Lemon Tree Restaurant at Melodies Garden, Johor Bahru

Lemon Tree Restaurant (N1.49135 E103.76201) is located along Jalan Bedara, Tmn Melodies, Johor Bahru. The restaurant is situated in a residential area since 11 years ago, and most of their customers are regular...
The owner - Mr Jeffery Bong said he surveyed the area before starting his restaurant and like the trees in front of the shop lot very much. And because of the trees stories, he named the restaurant as 'Lemon Tree', a popular song which was famous by Fools Garden, released on the year 1995 and became a major international hit in 1996.

Lemon Tree Restaurant at Tmn Melodies

The setting of the restaurant is simple and cozy, with retro ambience. The warm lighting made the guests feel comfort while dining in the restaurant...

The simple interior deco of Lemon Tree Restaurant

The area is well ventilated and I like to view through the old photos (the owner's collection) on the wall...the Elvis, Beatles and other famous artist from the 60s & 70s...

Our first appetizer was Tuna Bruchetta Cheese Bread.

Tuna Bruchetta Cheese Bread

The piece of bread evenly covered by tuna and nicely wrapped with cheese, the slice of cucumber and baby tomato provided extra refreshment to the appetizer, these Bruchetta were nice!

After the appetizers, each of us have a homemade mushroom soup served by the restaurant.

Homemade mushroom soup by Lemon Tree Restaurant

The flavorful mushroom soup was nice, creamy, but not starchy, I can taste the mushroom started from the beginning till the end...the bowl of mushroom soup was just nice for a person.

Next, there were two 12" pizzas were served. Tropical Hawaiian and Island Seafood Pizza.

Tropical Hawaiian pizza by Lemon Tree Restaurant

Island Seafood pizza

The both cheesy pizzas were topped with a large mount of fresh ingredients, pineapples, cucumbers, hams, tunas, prawns and many more! You have to taste it yourself. I would prefer the Hawaiian pizza because of the fruits, but...that would very much depends on the individual taste bud.

The Mixed Fruits Salad was the following dish...kind of like the foods arrangement by the owner - Jefferey Bong, because the refreshing fruits salad was served after the large amount of cheese loaded into our stomach...:)

Mixed fruits salad

The fruits salad was prepared with the fresh fruits, and don't forget the special dressing by the Chef Jeffery, therefore it definitely cool us down for the 'part 1' foods session...

After a short break, the 'part 2' began with 2 spaghetti, appeared on the table quietly...
The Spaghetti Hawaiian and Spaghetti Seafood Alio-Olio.

Spaghetti Hawaiian

Spaghetti Seafood Alio-Olio

Both spaghetti were delicious! The Spaghetti Hawaiian was served with hams and with sweet sauce, and the Spaghetti Seafood served with lots of seafood...especially the big prawns. We like the taste of the both spaghetti.

Before the we could finish the spaghetti, the New Zealand Air Frown Rib-eye presented!

New Zealand Air Frown Rib-eye steak

The steak served in the medium well doneness and the black pepper sauce was separated, which give a choice for those who like the original beef taste and those who like with the sauce.

The a bit char grilled steak was succulent, it could be better if serve in medium rare with the taste of meat juice...but this is my personal preference and it may not suitable for all of us, well arrange by the Chef! You will be surprise by the reasonable price of this steak, find out yourself! :)

The medium well doneness New Zealand Rib-eye at Lemon Tree Restaurant

The Chef did serve some of the local delicacies on the following after having such a nice western cuisine, that were the popular Lemon Tree Special Fried Rice and the Mee Mamak.

Special Fried Rice

Mee Mamak

As I recalled, the Lemon Tree restaurant caught my attention few years ago from some of my friends comments on their nice and simple fried rice, as a fried rice lover...I was a bit late to try out but never regret on it!
The fried rice was fragrance and yummy, served on the perfect moist level and never too dry to enjoy it! The plate of fried rice served together with a fried chicken wing, ham, cheese, fried egg and the sauce. It can be a filling dish for lunch or dinner.
According to the Chef...the combination of fried rice was a advise from a regular customer who visit the restaurant 3 times a week, the customer requested to has more stuffs beside the fried rice and Chef Jeffery 'tailored made' the dish as what he need, surprisingly the dish sell very well from the kitchen...that's the reason Jeffery named it The Special Fried Rice of Lemon Tree Restaurant!

The Mee Mamak was an enhanced version from the local mee goreng where easily available in most of the mamak shop. But the Lemon Tree's version was slightly different, it topped up with many veggie and fried to the perfect taste...which mean not too sweet or salty. It was an eye opening for me to taste the mee mamak in the western food restaurant.

After all the scrumptious meal for the dinner, the lovely desserts surfaced...
The special edition of Tiramisu and the Chocolate Lava.
I'm not a dessert person but the desserts on that evening 'seduced' me too much! Haha!

The Tiramisu

The Tiramisu was made in 3 types of coffee and with the unique cheese cream. The Wow factor was on the first bite! Not overly sweet (as peoples are more health conscious nowadays), and it was a surprise for me!

The Dark Chocolate Lava cake

The chocolate lava cake was made from the pure 70% of dark chocolate, it won't be overly sweet...no worries! And the so called 'Lava' will not ooze from the cake once you cut it due to the high density of the chocolate cake.

I believe the two desserts above will easily drive the girls crazy! It will become the favorite for the desserts lover!

We were satisfied for the dishes served by the restaurant that evening. Especially with the reasonable prices. The prices for the dishes above are within RM5.50 and RM49.00.

Lemon Tree Restaurant had expanded their dining area to the next door. According to Jeffery, the new wing is cater for private function or catering services, 20-30 persons.

The Chef - Mr Jeffery Bong was a executive chef of one of the 5 stars hotel in Singapore, he decided to came back Johor Bahru to start his own business 11 years ago. He wanted to serve his customers with the quality foods and a reasonable price, in fact...it's a good news for the western food lover in Johor Bahru. The restaurant had been through more than a decade, and Jeffery continue to provide the best cuisine to his customers from day 1 till now...

Do drop by the Lemon Tree Restaurant if you are happen in Taman Melodies area, I believe you will find what you like!

Lemon Tree Restaurant
18, Jalan Bedara,
Taman Melodies, Johor Bahru.
Tel : +607-335 5688

Business hour : 12pm - 11pm (Close on Monday)

GPS Coordinates : N1.49135 E103.76201

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-Lemon-Tree/157181411041060

Location map of Lemon Tree Restaurant at Melodies Garden, Johor Bahru.

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Ratatouille La Gourmet, A Hidden Gem at Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru

Ratatouille La Gourmet (N1.57163 E103.75767) is my first dining experience that enjoying such a good quality western cuisine at a very simple 'Kopitiam'. It's actually a stall in one of the Chinese kopitiam (aka small food court) named 'Fu Sing Kopitiam' and serving nice + delicious food. Thanks for the friend's recommendation from Facebook.

We were there around 6pm on the Sunday evening, the Chef Brian politely introduced the series of western cuisines that serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet to us. After about 15-20 minutes, the first salad served on table - Caesar Salad.

Caesar Salad by Ratatouille

That was the first appetizer for us and the presentation was nice, taste not bad.

Followed by second appetizers - Foie gras, some of us just cannot believe it because we were enjoying a nice Foie gras in a 'Kopitiam'...

Foie gras by Ratatouille

This was my first time in my life having Foie gras in kopitiam too! What a experience!

The Foie gras was well prepared and served with some mushroom slices and piece of bread, the bite will bring some mild alcohol fragrance...excellent! The dish above is selling with a affordable price (RM38) for everyone to be able to try it.

The third appetizers - Escargot.
"Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word escargot is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way." Source from Wiki.

Escargot by Ratatouille

Another experience that having this French cuisine in 'kopitiam' again!
The escargots were served in 6 per order (RM18), I'm not in the position to say about the taste because I don't really have much experience having it, but...actually they were acceptable and nice!

Next was the Spaghetti Bolognaise.
As for the Italian authentic ingredients including pancetta, carrots, celery, onions, tomato paste and a dash of wine, and the key ingredient is minced beef. This spaghetti did all right except I didn't taste the wine...maybe it was my mouth problem. :)
The rich minced beef and the tomato sauce were really made our mouth can't stop until the spaghetti is finished. (RM11)

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Anyway, it is a light and fast meal you should try if you visit Ratatouille La Gourmet.

By having the dishes above, Chef Brian served us two different type of soup - Mushroom soup and Clam chowder to let us have a break before continue our extraordinary dinner.

Clam chowder

Mushroom soup

The clams were fresh and the soup was rich flavor but not starchy at all. Their mushroom soup was another great version compare with others, fresh mushrooms and rich. Again, not starchy. We like the both soup.

Here come the first main course - Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce.

Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille

The grilled salmon served with pumpkin sauce, broccoli and Ratatouille.

Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille (another view)

The combination was excellent! The grilled salmon was well grilled to perfection! This was another different experience to savor the dish.

Another main course - Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb.

Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb

The rack of lamb were served in the medium doneness, succulent and juicy! The dish was served with Ratatouille, broccoli and mashed potatoes. We like the crusted outer layer of the lamb which was mixture of herbs and pine nuts that really brought us a new taste of the dish! The bite had give us a different layer of enjoyment, awesome!

 

The medium doneness of the lamb and the special crusted herbs and pine nuts outer layer.

The last main course was the US Black Angus Ribeye steak.

The US Black Angus Ribeye Steak

The Black Angus steak was absolutely delicious! Served with the medium well doneness for the best way to enjoying the steak, said by the Chef. The dish was served with the marvelous home recipe sauce which mixed with mild brandy. Another awesome steak in that evening!

I had a chat with the Chef - Brian Soon, understand that he's still working in one of the 4 star restaurant in Singapore right now...and only available at the stall during Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday. Thursday and Friday's duty will be handle by his wife. According to him, he'll be full time at Ratatouille few months later within this year.

Ratatouille La Gourmet

Brian said, he wanted to introduce the nice and quality western cuisines to the public with a affordable price, and he'll try his best to educate the local on the various dishes serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet.

The stall is operating by Chef Brian and his partner Mr Sherman, both of them are good friends since teenage until now and they are from Malacca. That is also one of the reason that the wordings at the stall has some Malaccan style on it, can you feel it?

The staffs of Ratatouille La Gourmet

They also provide catering and private chef services to your house for private function. Do contact them from the email address below if you need it.

Chef Brian in action!

This will be one of my regular place for western cuisine. The prices are very reasonable and affordable, beside that I also tasted the quality ingredients provided by the Chef.
Do drop by if you happen in the area, I believe you will be surprise by the dishes serve by Ratatouille.

Ratatouille La Gourmet

24, Jln Setia 3/6,

Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru.

Tel : +65 9711 4138 / 0167550886

Email : ratatouille.lg@gmail.com 

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ratatouille-La-Gourmet/1420891281470133

Operating hour : 5.30pm - 10pm (Wednesday - Sunday)

Location map of Ratatouille La Gourmet at Taman Setia Indah, Johor Bahru.

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New series of foods and desserts from Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin

Do you like desserts?
Moshi Moshi Desserts and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin had launched their new series of desserts and some snacks on December 2013! We visited the cafe not too long ago, and below are some of the new series available...

Before the desserts and snacks, let me brief some information of Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe...Moshi Moshi is selling their 100% local handmade ice cream and sorbet (they learned the skill from Taiwan) and serve with 'Natural, Fresh' ingredients with NO preservatives, and their drinks is make from fresh fruits, not from 'powders' that easily available in other cafe. Majority of their ingredients are imported from Taiwan and they make the sorbet and ice cream locally.

The first dessert was Coffee Ice Cream + Guava Bum Bum Ice (咖啡冰淇淋 + 土巴乐泡泡冰)

Coffee Ice Cream + Guava Bum Bum Ice (咖啡冰淇淋 + 土巴乐泡泡冰)

The dessert served with 2 flavor of ice cream which was coffee and guava, corn flakes and some fresh fruits. The coffee flavor was rich and nice, we love the 'aroma' very much! If you are coffee lover, I believe you will love it too! The guava flavor ice cream was fresh, fragrant and original. It's advise to take the side dish (fruits and flakes) together while enjoying the handmade ice cream.

The corn flakes and fruits served together with the ice cream above

The dessert above serve in 4 types of combinations.

The Sesame Q-Rice Ball (芝麻米果甩) was the second surprised for us. The rice ball was fried in sesame seed and glutinous rice with the fragrant Gula Melaka (palm sugar) filling. The outer skin was crispy and soft inside. It's advise to taste the rice ball with the peanuts topping, the first bite was unforgettable!
There are 3 types of rice ball available from the menu.

Sesame Q-Rice Ball (芝麻米果甩)

Peanut Mochi Cake (花生西麻薯烧餅)
This was one of the Classic series of the Mochi Cake, topping with peanuts butter and a cube of butter + honey.

French Mochi Cake (花生西麻薯烧餅)

The Mochi cake is waffle look-a-like, but it was not the waffle. It made from the sticky rice, baked to perfection. Crispy outside and really chewy when you bite on it! It was a totally new experience! The dish can really fill up your empty stomach even it doesn't serve in big portion.

The Mochi cake from Moshi Moshi

The Classic series of Mochi cake serve in 4 different types...Chocolate, French, Strawberry and Peanut.
The Mochi cake also serve with ice cream, our next dish was Chocolate Ice Cream with Cheese Koshi Cake (浓情巧克力冰淇淋起司烤餅).

Chocolate Ice Cream with Cheese Koshi Cake 
(浓情巧克力冰淇淋起司烤餅)

The chocolate ice cream

The chocolate ice cream was not sweet, it taste like dark chocolate...slight bitter. Cheese lover will love this light meal because of the nice aroma of the cheese which baked with the Koshi cake. The whole combination was just perfect!

Beside the series above, Moshi Moshi also provide the Special Baked Series （烘烤咸味系列） for the Kochi cake.
One of the popular Special Baked Series is the Smoked Chicken Koshi Cake (烟熏鸡烤餅）.

Smoked Chicken Koshi Cake (烟熏鸡烤餅）

I like this smoke chicken baked koshi cake! It's hard to describe in words about the taste, it took a little strength for chewing it and the smoke chicken was a good combination for the cake. Love it!

After we filled up our 'tank', the last dessert was served on the table...Coconut Ice Cream Parfait (夏日椰子冰淇淋芭菲)  It was one of the dessert from the Parfait series...

Coconut Ice Cream Parfait (夏日椰子冰淇淋芭菲)

This parfait ice cream was served with fresh coconut where you feel the coconut within, they mixed the young and old coconut with some home recipe to provide this NICE parfait ice cream. It can really cool down the temperature during the hot sunny day...please take note the layer of the dessert, there were cornflakes and cut fresh fruits in between. One of the great refreshment we had!

Prices for the above desserts and snacks is between RM6.90 - RM15.90

Do visit the Moshi Moshi Cafe not only on the hot weather day, it's also a nice hangout place in evening. It's good to enjoy some good dessert after your sumptuous dinner. The cafe understand the market demand about the after meal dessert culture, so Ms Elaine (one of the partner) said their operating hour is until 12am everyday...Yes! It's everyday!

Related post :-
*  Moshi Moshi Dessert & Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru.

Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe

19, Jalan Mutiara Emas 10/19,

Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru.

Tel : +607-3616337

Business hour : 11.30am - 12am Daily
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moshi-Moshi-Dessert-Tea/218158191645500 

Location map for Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin

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Sumptuous 4 course dinner at SkyBar and buffet breakfast at Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour, Johor.

Having dinner at SkyBar Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour - Johor was one of the most enjoyable and unforgettable dinner for our family! We had our dinner on one of the Saturday evening sometime November 2013 during our 2 days 1 night city escape holiday. I appreciated that Ms Aidah and the Executive Chef of SkyBar for the dinner arrangement.

We specifically chose the table situated next to the baby pool and had a breathtaking view for the Puteri Harbour night view. While waiting for the dinner to serve, the Chef presented a nice bread with 3 different sauce on our table.

There were 2 types of bread and we like the 3 different sauce very much! Garlic, Rosemary and butter. Before we can finish the bread, the starter served...The Caesar Check-mate! Salad.

Caesar Check-mate! Salad

The appetizer was unique and creative! Nice presentation on the piece of tile and this was the most creative salad I ever have!

Next appetizer was the 'SHE Lobster Bisque'.

SHE Lobster Bisque

"Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, crab, shrimp or crayfish." Souce from Wiki.

The rich flavored soup was yummy with the fresh female lobster meat. The highly seasoned savory appetizer made our conversation pause awhile, everyone just enjoyed very much. The empty plates tell it all...

The next dish was the main course of the night. The Herb-Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb.

The Herb-Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb

I was looking at the Rack of Lamb for at least 5-10 minutes just to admired the presentation by the Chef. Well done!

The portion was big and the lamb served on the medium doneness. Every bite of the juicy and tender lamb provided the satisfaction of the meal, it was sometime back I haven't have a chance to taste the rack of lamb with the mint sauce, excellent! Well, I took the longest time to enjoyed this delicious Roasted Rack of Lamb among all of us...

The dessert served after the main course, it was the 'Combination of Screw pine Creme Brulee and Tiramisu with home-made Vanilla ice cream'. Again! Another well presentation of the dessert from the Chef of SkyBar - Traders Hotel.
*  Apologies from me that my memory card having some problem that I can't retrieve the photos.

Thanks for the humble Chef who came to explained on the dishes, and very much appreciated on the surprised chocolate birthday cake from the management of Traders Hotel. Ms Aidah and the team, thanks you very much on the arrangements and warm hospitality.

That was a wonderful dinner for us especially company by the breathtaking view from the surrounding of SkyBar and Puteri Harbour, the dining experience was totally cannot describe by words! You have to try it yourself to feel the different!

Our buffet breakfast on the next day was prepared at the Harbour Cafe of Traders Hotel. It was full house during we stepped in, nice and polite cafe's staff arrange our table in about 10 minutes...

Harbour Cafe during the morning session

The Cafe provided more than 50 types of breakfast for their guests to choose from. It was a nice breakfast with full of varieties, appetizers, main course and dessert from local and international. Photos below...

The salad corner

The local food session

The noodles area...

The American breakfast counter

I like the sausages, hash brown and baked beans very much!

And also the bread, donuts and croissant corner...

And last not the least...the dessert island.

The dessert island of Harbour Cafe

And you can find even the local Nyonya kueh at the dessert island...

The local kuehs...

It was a very enjoyable moment for our family having the buffet breakfast in the Harbour Cafe. The full varieties of foods really wake up my morning appetite and I like the sausages very much!

It can be very crowded during the weekend morning session at the Harbour Cafe, so please make a reservation from the hotel management if you wish to having the breakfast during the weekend to avoid any disappointment.

We will be back again on our next city escape!

Related post :-
*  The Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.
*  Deluxe Harbour View Room in Traders Hotel Puteru Harbour, Johor.

Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor.

Persiaran Puteri Selatan, Puteri Harbour.

Nusajaya, Johor.

Tel : +607-560 8888    Fax : +607-560 8999

Email : thph@tradershotels.com

Website : www.tradershotels.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/tradersputeriharbour

Location map of Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.

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