Huffing The Best Puffs in JB

In the quest for excellent tasting curry puffs, I tracked down a seller in Johor Bahru who makes the best in town. Curious over a piece of puff, I decided to hunt for their mobile van in Taman Bukit Indah where they are located on weekends and finding the location on my GPS was a breeze. The bustling new township had modern amenities that could rival the country’s capital city anytime but what I didn’t expect to see was a refined, smooth complexioned, pint-sized lady, possibly in her mid twenties to be standing by the roadside selling these curry puffs.

Ung Bee Koon was the Associate Director of the Sports Council of Singapore for 8 years before she decided to return to her homeland to continue the legacy of her parents’ labour of love in making tasty treats of curry puff. Hailing from Penang, her family moved to Johor Bahru in her early years to open a restaurant business and they have lived there ever since. Each pocket-sized puff is handmade and always filled with flavoursome potatoes and eggs with generous amount of spices. I was absolutely delighted to sink my teeth into these delectable treats on a rainy Sunday morning. Aside from their signature treats, there are other sweet potato pastries and fritters to complement the stall.

As I marvel at this entrepreneur’s tenacity in foregoing a life of comfort in an air-conditioned office to slog it out under the hot sun deemed to be a harsh environment for the fairer sex, I couldn’t help but notice a perfect chemistry going on in the way her fiancé was helping out. The gentleman was huffing intermittently, “Curry puff! Curry puff! Curry puff! The best in town! Once you’ve tried, you’d come back for more! Curry puff! Curry puff! Curry puff!” As the customers rolled in to get pastries, he would select them and put them in paper-lined plastic bags with such ease that you wonder if he had been in food business before this. Chia Bok Kiong is a Computer Systems Engineer by day and accompanies the love of his life as a hawker on weekends. I asked him if he was getting paid for helping out and he beamed, “Only in kind!”

The history of this curry puff dates back more than 20 years ago when her dad was operating the restaurant while her mom sold her homemade delights. Curry puffs are made with fillings of potatoes, minced meat and hardboiled egg packed into a fluffly pastry and pinched to seal, then deep-fried. The curry puff business was a great addition to their income, which saw 6 of her siblings through school and college. When her dad wanted to go into semi retirement, they moved their restaurant to Taman Tasik where they had a minimalist operation and scaled down the business tremendously. From a fleet of mobile vans, they were down to three. The decision to slow down was challenged by Ung when she realised that this viable business was right under her nose. She and her youngest brother Shun Jin, decided to quit their jobs to concentrate on building the business to serve tasty snacks and crispy curry puffs to the community. That was three months ago.

Today, the Bee with the help of the Bok on the weekends is pressing on the pedal to bring the puffs and the treats to the people of Johor Bahru while the Jin works in the shop to maintain the quality control. Sinking my teeth into the puffy treats in the morning was a great addition to my iced milk tea and truly living to its reputation of being the ”˜best in town,’ it was crispy to the last bite.

To find your way to the puffs, go past Sutera Mall in Sutera Utama and head to Taman Bukit Indah. Look for the Petronas Station and turn right. They can be found at N103.647235 E1.483836 on the GPS, or set your unit to find Jalan Bukit Indah 5/8.