One of my must-go-to dining places in JB for dinner and supper is Kimdo for their value-for-money zi Char dishes as well as the charcoal-grilled skewers
Located at Taman Sentosa, Kimdo is nestled along the stretch of shop houses that come alive in the evening with multiple shops offering similar food and dishes; most of them Chinese stir-fry dishes and BBQ skewers. I have tried a couple of them before but our favourite is still Kimdo with the giant crab on their signboard
There are both indoor and outdoor seating and we choose indoors as the outdoor ones are placed by the road and can be dark and full of dust. The interiors are nothing to shout about as it is a typical coffeeshop setting with old school tiles and plastic chairs
While it is common for Singaporeans to come here for seafood as the price is very affordable, we have a few dishes we will always order and one of them is this braised pig trotter vermicelli. This is a medium serving and is good for sharing for 4 to 5 persons as we ordered other mains as well. The cooking style is old-school home-cook as it tastes like something your mother would cook at home. There is nothing too fancy but it is a very comforting dish with the vermicelli absorbing the flavours from the braised pig trotters. The tender and succulent meat combined with bits of pork fats make each mouthful a delight
This next dish is also something we will always order as it is very light and comforting for our stomachs. The bee tai mak soup is served in a metal hotpot with a fire to keep it hot while diners have their meal. There is nothing fancy about the dish as it is a very light soupy dish with bee tai mak, minced pork, shrimp and mushrooms. We find it nice as it helps to cut the grease from the BBQ and other dishes we will order
The oyster omelette is very different from the ones in Singapore as it is served on a hotplate and the oysters are generously layered on top of the omelette instead of fried into the egg. The oysters are huge, juicy and very fresh with no metallic taste and while it is called an omelette, you can visibly see that the oysters given are more than the percentage of eggs. The egg is crispy from the heat of the hotpot and the heat from the plate semi-cooks the oyster so it is not too raw or overcooked
The only seafood we ordered this round was the salted egg yolk crayfish which is fried with salted egg bits and curry leaves so the crayfish is nicely salted with a tinge of spice. The meat is fresh and firm and the size of the crayfish is the medium size. We got about 10 halves of crayfish for a medium serving
To balance the meal, we ordered the stir fry nai bai which is lightly fried with garlic and fried shallots and we liked that the vegetable was cooked perfectly with the leaves still having a nice crunch and not overly limp or bitter. The light garlic flavour coats the vegetable nicely so it is nice to eat on its own without rice as well
Last but not least is the BBQ which we came to Kimdo for and while it doesn’t look very appetising in the pictures, it is totally delicious. You can approach the front counter where the charcoal grills are located and they have a chiller area where all the skewered ingredients are displayed. There are lots of selections from vegetables, meat, seafood and even fake seafood like crabsticks and fake abalone. The skewers are seasoned in chilli powder and some cumin which is not overpowering like the Chinese skewers. Our personal favourites are the chicken wing, lady’s finger, long bean, squid, fake abalone and oyster mushrooms. These are perfect with an ice-cold beer and great for chatting and snacking till late at night
Overall, the food at Kimdo is not fancy and more like a local zi char hangout place. It might not be the most popular stall for Singaporeans as the prices have increased over the year and the parking availability is terrible, we like going to Kimdo for its fuss-free food and the BBQ and the convenience of travelling to this area
Address: 25, Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Operating hours: 5 pm to 4 am ( till 1am only on Sat and Sun and Closed on Tues)
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