This is Travel Inspiration 360’s first debut for Vegetarian Inspiration 360, my first Vegetarian Food Blog. Being a full-time vegetarian (not vegan – will cover the difference in future article), I was told by many to start writing and introducing vegetarian food to others. Many friends are really surprise about me wanting to start writing about food (one of my value in life is to EAT! haha), caused life is already hectic and extending to Vegetarian Inspiration 360 is gonna be crazy for me. That being said, food is something we can’t live without right? And, besides loving to eat, I also love to share and recommend good food to many, so more people will directly or indirectly in love with Vegetarianism. Alright, here comes the first vegetarian food blog on Vegetarian Inspiration 360. The first article is not about Singapore, but our friendly neighbour, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. 🙂
Summary
Style: Western Food + Asian Customisation
Price Range: Between 5MYR to 30MYR per dish
Ambience: Stylish Studio
Target Group: Young & Modern Diners
Image Cooker Restaurant
Restaurant Info – Image Cooker
Image Cooker is a western food vegetarian restaurant situated at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The restaurant ambience is uniquely modernised. I don’t really know the history of this place, and I didn’t had the chance to find out, but it looks like a modern restaurant merged with a photoshoot studio, hence the name Image (studio) Cooker (restaurant). Interesting as it sounds, the food is as interesting as the ambience and look of the restaurant.
Contact: +60 16-776 9790
Address: 19 B & C, Jalan Harmonium 33/1, Taman Desa Tebrau, 81100 Johor Bharu, Malaysia
Business Hours: Closed on Monday, Tuesday – Friday (12pm – 10pm), Saturday & Sunday (12pm – 12am)
First look at the interior of the restaurant
How To Get There
Driving: It’s not difficult to reach if you are driving, otherwise a cab is necessary to ferry you there. Once you cleared the Singapore-Malaysia custom, drive up north towards North South highway direction via Lebuhraya Tebrau road (road towards KSL Mall), and continue north until you see big JUSCO Tebrau City mall, make a left turn into Jalan Persianran Desa Tebrau, continue the road until you see Image Cooker on your left at Jalan Harmonium located at the map below.
Image Cooker Map
Tip: Image Cooker is located at higher at shop houses level 3, so look high up while you are driving. We were going round and round because we were looking at ground level shops.
Map Credit: Google Map
Food You Shouldn’t Miss
Fried Mushroom
In my opinion, the fried mushroom is fantastic if fried food is your thing. The chef cleverly used seasoning on the flour, so you will taste not just the original taste of mushroom, but also the delicious and crispy thin layer of fried flour. By far, one of the dish I think those who are not so health conscious will appreciate. 🙂
The Crispy Fried Mushroom
The Otah Burger
According to the crew, they told me the otah (Malay curry fish paste) is home made, not produce from the factories manufacturing mock meats. So, is something I really appreciate. The otah burger goes well with cheese, vegetables and the sauces provided a savoury sensation. Kinda like this self creation otah. Not fantastic, caused I think the otah was a bit dry, but is worth to try. They have other choices for burgers selection i.e. self made Tofu burger for non spicy diners. 🙂
Otah Burger
The Spicy Spagetti Aglio Olio
Being a fan of spicy spagetti aglio olio, I was contemplating whether I should order this or the otah burger. I went with the latter of course, but my buddy tried the aglio olio. It was pretty good and savoury, the chef used many spices and vegetables. Bear in mind, this is not the traditional aglio olio where normally it’s plain nice with olive oil, mushrooms and garlic (for non Buddhist vegetarian). This comes with a heavy mixed with spicy chills, parsley, cheese and mushrooms etc…
Spicy Spaghetti Aglio Olio
Curry Fish Rice
We were actually quite surprise with the curry rice option in a western theme restaurant, but hey, the restaurant will need to attract the local crowd in order to survive the business, so it’s inevitable to customise the dish to suit the locals taste bud. So, we went for it and tried the dish. To our surprise, the curry is strong and delicious. If you know what I mean, it’s not the Singapore style curry, or rather the Malaysian style, with strong curry fragrance. The difference lies on the curry powder itself. Worth a try if you are a spicy curry fan. 🙂
Spicy Curry Rice
Other Food For Consideration
Pizza with mashed potato base
As unique as it sounds, it actually taste kinda same with bread/flour base. Maybe its just me, I was not able to taste the mashed potato base as it should be, hence I was not able to tell the differences. Nevertheless, the pizza was pretty good and nice. Crispy and not too cheesy.
Pizza with mashed potato base
Mashed Potato
The mashed potato looks beautiful and amazing. (hopefully you will agree with me after looking at my photo below) Taste wise was not too bad, it tasted just like potato haha, a bit dry even though with the sauce. There were pieces of bread and crumbs in it, and in my opinion, it doesn’t seems to blend in with the mash potato. Like a separate thing or for decoration purpose, i’m not sure. 🙂
Mashed Potato
Mushroom Soup
The mushroom soup is not under the soup of the day menu, so we gotta take it as ala carte. It served as a BIG bowl. Initially, I thought it was porridge when it was served to us. haha Didn’t expect it to be such a huge serving, so imagining all of us ordered one each, ended up we gotta pushed ourselves to finish that. haha We actually have a mixed review for this, some thought it was a bit salty, whereas one buddy felt that it was bland! My personal thought was actually quite okay, caused I usually dislike like soup that are too salty or mixed with MSG. However, I think the mushroom soup is kinda watery though, not creamy or mushroomy enough, whatever you wanna call. You know what I mean. haha 🙂
Mushroom Soup
The Drinks
Maybe this is just for me, being a travel blogger and photographer, I loved taking photos with my professional DSLR. So, Image Studio cleverly use the lens mug to serve their beverages. I gotta admit, I was really excited and fascinated with it. I have a lens mug (a gift from my brother) at home and I loved it till I don’t want to use it at all. If you are a DSLR fan, I believed this should fascinate you a bit. 🙂
Apple Orange Pear Juice
Ice Lemon Tea
Additional Tip
During the afternoon time, the soaring sun can be overwhelming and the window area may be really warm to lunch there. We were pretty excited about sitting next to the window for a good view, unfortunately it only took us a minute to realise it was a mistake and it was too warm for us to sit there. Thankfully, they have fans for us, so if they don’t switch on the fans, I probably would have melted after lunching there. Anyway, I believed evening time should be cool and nice. 🙂
Disclaimer: The above review is solely based on my humble opinion. Taste is subjective, so please be your own judge. Happy eating guys! 🙂
“After all the information I gathered about the mistreatment of animals, I couldn’t continue to eat meat. The more I was aware of, the harder and harder it was to do.” ~ Liam Hemsworth
