[Johor Bahru] My friend swears by Restoran Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼, which has been serving a wide assortment of hearty Hong Kong Dim Sum since 2008.
Ran a quick Google search and wow, many recommended them as probably “one of the best dim sum places in JB”.
“You must MUST go early, or else many dim sum will be sold out”, said my friend.
I am glad that I heeded that advice. It was just slightly pass 9am upon my arrival and the place was already filled with hungry diners.
Everything is by self-service and you will have to first secure a table on your own. My experience of camping for tables during lunch time back when I was working in CBD prove to be very useful.
Basically, there are three stations to order your food – steaming counter, fried food counter and porridge & bao counter, each with a huge white signage above indicated with red Chinese words.
If Chinese language is not your thing, just look out for where the queue usually forms.
For a humble eatery, their dim sum selection was surprisingly huge.
Placing order can be a little stressful as there are no menu and no labelling of food name and price.
I did try asking auntie on what were some of the items as they all looked pretty similar, but was pressurized to hastily make a decision as intense glares were building up from the queue behind.
Word of advice – start eyeing for what is available the moment you are queuing, then quickly point here and there to get your orders swiftly.
You can expect the usual dim sum suspects such as har gao, siew mai, pork ribs, chicken feet, fried carrot cake and fried wanton etc.
Worth a mention was their pillowy soft char siew bao and moist lotus leaf glutinous rice which tops my list of classic “must-order”.
I also picked a couple of not-so-commonly seen items such as steamed meat puffs, prawn paste dumplings and chives dumplings which all came with substantial amount of stuffed ingredients for the price I am paying.
As their dim sum are all hand-made and available in limited quantities, some gets replenished and some doesn’t.
If there is a particular dim sum you are looking for, you probably have to pay attention to the auntie announcing over the counter.
“Lai! Wu Kok (Fried Taro Puff) who wants?!”
I immediately sprinted over to get a plate of my personal favourite and was rewarded with crispy taro puffs stuffed with savoury char siew fillings.
Their dim sum are affordably priced within RM2 to RM9.50 (SGD0.70 to SGD3.20) and my total bill for 2 pax amounted to about RM46 (SGD15.30), which is very good value for the quality of dim sum they serve.
While there are quite a handful of online reviews which complained about their level of service and attitude of staff, I have to say the place is genuinely busy.
Hence, I am contented with the good food and minimal service at this price point.
Restoran Gim Cheng 锦成茶楼
2, 2, 1, Jalan Sagu 36, Taman Daya, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 7am – 1pm (Thurs – Tue), Closed Wed
Google Maps – Restoran Gim Cheng
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* Written by Lewis Tan @juicyfingers, a self-proclaimed coffee addict. DFD paid for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
