Nyonya Sister, on Level 3 of JB City Square, is located right outside Old Town White Coffee restaurant, and near to the exit that leads to JB Sentral or JB CIQ. It is usually the first stall that most people will see after entering the shopping centre from JB Sentral.
Nyonya Sister sells a wide range of Nyonya and Chinese kuehs (bite-size snacks, desserts or pastries), nasi lemak (coconut-milk-flavoured rice), etc. The traditional snacks, especially the hot-selling items, usually sell out by early afternoon. I have patronised the stall many times to buy their kuehs for next day's breakfast, trying something different each time.
One particular kueh at Nyonya Sister that I wish to highlight in this article is a dark-coloured round kueh that I have not noticed before. It is a little bigger than other kuehs at the stall and seems relatively unattractive — that's probably why I did not notice it until my sister suggested that I try it.
The dark-coloured kueh is known as "草仔粿" or cao zai guo, a traditional Hakka snack that is very popular in China and Taiwan, but seldom seen in Singapore and Malaysia.
Nyonya Sister's 草仔粿 looks dark initially but the skin is actually dark-greenish on closer look, said to be made with glutinous rice and mugwort (艾草). The savoury fillings is a mixture of preserved sweet daikon radish (菜脯), dried shrimps, chive, etc. It is really delicious.
There are two look-alike dark kuehs at Nyonya Sister and about the same size too. The tortoise-shape one with moulded pattern and a "寿" (longevity) Chinese character on its glutinous rice skin is filled with sweet mung bean paste. It is a black-coloured ang ku kueh (黑色"红龟粿") known as orh ku kueh (黑龟粿).
The one without any pattern on its skin is the "草仔粿" or cao zai guo and is rounder in shape — don't mix up!
The last time I had "草仔粿" was in 2022 in Taiwan's Fenqihu Old Street (奮起湖老街), near Alishan Scenic Area (阿里山).
Address:
Level 3, Lot JK-02, City Square Mall, Jalan Station, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
10am to 10pm | Daily
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