[Johor Bahru] KSL Monday Night Market – Feast to Your Heart’s Content

Monday?! Seriously?! We’re not sure why this night market opens only on Monday, but if you’re ever on leave on a Monday and visiting Johor Bahru, you might want to check this place out. Pasar Malam in JB is priced so affordably for us, due to the exchange rate. Stretching from KSL Shopping Centre to the Grand Paragon Hotel, you’ll find stalls selling a variety of fresh produce, as well as, cooked food. Not sure where to begin? Here’s a list of foods you might want to try here.

Old School Mee Chiam Kueh

Known as Apam Balik in JB, this snack is traditionally filled with crushed peanuts and sugar. However, with the influx of Japanese pancakes (Dorayaki) with fillings such as red beans, cream cheese, chocolate etc., the traditional mee chiam kueh is fast disappearing. We’re elated to find this stall still sticking to traditional fillings so we had ours with peanut and corn. The peanuts gave the soft kueh a nice nutty fragrance, and a good crunch while the corn gave this snack a sweet finish. Don’t forget to pair it with fresh soy milk – a match made in heaven!

Chwee Kueh & Chee Cheong Fan

The stall sells both chwee kueh and chee cheong fan. However, the taste and texture weren’t to our liking. The chwee kueh is more dense as compared to those we have in Singapore. The generous amount of chai po is not salty enough. This dish would’ve been better if it’s more savoury. On the other hand, this chee cheong fun outshone every dish we tried that particular Monday evening. It boasts a silky smooth texture, with a good balance of sweet and savoury flavours. It’s best to devour it while it’s hot.

White Carrot Cake

The white carrot cake here is a tad more mushy and not as flavoursome as we expected. It was a little bland, but we could taste the chai po and yam.

Black Carrot Cake

The constant clanking sound of those spatulas and aroma of this black carrot cake were what drew our attention to this stall. This black version fared better than the white one we tried just minutes earlier. We were observing the hawker while queuing for a packet and “WOW!” – the amount of eggs added in is ridiculous, in a good way. Although we simply love this eggy goodness, you might find yourselves eating more eggs than rice cake, which is supposed to be the key ingredient. The sweetness is just right though! Shiok!

Nasi Lemak

While the rice fell short on the coconut fragrance, the crispy and well-marinated chicken made up for it. We were warned that they serve killer chilli but it wasn’t THAT spicy. Oh man, we’re beginning to salivate just reminiscing the taste of the chicken. Next time, we would probably just feast on a huge drumstick!

Penang Assam Laksa & Chendol

Sad to say, this is one of the foods that we’ll rank last at this night market. The Assam Laksa is very diluted and bland. Where’s the sourish taste? The spice has zero kick. What a boring bowl! Moreover, the chendol has a strange taste. We suspect that artificial Gula Melaka has been used.

Besides the food that we have mentioned, Teochew kueh, Nonya kueh, fruits, roast meat, grilled meat, humongous buns and desserts are available as well. Our visit to KSL Monday Night Market marks a great end to our day trip to Johor Bahru.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.