Ke Ren Lai (客人来), a highly popular restaurant chain in Johor Bahru, specialises in traditional Hakka cuisine served with contemporary twists. Founded as a humble family eatery in 2004, its name translates to “guests come,” embodying the warm hospitality of Hakka culture. The brand has evolved into go-to comfort food spots for both locals and visiting Singaporeans.
Ke Ren Lai has its original outlet in Taman Pelangi and has since setup several branches in major shopping malls like Sutera Mall, Mid Valley Southkey Mall and AEON Mall Tebrau City.
Ke Ren Lai offers Lei Cha (thunder tea rice / 擂茶) as one of its signature dishes — there are also modern spin-offs like lei cha fried rice, lei cha buns, and also lei cha desserts like soft serve ice cream and yogurt. Other Hakka delights includes Handmade Yam Abacus Seeds, Hakka Noodles & Yong Tau Foo and hearty set meals that include claypot dishes like Drunken Chicken Soup, Drunken Shrimp with Glass Noodle and Pig’s Stomach with Pepper Soup. There are ala carte cooked dishes, a series of noodle dishes, Chinese desserts and traditional beverages as well.
The Drunken Chicken Set (手酿黄酒鸡套餐) comprises of hot Drunken Chicken Soup, an egg and option for a side dish, from selection of five, to go with white / brown rice — I opted for Century Egg Cold Tofu with white rice. The egg is interesting, it is “medium-boiled” with a fully-cooked outer layer but soft, molten inside and topped with crispy ginger bits and light soy sauce. It is rich, creamy with subtle-ginger, savoury flavours.
The Drunken Chicken Soup (手酿黄酒鸡汤) is intensely aromatic with strong rice wine fragrance. It has quite a large amount of chicken meat with black fungi. A sip of the soup reveals strong ginger flavour alongside large amount of handmade rice wine and is rich, flavourful with sweet-savoury taste. The tender chicken meat have also absorbed the flavours of the soup. This is really delicious — like drinking sweet rice wine directly!
As a side dish, the Century Egg Cold Tofu (柴鱼皮蛋冻豆腐) is made up of half a century egg topped with minced ginger and cold silken tofu topped with oyster sauce, bonito flakes and scallions. Surprisingly, the century egg does not have the characteristic sharp scent of sulphur / ammonia.
Other than Century Egg Cold Tofu, the other 4 options include Yuzu Sesame Dressing Salad, Vegetables with Oyster Sauce, Fried Minced Meat Tofu and Sweet Potato Fries.
Ke Ren Lai serves really tasteful dishes. I will try more of their Hakka dishes, especially the lei cha series with innovative twists.
Original Outlet:
6, Jalan Pingai, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
11am to 9pm | Daily
How to Get There:
From JB Sentral, take BAS.MY J10 / J11 / J15 / J20 / J22 / CT1 to Taman Pelangi. Read: JB Bus: To Taman Pelangi & Dai Mah Garden.
Skudai Outlet:
Sutera Mall, Level G-008/009
1, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/4, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
11am to 9pm | Daily
How to Get There:
From JB Sentral, take BAS.MY J34 to Sutera Mall. Read JB Bus: To Beletime Danga Bay / Angsana Mall / Paradigm Mall / Sutera Mall along Skudai Highway.
Nearby:
More @ Sutera Mall:
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