品味美食 Kedai Makanan Pin Wei — Restaurant in Johor

A local Johor breakfast kopitiam filled with warmth and smiles.

We wanted to experience a breakfast that a typical local here would get, and came here on the recommendation of our JB friends here.

The moment we walked in, a friendly uncle ushered to our table with a huge smile like the one you see here. And in fluent English as well.

And it’s no wonder as he’s worked in Singapore for years. He and his team of relatives serve up simple yet comforting local breakfast fare here.

You begin with plain bee hoon or spicy bee hoon which they labeled as mee siam. You then add sides or toppings like fried popiah or lor bak (ngor hiang) and fried eggs.

Everything is cooked in house and has that nostalgic taste that we seem to lack these days in our sg coffeeshop. Nothing is taken from suppliers.

You also need to get their soft boiled eggs as they pride themselves on this simple delicacy here.

The egg shells are pale pink in colour as they are free range eggs. Upon cracking them open, the bright orange yolks are revealed. Somehow, they taste more comforting than the ones we get back home.

We also highly recommend this Sheng Mian with the big prawns.

And when we say big, we really mean big.

Almost lobster size, they are so incredibly fresh they tasted like they were just picked from the sea. The prawn meat was succulent and juicy, the prawns alone were worth the price of the dish.

The Sheng Mian was finished off with an eggy seafoody sauce that had none of the msg enhanced flavours you get in most places here.

They also have a very excellent Penang prawn mee here.

The aunty chef hails from Penang herself and she infuses the crustacean rich broth with chicken carcasses for an extra helping of natural sweetness. And makes it refreshing and clean tasting at the same time.

One spoon and we were already sold and hooked. And three large river prawns that’s Uber fresh with a taste of the ocean and succulent meaty prawn meat.

Served with pork slices and hard boiled egg, and finished with crispy lard. It tastes both nostalgic and familiar all at once. And undeniably delicious.

They also have a Hakka noodles that’s way better than the overly hyped and overpriced one at cedar food market.

The noodles are properly tossed and coated with a shiny layer of pork lard oil, it’s never clumpy like the other famous one.

And the simple but tasty minced pork is coupled with crispy ikan bilis to make it even more crunchy and flavourful. It’s comforting in an old school way that we can’t find back here now.

Additional char siew slices are included but the star is the lardy noodles that will linger very long in our gastronomic brains.

We also had the wat tan hor fun, which is hor fun drenched in a creamy egg sauce.

He assured us that his kitchen doesn’t use MSG and we believe so. No tongue numbness nor reaching out for water.

The taste was very old school, not heavy handed like most Zichar places today. Light yet flavourful sauce and a smoky tinge to the rice noodles.

The kampung fried rice with its crispy ikan bilis and fresh veggies was also a delight here.

Everyone here has a smile and there’s a genuine sense of communal spirit in this modest kopitiam.

But that winning smile from the unflappable chatty uncle here sure has won us over. And no bib gourmand award can...

Pin Wei Signature Was meeting up some JB friends for lunch and they suggested giving this prawn crispy noodle a try. They know it well, but it’s my first time visiting. This restaurant is along the main thoroughfare of Pelangi across the street from a popular nanyang cafe but quite non descript. Blink and you miss. However, once you enter, it takes you back to the 70s. It remind me of the old school kopitiam/cafe that I used to hang out in way back yonder. And this is no modern take of retro. It is ‘real’ old school. You know what I mean. This place has probably stood unchanged from day one but given a clean scrub and some window dressing here and there. Exudes original vibes and no pretensions. Love it. They specialise in prawns. The popular one being the prawn ‘Sang Har Meen’ - prawns with crispy noodles in gravy. Then there is also the Penang style prawn noodle soup. We went for the premium versions of both the above. Each costing RM21.90. We also added a bitter gourd soup as it looked quite appealing in the menu. The crispy noodle looked really good when presented. The noodle was stacked quite high, well above the gravy line, and the prawns were nicely slit across the back. However, I can’t quite say the same about the taste of the prawn or even the taste of the gravy. It tasted a little fishy/prawny for my liking. I have a certain tolerance for prawniness, but this went a little beyond my threshold. It felt like the prawns were blanched ahead of time, and thrown into the gravy upon ordering, and the prawns were not at their peak of freshness. Generally, the shells of crustaceans would unveil a lovely smoky fragrance under high heat, but this was not the case here. I understand that the expensive versions with river prawns are done in similar styles ie, cooked in broth, but I have yet to encounter a fishy river prawn version. Having said that, I can only fault the fishy taste and smell in the crispy noodle. Otherwise, the noodles were crispy and the gravy had the right texture and nice mix of egg drop. The other friend had the Penang prawn noodle soup. I stole a quick sip of the broth. It tasted like the Penang version. Rich prawny flavour with a slight hint of spices. Didn’t have the fishy taste my crispy noodle version had. I didn’t get to taste the prawn, but my friend didn’t complain. So my guess is that it was alright. The uncle whom I assume is the boss is friendly, speaks English, and ever ready to serve his customers, creates a relaxing atmosphere amidst the retro decor. Will try other...

I did not went to this place but instead order grab buy 1 free 1 promotion. Because the food i placed was run out of stock, so the shop people call me and replace with fried rice. However, due to order amended, my buy 1 free 1 promotion does not applicable anymore and caused extra charge of double of my original bill. I called back the shop and expressed this issue and the boss subsequently call me up to refund the extra charge via tngo even though I say no need as I just want to express the issue for them to alert to avoid others customer facing same problem as me. Anyways, i feel good for their prompt action taken and attitude to deal with customer's complaint. Will visit the restaurant again...