The Portal Cafe — Restaurant in Johor

The JB cafe scene has been on a roll ever since the reopening of borders post pandemic. In my monthly work trip to JB, there will always be new food places, new cafes to visit. This time it’s no exception and we visited The Portal which we instead opened for just two mths. Located in a housing area, this unassuming cafe interior has been totally revamped to offer a very cosy & comfy cafe. In addition, they converted an open space next to the building into a parking area that will certainly be most welcome by visitors. The menu is typical cafe food with some local staples. Prices seems reasonable considering the beautiful ambience. Our food was served relatively quickly as there weren’t many customers on a quiet Tuesday late morning. My seafood spaghetti was well portioned and had a much peppery taste which was ok but I would have preferred it to have more olive oil with a tinge of spiciness instead. Nevertheless it was equally delicious. The chicken wrap was equally good according to my peer. There’s also outdoor garden seating for those who prefer to eat with nature. Perhaps maybe in our next visit, but overall I would return to try other food on the menu. Go visit before it gets crowded as it’s not visible from the main road and not much exposure on...

To give a fair review, the place was aesthetic, the food and drinks were good. but I felt rather disappointed with a few things here:

1. The newly revamped menu (a much smaller one) had very limited options and quite a few of the recommended items from reviewers here were sadly not available any more.

2. The online order’s description was different from what is in the actual order. (I ordered Aglio Olio thinking there’s shrimp based on the description but it came with 5 sad chunks of smoked duck.) I felt quite deceived.

3. Our fried chicken and waffles took 40 mins to come. The waffle was lukewarm and became soggy quickly under the wet lettuce leaves that came with it.

TLDR: Decent food, but come with minimal...

Was in the area and decided to head to the cafe for drinks. Couldn't tell it was a cafe from the outside. There's a parking area for the cafe guests. Cafe was pretty quiet on a Sunday lunch time. Ambience was good and cafe was nicely decorated. There is free WiFi though signal was not too good and some tables had charging sockets next to them. Toilet was clean. Coffee was ok. Had a look at the prices overall seems pretty expensive. Sides were also very expensive, some about the same price as a main. One thing was lacking is the dessert option. Was thinking of coffee and dessert but they only had burnt cheese cake and waffles. Would be good to increase the...