Restoran Woon Kiang, JB

[Non-halal] When in JB, must eat Kway Teow Kia (KTK)! We checked out the Restoran Woon Kiang in Johor Bahru (JB), which serves one of the best KTK in the Southern state.

This place was packed on a Friday night. We saw car plates from Singapore, KL, Melaka and even Penang.

Was the food good? Read on to find out!

Restoran Woon Kiang in JB

Restoran Woon Kiang serves one of the best KTK in Johor.

So what is Kway Teow Kia?

Originating from Johor, KTK is essentially pork and offals slow-braised in herbal stock until flavourful and tender.

The pork is often served with flat rice noodles (similar to kway teow or hor fun), with preserved vegetables as side dishes.

Restoran Woon Kiang serves famous Kway Teow Kia

In fact, KTK is similar to Singapore’s Kway Chap dish.

The main differences between the two dishes: Kwap Chap is often served with wide flat noodle sheets (similar to chee cheong fun) while KTK has thinner flat noodles. The latter also has a lighter, herbally broth.

Nevertheless, both dishes are of Teochew origin – having been introduced by migrants from the Chaoshan region during the British empire’s days.

Be prepared to wait

As Restoran Woon Kiang is very popular during the weekends, do prepare to wait for your dishes to be served.

Our food arrived about 40 minutes after we placed our order.

Woon Kiang serves delicious KTK!

Enough preamble. Was Restoran Woon Kiang’s KTK good? It’s a resounding yes!

Evidently, we ordered quite a lot for two – but we managed to finish all the food.

Let’s start with the broth – it was deeply savoury with a good balance of herbal taste and slightly peppery. We thought it had a good balance of savoury, sweetness and herbal flavours. The broth was finished with some crispy pork lards and fried shallots.

Compared to the silky smooth Ipoh-style hor fun, the kway teow here has a nice girth and chewy texture, which actually worked very well with the broth.

Somehow, the herbal accents of the broth were paired perfectly with the thicker texture of the noodles.

Delicious pork belly, offals and tofu

Like any typical KTK stall, Restoran Woon Kiang offers an array of dishes to go with your noodles.

Our favourite here has to be the Tofu Puffs (Tauhu Pok) – as they were soft and full of herbal flavours, having been fully marinated in the broth. We both enjoyed this very much!

However, Ming found the Fried Beancurd Sheets to be a bit too hard and salty – but Max thoroughly enjoyed it (he enjoys all forms of beancurd sheets, after all!).

We also found the Intestines to be excellent as they were thoroughly cleaned, with a nice “QQ” texture. It was also very flavourful – having soaked up all the herbally flavours of the broth.

While not the most tender, the Pork Belly here is decent and is a good accompaniment.

The Egg was pretty standard. It won’t be a priority if we come here again – as there are better items on their menu.

Very good mustard greens!

As for the Kiam Chay (mustard greens), this is a must-order!

We really enjoyed this dish as the mustard greens were tender with a tinge of sourness to help balance out the moreish flavours of the herbal dishes.

Also, the chilli dip here is very good as it has a sharp spiciness that worked very well with the dishes.

Summary

Overall, we really enjoyed the dishes here. The noodles and broth are exceptionally delicious, and we really like the mustard greens and tofu puffs here.

RECOMMENDED!