Old Pasar Kopitiam (老巴刹古早味食阁) is a bustling coffee shop in Kluang town popular for its offering of authentic local delights that draw both locals and travellers. The old-school, but new, coffee shop is located along Jalan Mersing, having moved from its old location just next block in late 2022 / early 2023.
There are several food stalls in Old Pasar Kopitiam. Below are the stalls or food stuffs that we have tried.
1. Ah Ma Hakka Noodle (阿妈客家面)
Ah Ma Hakka Noodle offers its Hakka-style noodle dishes with 4 different types of noodle but with similar ingredients. The stall also offers Hakka Yam Abacus Seeds (算盘子) — on Saturday and Sunday only.
The Signature Hakka Mee (招牌客家面) uses thin-flat Hakka noodle, tossed in a light sauce, and added with slices of char siew, minced meat and garnished with fried shallots, fried garlic bits and spring onions. A separate bowl of soup contains seaweed and meatballs with similar garnishes. The noodle has slight-firm texture and the char siew slices are tender and juicy. The crispy fried chilli adds more flavours and some spicy kicks to the dish.
2. Old Pasar Beef Brisket Noodle (老巴刹牛腩粉)
The open-stall Old Pasar Beef Brisket Noodle, to the rear of the coffee shop, offers its beef noodle in either soup- or dry-style with choices for type of noodle and beefy ingredients (beef brisket, cow’s stomach, tripe and/or tendon).
The soup version of the Beef Brisket Noodle (牛腩粉) is served with ultra-soft, tender beef brisket and crunchy cow’s stomach on thick rice noodle that has a udon-like texture. The clear broth is flavourful with additional flavours of citrusy lime, preserved mustard and chopped spring onions. The dry-tossed version will offer different flavours and textures and is another popular option.
3. Fish Ball Noodle (鱼丸面)
The Fish Ball Noodle stall is really popular — expect to wait up to 30 minutes when the kopitiam is full-house. The stall offers just its signature fishball noodle in either small / large size.
The large-size Fish Ball Noodle (鱼丸面) is served with dry-style flat yellow noodle topped with minced meat, dark oil-sauce, fried shallots and chopped scallions. A separate bowl of light, savoury soup contains 6 handmade fish balls and a dried tofu puff stuffed with fish paste. The fish balls are soft, tender with a subtle savoury flavour — it is getting harder to find traditional, handmade fish balls these days. The dry-tossed noodle has a nice savoury flavour of fragrant oil and dark soy sauce. It is really nice and no wonder it is so popular.
4. Old Pasar Bak Kut Teh (老巴刹肉骨茶)
The Bak Kut Teh stall offers more than just bak kut teh (pork ribs soup). There are bitter gourd soup, pork meatball soup, ginger sesame chicken, braised pig’s trotter, curry chicken, etc, to pair with plain rice / yam rice or dry / soup noodle.
The Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶) is served with short, tender pork ribs, mouth mushrooms and fried beancurd skins in a claypot with herbal broth. The broth has rich, bitter-sweet herbal flavours, more on the sweet side.
5. Old Pasar Chee Cheong Fun (老巴刹猪肠粉)
The small table-stall beside Old Pasar Bak Kut Teh’s stall is called Old Pasar Chee Cheong Fun but offers more than just chee cheong fun (traditional rice roll). There are also yam cakes, jicama buns and a series of fried foodstuffs, including fried beancurd, fried fishballs, fried dumplings, Taiwanese sausages, etc.
The most popular dish among locals is Chee Cheong Fun + Yam Cake (猪肠粉+芋头糕), which is a serving of chee cheong fun and a serving of yam cake topped with sweet-savoury sauce, chilli and white sesame seeds. Both the rice rolls and yam cake have firm, tender textures rather than overly soft and the sauces are smooth without being too strong in taste. It is a nice light dish.
There are several more stalls to try in Old Pasar Kopitiam and will take us another few rounds to try them all when visiting Kluang. And, expect the coffee shop to be packed on weekends and public holidays.
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Address:
15 & 17, Jalan Mersing, Kampung Masjid Lama, 86000 Kluang, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
6am to 2pm | Closed on Tuesday
Nearby:
More Eats @ Kluang:
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