Food Blog | Chotiroj Thai Restaurant | Taman Perling

I would say that the JB food scene doesn’t really comprise of that many genuine Thai restaurants (and no I do not count those Thai Mookata Hot Pot restaurants), so it was a nice change to try Chotiroj, at Taman Perling! Here’s my full review!

Is it Halal?

This is a non-halal restaurant with pork dishes on the menu so do be mindful and eat at your own discretion if you’re mindful of that.

Where it Is

The best way for me to describe would be if you go from Bukit Indah to HSA (that highway road), you take the turn before the exit whereby you get to Perling. It is on that row of shoplots facing the highway. Parking is free and easy, although it can be packed with cars at times.

I would say it is a pretty cozy restaurant with that almost homely, rustic feel to it.

Address: 60, Jalan Layang 16, Taman Perling, Johor Bahru, Johor

(They have another branch at 23, Jalan Horizon Perdana 4, Horizon Hills 79100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia, but this review reflects the Perling branch).

Operating Hours:

Daily: 12pm to 10:30pm

What it Costs

You can go the individual meals route or the order to share route, and I would say that this place fits the order to share category. I would say that this place is actually pretty reasonable, although a RM70 meal between 2 people (as I’m showing in this review) probably isn’t the best reflection of this.

The breakdown of my dinner (which I had with my girlfriend) went like this:

Pad Thai - Kuey Teow (RM13.90)
Red Tom Yum Chicken (RM16.90)
Kankung Thai (RM10.90)
Fish Cake (RM17.90)
Rice (RM2.50)
Water (RM0.80 x 2)

Service charge of 10%, bringing the total to exactly RM70.05. If you ask me, apart from the fish cake (which is pretty atrociously overpriced for fish cakes - especially compared to the other things on their menu), the rest of their offerings are actually pretty worth it. A genuine Tom Yum for RM17 is pretty worth it if you ask me.

How it Tastes

I’ll start off with the Pad Thai and I will say it most definitely is the best Pad Thai I’ve tried in JB so far (my personal experience with other pad thais in Johor Bahru have been pretty bad in general). But it has just the right blend of sweet and sourness mixed in with the saltiness from the fish sauce. I’ve tried a few that taste basically exactly like char kuey teow but this one does a good job of bringing Thai flavours out of the dish.

They serve up 2 versions of Tom Yum at Chotiroj, one being the red version and the other being the clear version. We shared the red version and I would say that it ranks on the okay scale for me. Not too spicy but I feel it could definitely be more fragrant - I feel like it would be more tasty if the flavours were stronger - this doesn’t have the sourness that you would expect from a good tom yum soup.

The kankung is pretty good, I would say that I just assumed it was kangkung belacan because I never try other variations of kangkung but this kangkung is basically almost like one of those dishes that you would order at a Chinese restaurant - those with a strong garlic taste, but maybe it’s just because I’ve not tried kangkung in this manner.

I don’t know about you guys but when I think of Thai fish cake, I think of that really fragrant after taste more than even the taste of the fish cake itself. This particular fish cake falls flat for me in that respect, just not as fragrant and just not worth at that given price - although it is a pretty big appetiser if you add in those pickled cucumbers.

Star Rating

7/10. A decent choice to get your Thai cravings fixed. I almost wish that some dishes are a bit more fragrant or have that stronger Thai influence, but overall you’ll get a good meal at a decent price (if you order the right things).