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Dining
Johor Bahru is packed with cafes that offer good vibes, style, ambition, and plenty of stories. CNA Lifestyle finds out how it all began and which ones to visit.
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David Ngiau
“Locals don’t appreciate what we’re doing here,” mused Keijometo’s owner, a filmmaker who started his cafe as a passion project for in-between shoots. Surely it’s older Johoreans who he’s referring to? Apparently not.
“Young JB people also! They play critic on Instagram, saying ‘what kind of design is this? I can also do. My boyfriend say he don’t want come back because the building looks abandoned,” said Wei, who declined to give his full name.
Keijometo, a fusion of the Japanese words for “shape” and “geometry”, occupies a corner bungalow in Taman Melodies, near KSL Mall. Working with a budget of RM500,000 (S$143,500), Wei personally handled the minimalist design and build while his partner, a chef, crafted Keijometo’s Japanese fusion menu. It opened in early 2022 just before the borders reopened.
On the weekday morning I dropped by, just before the 11am opening, a small crowd had already gathered outside the front gate. By a quarter past, there were no free tables inside.
Don’t get Wei wrong. The 34-year-old, who studied design in Taiwan and is currently working on a film with actress Yeo Yann Yann (Singapore Dreaming, Ilo Ilo), wouldn’t live anywhere else but his hometown. He hopes to open a new cafe here each year starting with his next establishment in August.
“It’s baby steps for JB for now, and I’m adding a little value where I can,” he said. “I love JB. My video production clients from KL ask why don’t I move there. It’s much more chill here, yet JB has everything I want and Singapore’s next door.”
Wei is clear that the tastes of Singaporeans – as well as those of visitors from KL, Penang and further abroad – have allowed him and other more worldly JB entrepreneurs to push the tempo. He estimates that Singaporeans make up 70 per cent of Keijometo’s patrons but, upon glancing at the tables around us, he guessed it was “nearly all Singaporeans” on this June morning.
CONTRASTING APPROACHES
JB’s restaurants, warungs and kopitiams have always benefitted from inflowing Singapore dollars but adventurous cafes, the sort to offer fusion fare and with more artistic sensibilities, were a rare sight before the past decade – the SGD-MYR exchange rate first crossed the RM3 mark in 2015, incidentally.
One of the first cafe owners to ride that wave is Mersing native Ng Soon Hao. After graduating from Monash University in Melbourne with an engineering degree, dad nudged him to get a job in Singapore but Soon Hao couldn’t see himself wearing a tie to work. And so he set out to set up the “office” he preferred, thanks to getting in on Bitcoin early.
“I don’t quite like big-city life,” said Soon Hao. “JB isn’t too stressful, for me at least.”
Soon Hao’s People and Places, set up with RM200,000, went viral soon after its 2017 opening, prompting an unsolicited visit from Mandopop star Jay Chou the following year. Rebranded as The Founders Cafe, its location in a light industrial estate between Austin Heights and Taman Daya today doesn’t stop celebrities and Johor’s crown prince from dropping by.
The 34-year-old readily admitted he couldn’t have done it without his partners as he’s too “rational”. His larger-than-life brother Soon Porter has amassed a huge social media following while Alexa Ooi, their Melbourne housemate, conceptualised the foundations of the menu and decor. Founders expanded into Penang with its Founders Hutton opening last December, and the group has also ventured into malls with its Founders Bakery retail stores.
After the end of the pandemic reopened the floodgates of hungry Singaporeans, Soon Hao feels that JB’s cafe scene has become oversaturated. He noted the proliferation of cafes in Austin Heights’s new Nanyang Street extension and the new Eco Palladium lifestyle centre a little further north.
“The exchange rate has been a blessing, but the field is crowded now and everyone’s fighting over the same small pie,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to have lasted; F&B isn’t a very stable sector.”
LESS IS MORE
Just 10 minutes away from Founders, on the other side of Taman Daya and in the quiet, upper-middle-class suburb of Adda Heights, is the hidden gem Commune by the Creators. A literal outlier in location, concept and approach (at least in JB), its extremely minimalistic look is guarded by one of its owners, an interior designer.
Tables are widely spaced apart in the cafe with unadorned walls. An expensive Victoria Ardunio Eagle One espresso machine is the space’s sole objet d’art. It makes one want to gush with similar statements like “quel savoir-faire impressionnant” and “ooh la la”.
Commune opened in early 2021 during a relaxation in movement restrictions but was forced to turn away diners when lockdowns were imposed just two weeks later. It was started to serve office furnishing firm Team Office and co-working space Quarters just upstairs – both the owners are among Commune’s five backers, all locals. Since the pandemic’s end, Commune has seen a steady stream of more adventurous Singaporeans looking for an oasis of calm, despite its location.
“I like to ask them how they had heard of us,” said Sharon Lim, who’s run the place since its 2021 opening. “Many heard from friends who’ve been here, others found us on Google.”
The operations manager also keeps track of patrons’ tastes, fitting with Commune’s careful curation and attention to detail.
“Most of our customers are regulars because of our coffee, so we can’t simply change what bean we use,” she said. “On weekends, when we have more Singaporeans who prefer more acidic blends, we’ll serve a fruitier bean.”
WE NEED MORE COWBELLS
Back downtown, in the greatest concentration of worthy cafes within JB’s small but colourful heritage district near the Causeway, The Merah is a fever dream of nostalgia and ideas. Meant to evoke 1980s and 90s JB, the cafe-cum-speakeasy bar cradles its owner’s big Jonker Street-like dreams for the area.
The Merah, which survived COVID-19, sits on the major thoroughfare Jalan Ibrahim one street south of popular Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, right behind the famed bakery Hiap Joo. It faces JB’s only working signalled pedestrian crossing – this cheeky observation was cheerfully confirmed by owner Ben Ong, a local boy and history buff with countless tales about the city. He worked in Queensland F&B for a decade after graduating from university there.
The entrance is a busy museum-ready shophouse diorama of biscuit tins, yellowed newspapers and wooden stools, with a vending machine facade masking the secret entrance. The cafe upstairs is abuzz with neon signs, working vintage video arcade cabinets and a wall of old JB photos, which I spent much time poring over.
Through another hidden door is bespoke-co*cktail speakeasy the Lucky Cat, which draws crowds after dark. Meanwhile, I noticed two parties slip away after a few minutes without ordering. The eclectic Merah is unique among JB cafes and a real trip, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Ben’s dreams extend beyond The Merah. His proposal to have more murals painted in JB’s small heritage district is currently before the city council, which recently repaved and repainted the area as well as upgraded the open storm drain running alongside Jalan Wong Ah f*ck into the pleasant Sungei Segget Walk park.
Ben hopes to see the shophouse row facing that park turned into Ho Chi Minh City’s colourful Cafe Apartments, which would synergise with the existing Pasar Karat open-air night bazaar. Ben also used to conduct walking tours of downtown JB, which he plans to revive with Merah as the starting point and epicentre of the heritage district.
“JB is super underrated,” said Ben. “In terms of food, culture, everything. I’ll always promote Johor; I love my hometown, after all.”
THE OG OF JB’S CAFE SCENE
Parallel to Jalan Tan Hiok Nee is Jalan Dhoby, where the granddaddy of JB cafes resides. Originally called Roost Juicebar, Flowers in the Window was namechecked by every cafe owner I spoke with. It opened in late 2005, way before JB had what could be called a cafe scene, when there was only a single kopitiam along what was known as JB’s “ah kua” (transgender folk) street.
Flowers in the Window is bijou-sized on street level but upstairs, via a charming, narrow wooden staircase, the cafe spreads over to the upper floor of the shophouse on the left. Crossing over there is through an old metallic cupboard, or via the connected back balcony with a charmingly rustic WC and a hidden smoking area surrounded by potted plants (and lots of leftover furniture).
Owner Sea Wong started Roost after returning from Australia, where cafes in Melbourne and Sydney inspired him. A graphic designer, Sea’s long love for vintage artefacts led him to rustic Jalan Dhoby rather than more popular tamans such as Pelangi. He raided his grandma’s place for old furniture. Sea estimates it cost him only RM30,000 to start up back then, adding that rent in 2005 was a mere RM800 a month (compared to RM5,000 now).
“I was the only cafe around here back then and the street was really dark,” Sea, 44, recalled. “There weren’t many people around, too, but I didn’t think too much about that. I’m a vintage-lover and just wanted to do something with an old shophouse.
"It's a sensibility I'm sure we can all get."
***
OTHER JB CAFES TO EXPLORE
There are too many notable cafes to mention, and it’s a tough life getting around to getting to know them all. Here are a few to consider.
JB HERITAGE DISTRICT
1.The Replacement– Lodge and Kitchen
2. Principle Cafe by TAM
3. Bev Cafe
4. Sunday Morning Coffee Shop
5. Tom&Danny Coffee
JB CORE (TAMANS PELANGI, SENTOSA, MELODIES)
1. Nimmies Pastry Cafe
2. Dusk by MokMok
3. Brooos&Co by JWC
MOUNT AUSTIN AREA
1. Eden by Wizards
2. Knock Knock
3. Bloom by Mok Mok
EAST JB
1. Rowan and Parsley Food Atelier
2. Hidden Garden by the Sea
WEST JB
1. Kaf*cka Cafe and Music Studio
Source: CNA/mm
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