Restoran Kak Kak — Restaurant in Johor

烧卖 Siew Mai = RM5.00 虾饺 Har Gao = RM5.50 叉烧包 Char Siew Bao = RM2.50 Each No Service Charge

This is a Popular Dim Sum Place that is always being recommended by Food Blogs and Social Media Influencers. Whenever there are any Top 10 List of JB Best Eateries, I will always see this place listed for some reason.

Its quite an Old Looking Eatery with quite alot of people on a Thursday at 8.30am. The Staffs are Friendly and Welcoming but mostly keep to themselves.

There are no Menu in this place. To order, you just go up to the Baskets of Dim Sum, or the Heating Cabinet with Fried Stuffs they have right infront of the Shop to pick whatever you fancy.

烧卖 Siew Mai = RM5.00

I'll be very honest, I feel the Siew Mais here are really very small, about the Size of an Average Fishball. These are also probably one of the Ugliest Siew Mai I've seen so far.

Misshapen and Deformed, the Whole Thing just looked more like a Meatball wrapped in Wanton Skin then a Siew Mai. That said, they look Handmade, and probably not a Mass Produced Factory Product.

Nothing Special about the Taste, its very Average and Porky Taste is Noticeable. Taste very much like a Simple Working Class sort of Siew Mai that is meant more to temporarily fill up the Belly.

虾饺 Har Gao = RM5.50

Har Gaos were also very small but at least they look slightly more Decent. The Taste of the Filling is Acceptable. There is 1 Small Prawn in Each and Filling is Juicy and doesn't taste Overly Prawny. Its Acceptable, but nothing really special about this.

叉烧包 Char Siew Bao = RM2.50 Each

The CSB Size looks Big, but its actually quite Deflated which I thought looked quite Cute. Dough is Very Soft and Pillowy.

The Char Siew Sauce tastes like the Same Type of Sweet Sauce that you normally get for Chee Cheong Fun which was an Interesting Interpretation of this Classic Dish. Not Overly Sweet, I would say this CSB is not bad. Not Amazing, but Not Bad.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts

Everything for a Total Combined Price of RM13.00 (S$3.80) is a Reasonable Price to pay, but I feel is not really worth the Overall Quality.

I have no idea why this particular Dim Sum Eatery is being promoted so heavily in Social Media as I found the taste of their Standard Fundamental Dim Sums to be Very Average. About the same quality as our SG S$1.50 type of Dim Sum Standard.

And if compared to Hock Chiang Hin in Jalan Wong Ah Fook that I reviewed previously, they are also not the Cheapest Dim Sums around nor the Closest One to the CIQ.

烧卖 Siew Mai: (Kak Kak = RM5.00) / (Hock Chiang Hin = RM3.00) 虾饺 Har Gao: (Kak Kak = RM5.50) / (Hock Chiang Hin = RM3.00) 叉烧包 Char Siew Bao: (Kak Kak = RM2.50) / Hock Ching Hin = RM1.80)

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm slamming this place to the ground, but I'm really not. The Prices of the Dim Sums here are Affordable and Reasonable, but I just feel that the Taste is not that Special for me.

I do appreciate very much that the Staffs here are Friendly especially the Cashier Lady who was very clear and patient in providing me the Prices for Each of the Individual Dim Sums that I ordered.

Personally though, I cannot really recommend this. Taste-wise feels very Average for me. But if you are here in Taman Pelangi, have a Craving for Dim Sum and have no idea where else to go, then perhaps this is an Ok place to visit.

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The star reviews might not be very reflective. The food - on one hand, some of the classics like Siew Mai and Lor Mai Kai are not good at all. It was better over at Tian Xin Lou which we were at just before coming over here. On the other hand the stuff tofu was awesome!

The service - it’s quite confusing. The system is apparently find a table yourself and order the items from the counter and bring them to your table and settle payment after. However, there was a very attentive staff that were very helpful - he told us to Q and get the items and bring them to the 2nd floor where there are more tables. The Q is really to get the items… but getting the items is quite confusing too. It’s somewhat self service… the fried stuff are one side… pick up a tray and pick the items you want and then go over the main Q to get the steam items by pointing out to the guy when he shows the selection to you. However, some items you will need to order like the Chee Cheong Fun… so you need to know what you are getting. Very chaotic and hence the Q.

The ambience - the ground floor is chaotic because of the people, the queue, the staff moving around and it’s warm or hot. However, amidst the chaos, not many knows that there are tables on the 2nd floor as well and it’s air conditioned. The guy manning the 2nd floor is very attentive...

(update Oct 2024) Came here to eat breakfast again and found out they actually have an upstairs area. Not sure if it's new but saw an uncle doing some reno on a room at the back so looks like it could be new. Pity the servers who need to climb the stairs many times a day, surely good exercise!

Good and cheap dim sum served here. Chanced upon this place when looking for a breakfast eatery outside Plaza Pelangi. Saw that it was almost full so we deduced it was probably good. We were not disappointed. How the system works is you order the cooked/steamed items on the right side of the stall, the fried stuff are on the left side in a glass enclosure. You can also order from waiters that walk around. You pay only when you're done eating. Call the waiter over and he'll count the plates.

I'm not a huge porridge fan but this porridge is good, it was nicely flavored. The fried wan tons were also crispy and the filling was quite substantial. My favorite is the chee cheong fun, it had enough sauce and the sauce was tasty. Plus there was a lot fried onions in the sauce. This is a place I might return to on the future if I'm in the...