Gone
are the days when a café or restaurant was just a place to dine.
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| Live music entertainment as you dine alfresco at Eight on Lido Hill |
Discerning
diners in Johor Baru are not only seeking special menus and sophisticated food
– they are also after a cool and jazzy ambience, live music and one-of-a-kind, diverse
destinations. Vintage and retro themed
food and beverage outlets are perennial favourites but diners are still hungry
for destinations that provide more than just dining. Now JB has its share of well-planned venues
but some just happened quite naturally.
Foodie Wedding, a popular café at Jalan Serampang in Taman Sri Tebrau, first opened as
a wedding gallery. This was where photographer,
Gucci Wong, usually arranged an early start for pre-wedding photography in his
studio. His clients would arrive at the
crack of dawn – usually without eating any breakfast – to put on their bridal
make-up before dressing for the day-long photography session.
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| A serving of Le Breakfast Wedding at Foodie Wedding |
These
photography sessions are often long-drawn and stressful so Wong decided to make
their time more pleasant by kicking-off the day with a fortifying European breakfast.
Aptly named, Le Breakfast Wedding, it comes in a portion large enough to be shared
by the couple. This big breakfast of juicy pork sausages, streaky pork
bacon, a poppy seed bagel, scrambled eggs, roasted tomatoes, potato tots and
wild arugula salad, remains a popular signature item in the menu at Foodie Wedding.
This café has since garnered a regular
clientele of non-wedding package customers as well as married couples who had
an unforgettable breakfast experience on their pre-wedding photography day here. Many new diners also ended up as wedding
clients when they are introduced to Wong’s wedding packages. Early risers also like this cafe because they
can savour a hearty European breakfast from as early as 7.30am!
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| Facade of Cafe Racer by night |
Over in Taman Pelangi, Café Racer, as
its name describes, is a biker themed café that not only serves a satisfying
menu but is also a bikers’ haven. It’s
the brainchild of Chef Gary “Ozzy” Hong, a biking enthusiast and member of
Militia Riders Motorcycle Club, who designed this café with bikers in mind.
A double-storey shop unit is turned
into a café decorated by vintage motor-bicycles and scooters, biking
paraphernalia and a range of interesting helmets. Regulars feel at home, seated near bikes,
rims and rubber tyres, and dining on delicious food, quite unperturbed by the
faint but familiar scent of motor oil.
Café Racer is a preferred venue for
biking events and a frequent hangout for biker enthusiasts from throughout the
nation, who enjoy riding to popular food destinations. Diners – from bikers, VIP guests to members
of the Johor royal family – enjoy capturing special mementoes at a photo
booth where they may pose, seated on motorbikes against a cool backdrop of the
Café Racer logo.
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| A frosted wine glass at sunset, at Eight on Lido Hill |
Sea & Saw and Eight on Lido Hill at
Jalan Skudai, are popular chill-out choices for guests that range from
celebrities, Hollywood personalities to royalty as well as ordinary people
who want an extraordinary venue for a special occasion. The lush greenery in matured gardens is a
natural oasis for privacy and a world removed from the city humdrum. Creatively
designed in Spanish casas with beautifully landscaped gardens, these cool destinations
are
among the top picks in the city to make the best impressions and special
memories.
The
gracious garden at Eight was the venue for countless outdoor weddings and
special events. Corporations that wish
to impress their guests, often host private dinners here and Eight was also the
venue for exclusive dinner shows for the Johor Baru Arts Festival. After helping to coordinate intimate dinners
for men who have successfully proposed to their girlfriends, the team at Eight
have proven to be quite adept at pulling off pleasant surprises with happy
endings!
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| Herbs and spices are grown along the garden wall at Rowan & Parsley food atelier |
Eight
is part of the life history for many couples.
A particular pair hosted their engagement party here after she accepted
his proposal at Eight. Then they worked
with the team to hold a memorable garden wedding here. Recently they returned to Eight to host a
special baby shower to celebrate the birth of their firstborn – not just an
exclusively ladies event – but an occasion to celebrate with family and friends!
Then there are diners who prefer
restaurants that grow their ingredients in their own gardens and discovered
what Sea & Saw, Rowan & Parsley food atelier and Flowers in the Window,
are doing to set them apart from others.
Rowan & Parsley is a cool sanctuary
created within a warehouse at a light industrial area and grows useful herbs
and spices in their garden. At Sea &
Saw, the cultivation of hydroponics and herbs also supplies ingredients to
their kitchen. Diners not only enjoy the
refreshing garden ambience in these venues, they also appreciate their use of wild-caught,
fresh and local ingredients to create healthy artisanal food.
Regulars at Sea & Saw cannot miss
the tastefully designed furniture that are both beautiful and functional
because owner, Sea Wong, is also a furniture designer. Some of his pieces are also used in Flowers
in the Window, a double-storey café-florist at Jalan Dhoby. Designed in a pre-war double-storey
shophouse, this is a quaint flower shop that also serves brunch, lunch and
dinner, using fresh ingredients with edible flowers on some dishes!
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| Wall art created from a collection of wooden drum sticks in the Drums Cafe |
Another cool hipster place is Pot’s, a
tiny café that started at Jalan Pahang as Pot’s Kitchen and developed into Pot’s Industries. The team at Pot’s recognized
that they were not just a kitchen that serves interesting café fare but a
multi-faceted destination with a range of activities like surfboard making,
vintage bike refurbishing, a t-shirt and accessories boutique and even a
reading room. Aptly named, Baca, this reading room at Pot’s encourages
diners to borrow books to read and chill out in the café.
One of the newcomers in the city’s
heritage quarter is the Drums Café, a destination with its décor inspired by
the 24 Festive Drums’ art of drumming.
The drum theme is evident from its façade to the furniture, with many
tables created from drum tops and drums suspended from the ceiling. The natural scarring on the worn leather is
proof of how these old drums were put to good use to promote this unique art of
drumming that was proudly born in JB.
From
inculcating values and passion for culture, developing hobbies and
responsibilities like what they are doing with a petting zoo at the Cats At
Their Sanctuary or CATS Café, these are just some of the interesting destinations
in our city that are certainly more than just places to dine.
A version of this was published in TheIskandarian.com on 9 May 2016
Next
exciting episode: Good business
etiquette
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