Tea Garden (古文茶), a kopitiam-chain that is established since 2005, has many outlets throughout Johor Bahru and neighbouring districts in Johor. Its relatively-new outlet in KOMTAR JBCC is right next to JB City Square. As a Nanyang-style kopitiam, Tea Garden has a wide range of traditional beverages and Nanyang cuisines to offer.
Tea Garden has a number of signature items to go for, including Hainanese milk tea, baked herbal chicken, nasi lemak with fried chicken, curry laksa mee, rojak, and a wide range of Malaysian delights. The kopitiam has two Malaysia Book of Records for most baked herbal chicken and Hainanese milk tea sold in a year.
Aside from signature items, their menu also highlights a list of must-try items from different categories, including traditional toasts, dim sums, Hainanese chicken rice, different types of rice and noodle dishes, desserts, etc.
Since the Hainanese Milk Tea (海南奶茶) is a record in the Malaysia Book of Records, it is definitely a must-try. The milk tea is aromatic, has a well-balanced flavour and not too sweet — I requested for “less sweet”, of course.
Kopi-O (without sugar) is my de facto beverage unless otherwise recommended to try others. The Pure White Coffee O (纯白咖啡乌), without sugar, is also aromatic and not bitter — “white coffee” in the context of traditional coffee means the coffee ground was pre-mixed without sugar.
The Hor Kar Sai (虎咬狮), with bitter-sweet Milo powder added to traditional kopi, is another nice coffee to go for and not too sweet either.
The Paper Baked Herbal Chicken with Rice (纸包药材鸡饭), another record in the Malaysia Book of Records, is a dish where a whole chicken thigh is wrapped in paper and baked with herbs. The tender chicken meat in soup, with red dates, has a nice herbal aroma and strong taste but not bitter. Dribble the savoury soup on the rice and it becomes rather tasty on its own. This is indeed a nice dish to go for.
The Char Kway Teow (炒粿条) uses mainly broad white noodle to stir-fried with big prawns, fishcake slices, egg, beansprouts, spring onion and topped with fresh cabbage strips. The dish is typically Penang-style, nicely-fried with nice wok aroma and a light, savoury flavour.
The Tea Garden Special Fried Rice with Species (古文茶甘香炒饭) uses short rice grains to stir-fry with prawns, chicken meat, egg and a list of spices — curry leaves, chilli, pepper, garlic, shallot, scallion, etc. Several pieces of crispy crackers accompanied the dish. The rice dish is well-fried with soft rice grains and a nice, mellow aroma of the spices used. It has nice flavours and not overly strong in tastes. A great dish to go for too.
The Fried Radish Cake with Spicy Seafood Paste (瑶柱海鲜酱炒萝卜糕) is a savoury-spicy dish where cuts of radish cake are fried with egg, beansprouts and seafood paste. The dish tasted pretty similar to char kway teow but tastier.
The Steamed Cassava with Coconut Milk & Gula Melaka (椰汁蒸木薯) is a popular traditional dessert to go for. The steamed cassava has a nice texture with its own natural mild-sweetness. The coconut milk and gula Melaka add sweet flavours to the cassava as desired.
Tea Garden also make mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festivals. Other than traditional mooncakes, they have some special flavours too.
The unique Onde-Onde Mooncake (翡翠双椰月饼) resembles an ondeh-ondeh kuih when cut opened. It has dark lotus paste, added with coconut palm sugar and melon seeds, embedded within a greenish pandan lotus paste with shredded coconuts. The mooncake has low sweetness with both pandan and coconut flavours.
The Sea Salt Chocolate Mooncake (海盐巧克力月饼) has chocolate paste embedded in lotus paste. A minute amount of sea salt is added to balance the bitterness of chocolate rather than adding more sugar that will sweeten the mooncake. Overall, the mooncake has a subtle savoury-sweet chocolate flavour, which is rather interesting to munch on it.
Tea Garden has a long list of delicacies to offer and at reasonable prices. Being near to Johor Bahru CIQ, it is a convenient spot to go for Nanyang food fares without having to travel far.
Social Media:
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Address:
KOMTAR JBCC, Level 2, Lot No. 233
Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
9am to 10pm | Daily
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