Johor Bahru Eat: Kopiloco by 1993 @ Tan Hiok Nee

27 March 2023

Restoran Kopiloco (by 1993) is a Halal-certified Nanyang Kopitiam serving kopitiam fares including traditional coffee, Hainanese toasts and Malaysian delights. The kopitiam chain has several outlets across Johor with its main outlet in Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk, the nearest to JB CIQ and Singapore.

Kopiloco serves popular Malaysia local dishes like laksa, nasi lemak, kampung fried rice, rojak, cendol, mee hoon kueh, Hainanese traditional breakfast (kopi, toasts and soft-boiled eggs), etc. Customers are spoilt for choice and it will take several visits to try all their signature dishes.

Kopiloco’s nasi lemak is a good start for breakfast. The basic nasi lemak consists of coconut-milk-flavoured rice with a fried egg, crunchy peanuts and crispy fried anchovies and can be optionally added with otak-otak, boneless chicken or rendang chicken — I have it with crispy fried boneless chicken. Eating with sambal chilli is a must.

For beverages, Kopiloco serves a wide range of traditional kopi, including their hot / iced “Signature Kopiloco” coffee and Taiping-specialty hor ga sai (虎咬狮, kopi + cocoa powder). Their Signature Ice Kopiloco seems interesting on the menu — will try it next time.

Kopiloco’s Singapore Hokkien Prawn Mee is pretty soupy, tastes almost similar to Singapore’s Hokkien mee but minus the wok flavour — but then again, not all Hokkien mee in Singapore have that taste too. It is a great option from other fried and spicy dishes.

The Fried Prawn Kway Teow is a tasty dish with glistering flat noodle that is stir-fried with a very big prawn, bean sprouts, spring onions and garnished with fried shallots. It is neither too dry nor too oily and has a nice wok aroma with savoury taste and further enhanced with some lime juice. A delicious char kway teow dish.