butt.

Decent lemon tea.

Sushiro, Q4 2025 - Q3 2026

Another compilation of random stuff from Sushiro (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九,十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五, 十六, 十七) eats from last quarter of 2025 to around 3rd quarter 2026. Most of it happened in the last quarter of 2025 so there's more of the winter toppings.

Curry clams udon.

Shirako gunkan with ponzu jelly.

Ankake shirako chawanmushi.

Winter yellowtail with anikmo.

Anikimo gunkan with ponzu jelly.

Crispy chicken nigiri.

Kani miso wrap.

Mozzarella tempura with honey and salt

Roast beef with yuzu kosho.

Sweet potato apple.

 

Wagyu if I remember right. It tasted much better than it looked.

Miyagi salted beltfish. Forgettable.

Uni & cream cheese with ponzu sauce - there's bonito powder and onions in it as well. Sushiro has traditionally not faired well with the quality of their uni and this was no exception. The smokiness from the bonito powder was nice with the cream cheese though.

Aburi shiodare cod. Didn't remember much of it so it probably wasn't great.

Tempura cod nigiri.

Butter & scallop. Nice.

Shrimp, cheese and mentaiko mayo. A guilty pleasure.

Some limited time thing. It's Arabiki sausage with mayo and ketchup. It's actually kinda nice.

Prawn nigiri two ways. Raw and boiled. I prefer the raw one which was sweeter.

Matcha parfait with matcha Kit Kat.

A $6.10 Suntory for ND 2026.

Jeju Sanghoe & Juk (제주상회&죽), myVillage @ Serangoon Gardens

This outpost by Jeju Sanghoe is Jeju Sanghoe & Juk (#B1-03 myVillage @ Serangoon Gardens, 1 Maju Avenue) - the name clearly references their porridge which has more variety than the shop at Tras Street.

But first some chilled sikhye which was a sweet reprieve from the blazing heat.

We came here today for their abalone innards juk/porridge.

Quite a bit of sliced abalones in there.

I was expecting more intense flavour because of the innards but the flavours that mostly came through was from the seaweed and sesame oil. It was a nice bowl of porridge though.

Taste Of The Bay at Ming Fa (明發) @ Upper Thomson Road

Came across this at Ming Fa at Upper Thomson. Squid ink mee pok on a limited run.

Basically a 小碗面 with seafood and squid ink mee pok topped with onsen egg and tobiko.

For all the dark intensity, there didn't seem to be any squid ink flavour. Kinda disappointed there. This tasted like regular mee pok.

Soup has half a crayfish, a couple of prawns, clams, sliced pork and minced pork. Ingredient quality was pretty decent. There was a light sweetness from the prawns and crayfish.

They used to shell the prawn for their regular bowl of mee pok in the past. Now it's a slightly bigger prawn with shell still on. 

These fried sotong were part of the limited time menu. The lady at the stall insisted that they were good and that if it happened that they weren't, she'll help me eat them. 😂 She's right, squids were pretty tender under the batter. Came with some lime-y mayo which was not bad tasting.

I remember thinking little of their coffee the last time I was here. Today's kopi peng was actually decent-ish and tasted better than I remember of their coffee. 

Lucky Her Kiao (幸运鱼饺), Horne Road

Lunch at Lucky Her Kiao (88 Horne Road). From what I gathered, this place is run by the 3rd generation of the family that operates Song Kee Kway Teow Noodle Soup at Toa Payoh that has been apparently been in business over half a century.

Was curious about their fish noodles. To be clear, fish noodles are noodles made with fish paste. These were okay tasting - lots of chew and a nice fish-cake-like flavour in those irregularly squiggly noodles. It was mentioned that they were hand rolled so I guess this qualified as artisanal?

In retrospect, I should have gotten this without sambal so that I could better taste them. A little pricey at $18 a portion but I guess artisanal comes at a cost. Probably not fair to compare them to Li Bai so I won't. 😂 I do remember liking the ones from House of Fishball better though.

The bowl of soup accompanying the fish noodles was loaded with ingredients. Amongst them, I found one of their her kiao (fish dumplings) with chewy skin made from fish (paste?) and minced pork stuffings infused with ti poh (dried sole). Because this shop also sold yong tau fu, I was expecting that it's soy bean soup. It's not. Tasted like fishball soup flavoured with corn.

Had some sliced pig liver on the side. Not bad tasting but also not memorable.

Revisiting Diner's Shack

Back at Diner's Shack which we haven't eaten at in a while. Our only gripe at this place was the slow moving queue and the long wait for the food.

Today's fish was sea bream (a.k.a. ang goli). This bowl had added on minced pork and fish roe. The bowl was as good as I remember them from the last time.

Curry chicken's really good here. One can tell from the consistency and colour that it was pretty lemak and there's a bit of nuance to the other spices that were used in the curry.

Buko Nero, Tanjong Pagar Road

The first time I ate at Buko Nero (126 Tanjong Pagar Road) was a lifetime ago. Back then, there weren't reservation platforms and we had to call and...accept the fact that the restaurant will only talk to you when they deemed fit to do so. And after you've gotten through the reservation, you'd still have to wait for something like a month before you get your table.

They also used to not allow photography. That seemed to be no longer the case. Maybe at some point along the way, they came to the realisation that the world around them is better postured sell their food better than they could ever.

Mood of the restaurant did not feel like it has changed from the impression that was left in me 19 years back. It has that bit of uppity vibe without actually being uppity. In fairness, I need to state that the server was friendly and earnest. To also get something off the chest, it was a little uncomfortable to say the least, having the proprietors hawk over you from the counter while you were trying to eat/have a conversation.

Don't know if I remembered the amuse bouche correctly. Left was halibut on cucumber with apple and edible cornflower. Tasted like tuna mayo. Right was baccala in a little tart shell - this one's nice. Baccala's totally pureed and creamy.

Bread came in the form of spicy breadsticks and focaccia with sweet peppers. It's $4 if you want another serving.

Not bad tasting burrata with momotaro & strawberry salsa. Kinda expensive.

Tried their homemade tagliolini spicy engawa & basil ragu because...engawa. Didn't taste like much in the tomato sauce and I should have anticipated that but for some reasons, the aburi-ed version kept popping up in my head while making the decision to order it. Didn't taste bad but I thought it costed too much at $36.

This was product picture of their wagyu beef cheek red wine & cherries jus that got me sold into ordering it. I mean...that red wine & cherries jus sounded/looked good right?

Here's where I again, ask if there should be a law against deliberate misrepresentation of product? I feel that there should.

$46 and probably 3 spoonfuls of cheek meat. Not bad tasting but I'm kinda put off by the fact that I paid so much for so little.