Sungai Mati means dead river, literally translated. Only now that I’ve read the Wiki entry do i understand why it is named so. You can see the Ox-bow lake from Google Maps (see below).
Ox-bow lake
The detour from the North-South highway into Sungai Mati takes about 25 minutes, which is quite acceptable for a lunch break. Moreover, as with Yong Peng, you don’t have to back-track to the same Toll plaza for re-entry onto the highway, so you save a bit of time.
Sungai Mati detour
Rather than adopting a single colour for the shophouses at the centre of town, as is commonly done in the other towns in Johor, Sungai Mati uses multi-colour! It is quite refreshing (see featured photo above).
As for the food, i didn’t expect anything fanciful, and the simple fare was satisfying enough. We had lunch at the corner shop right at the main junction.
A fairly new shop
The majority of the customers are students. There’s a sign on wooden bench that says bags can be placed there.
Quite a wide variety actually
“Lion’s head” 狮子头
Braised tofu and egg
A nice post-meal dessert, red bean soup
Complimentary fruits, a friendly gesture
Even the interior of the shop houses are consistent with the colour scheme of the town!
Diagonally across, Kedai Kopi Wong Bon Kong which is marked on Google Maps
You can tell from the signage that they took care to decorate their coffee shop
It feels chic rather than just nostalgic. Quite cool to hang around here.
And the coffee.. not bad! Strong, and aroma lingers.
On the way to the toll plaza, we passed by Kampong Serom, and there were a few kopitiams there too. Will check them out one of these days.
