Last weekend, my family crossed the Causeway to Johor, Malaysia with the mission to celebrate Fathers' Day.

My brother often talks about this famous Bak Kut Teh which his friend has brought him to during his last visit so we have decided to head there for lunch to try it out ourselves.

I've been to Malaysia many times but it was my first time stepping foot into Johor and it was also my first time going into Malaysia by bus.

When I first heard of this trip, I was full of excitement because we have never traveled as a family before! (someone would always get left behind whenever traveling plans came up)

On that actual day, however, my mood took a turn for the worst after battling the weekend crowd to get onto the bus heading for Malaysia (more on that at the end of this post).

After exiting from the Malaysian Customs and the connecting City Square, we hopped into two cabs and asked the drivers to bring us to the "famous Bak Kut Teh".

Apparently, my brother doesn't know the exact address at all!

So, after turning a few rounds on the road, we ended up outside this Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh which isn't exactly the one that my brother went to but we decided to make do with it anyway because it was already 2pm and we didn't want to waste anymore time.

However, the moment I stepped in, I wanted to leave immediately.

The interior was like a furnace because the cooking was done right at the front of the shop. The Bak Kut Teh here were cooked on charcoal stoves and there were at least six (three on each side) of them at the entrance!

Cool air can't enter with the heat from the stove forming an invisible wall and the few miserable wall fans (one was not even working) proved futile to bring any instant comfort.

Those who know me well will know that I'll get all grumpy and irritated when I'm hot and sweaty.

Instead of bringing cool relief, the fans were actually distributing the heat everywhere.

It took us more than twenty minutes to get seated because the customers who finished their meal continued chatting away and we had to wait until they vacant their seats.

Despite the humility in the shop, the Bak Kut Teh served here is above average, with a pleasant herbal fragrance.

The Pigs' Trotters we ordered was al dente (though the piece I had was a little hairy) and the Preserved Vegetables appetizing.

One dish you should not missed here is the Chicken with Ginger and Wine (疆酒鸡) served in claypot (actually, every dish here is served in claypots except the Preserved Vegetables).

The chicken was very tender while the Ginger and Wine goes very well with rice.

Over here, you can choose what ingredients (eg Enoki Mushrooms and Fu Zhok) to go into your Bak Kut Teh which is the clear-soup variety.

Refilling of the soup is free, by the way.

According to my brother, the food here is good but not as good as "the famous one" that he went to.

Both of us agreed that they could be a bit more generous with the food portion.

Do prepare to sweat buckets if you think the Bak Kut Teh here is worth a try.

Sorry, no picture of the food as I was too stressed out by the heat that I wasn't in the mood to take any pictures.

Pffffft!
 
A little rambling here.

It all started at the bus terminal where we took the bus from the Singapore Customs to Malaysia Customs.

The queue for the various bus services became quite messed up at the back because there was no clear indications which queue is for which bus service.

I asked the person next to me what was the bus number he was queuing up for and he shrug his shoulders apologetically. I was asked the same question by a lady and all I could answer her was, "I've no idea..."

I suggest the authorities to place barriers to guide the commuters or draw longer (and I mean real long) lines on the floor indicating the bus number because when the crowd gets a little overwhelming especially during the weekends, everyone would just cut queue and fill up any gaps in between without knowing which bus they are actually queuing  up for.

It was a chaotic situation which looked like a scene from some war films where the refugees were fighting to get onto the last ship out of the country!

I loved traveling but going through the Customs is a like a nightmare for me.