Food Hunting & Mural Art in Muar, Johor

Muar is located in Johor and it is about 2 hours drive down south from Kuala Lumpur. Muar is known as 'Bandar Maharani' because it is named after Maharani Fatimah who graced the grand inauguration ceremony of the town way back in 1887. Did you know that Muar is one of the cleanest city in South East Asia? Yes! Muar is awarded with Asean Clean Tourist City Standard Award in 2017 and here I am telling you that it is indeed clean! I was totally surprised how clean Muar is compared to any other towns or even cities in Malaysia, and I am proud knowing that we could actually achieve this with other towns as well. 

Upon arriving, we headed straight to Classic Hotel which will be our home through out our stay. Classic Hotel is the premier business-class hotel located right in the middle of the town and it is adjacent to Wetex Parade, the only shopping mall in Muar. The hotel has 156 rooms has the largest ballroom with the capacity of 800 pax. 

Let me take you to my room!

There are 3 types of room ; Superior King Room, Deluxe Room and Superior Twin Room. My room is the Superior King Room and it is so spacious! It can even fit another king-sized bed! It even has a bathtub which is actually a great plus point. The room per night is only about RM130 - RM220 (I checked in Traveloka lol) so you are getting a good deal! Lagi-lagi because the hotel is located in the middle of the town, it is nearby to most places. 

As I told you earlier, Classic Hotel is connected to Wetex Parade. I love staying in a hotel yang connected with a shopping mall because sometimes we just need to get something, right? :P You can find stores such as Guardian, Sasa, Focus Point and Coffee Bean too! 

Oh before I forget, this is yummy Cheng Boi otak-otak that we had upon arriving at the hotel . It tastes so fresh and I love the spices even though it is a bit spicy for me. The texture is not the typical rubbery texture, you can watch my instastories highlight to see my first reaction eating it. :) After checking into our hotel room, we headed out to explore Muar!

This is the Muar Tourist Info Centre (Muaryi) where you can look for to find out more information. But this info centre caters to more chinese-speaking tourist because they don't have pamphlets in English or in Bahasa Melayu. I was told that there is another tourist info in the town as well, so you can go there instead but here's the link to Tourism Muar page for easy reference. 

The thing about Muar is, it is filled with historical architectures that is simply nostalgic. I'm not sure what's the name of this blue building but it is beautiful. I love how they preserved and maintain the old buildings, it is indeed one of the highlights of the town.

Muar is also famous with creative and beautiful murals. So you have to go murals hunting and take photos with them. Here are some of the murals in the town that we came across. By the way, it is best to walk around the town instead of driving if you want to hunt these murals. I actually reached almost 5000 steps just to find all these murals! :P

"Action Actress", Chinese Opera

Location : Behind Kwong Sui Building, Jalan Ali / Jln Sayang

"The Bond"  - by Sabek, a Spanish street artist

Location : Jalan Ali / Jalan Yahya

"Ferry Pier Mural"

Location : Off 74 Jalan Abdullah (Beside Public Bank)

"The Loving Sisters" - by Julia Volchkova, a Russian muralist

One of the largest and famous murals (12m x 10m)

Location : 1986 Jalan Arab

"Jalan Ali"

Location : Jalan Ali off Kwong Sui Building

When I think about Muar, I think about coffee because it is indeed on of the best in Malaysia! We went to 434 Kopi House to enjoy their local coffee and food! Sai Kee Kopi 434 Muar is the local purveyor of "Elephant Coffee" brand which was ounded in 1953. It is safe to say that I am hooked with their coffee! It is so rich and aromatic! LOVE!

Sai Kee Kopi 434 Muar

Location : 121 Jalan Maharani 

Business hour : 8am - 5.30pm (Daily)

When in Muar, you have to try mee siput and mee bandung. Kena cuba tau! Each restaurants have their own recipe and own interpretation  of what makes mee bandung or mee siput taste good, so maybe next time we can go back to Muar and compare? ;D

I had Kopi Ice and this Kaya & Butter bun and it was delicious! I am a bread kinda gal (I love my carbs) and I love the toasted crunch on the outside and fluffy and soft bun inside. 

Another attraction that must be included in your itinerary is Muar Art Space / Art Gallery and Cafe. It is not just about art, it is more of a lifestyle. It is a space for art exhibition and also serves as an event space. It also has a sky garden which looks out over Muar town. Along the alley, there are cafes where you can have coffee, or boba tea and chill at the space. There is also a place called Art Space where you can Play It Yourself wooden art, which is a great place for kids and adult activities too!

Muar is the Furniture Capital of Malaysia so it is no surprise that this is the right place to spend your time. Some of the furniture inside the shop is available for sale too. I really like the coffee table, been thinking about whether I should get it.....

Muar Art Space / Art Gallery & Cafe

Location : 66-1, Jln Hang Tuah/ Jln Junid

If you love architecture, you should pay a visit to Sultan Ibrahim Jamek Mosque as the building is a hybrid of Western and Middle Eastern influence. It stands near the Muar river and it is actually located next to Tanjung Emas Park. I love this park, it is clean, breezy and spacious. A wonderful place to bring my kids and walk (or even run) around the area. Or sit by the steps, looking over the river and watch the sunset. Don't forget to make time to come here ok?

"Bangsa Johor" at Clock Tower in Tanjung Emas Park

How cute is Sultan Johor here? :D 

We stayed at Tanjung Emas Park for a little while, then we make our way to Isa Asam Pedas  in Parit Jawa. There's a lot of people there and I guess it is a pretty popular spot for Asam Pedas Muar. Asam Pedas here is more on the sour side, which is different than what I'm used to back home, but it is still good. We had Asam Pedas Ikan Cencaru and Ikan Bawal but my favourite has to be the asam pedas Ikan Bawal.

Okay, so after dinner, we still have room for desserts! Ahahahah we went to Muar Back Lane where Cendol Kampung Hulu is located. The ambiance is really nice especially during the night as the lights bring out a romantic ambiance. You can also find quite a number of mural arts here.

Cendol Kampung Hulu is a must visit, must ok! They have a variety of toppings and the best thing about this cendol is the shaved ice for the cendol. Their bingsu-styled shaved iced really gives a nice texture and the iced itself has a creamy coconut-y flavour. Really yums! Among all the flavours, my picks are the kelapa laut madu and durian (they use D24 or IOI durian).

Cendol Kampung Hulu

Location : Off Jalan Sisi

Business hour : 12pm - 12am

Okay, so right after that, we went for another dessert (oh yes, sugar overload), we had Mango Float Royale Melaka just nearby the cendol place (search Jalan Sisi)

The mango Juice is refreshing and cooling, perfect for a hot day. I was actually really really full so I just took a sip or two but they are good. Right after this, we went back to the hotel because we had a really long day. I was exhausted but I had a really fun and exciting day, but I just want take a shower and sleep. hahaha. So this is the end of day one!

We starting off Day 2 in Muar by attending the Grand Finale of Piala Hektar : Choral Speaking Competition 2019 which is held in Maharani Ballroom in Classic Hotel. This is a part of Hektar Group's corporate social responsibility initiative to help their communities in terms of empowering education.  The competition started with 42 schools, competing from districts around 6 Hektar malls, and 6 schools were chosen to be in the grand finale. The 6 schools in the grand finale were :

Muar (Wetex Parade) - SMK (P) Sultan Abu Bakar

Melaka (Mahkota Parade) - SMK Infant Jesus Convent

Sungai Petani (Central Square) - SMJK (C) Sin Min

Kulim (Kulim Central) - SMK Keladi

Segamat (Segamat Central) - SMK Agama Segamat

Subang Jaya (Subang Parade) - SMK Subang Utama

The champion of this competition walked away with RM6000 cash while the other 5 finalists brought home RM500 each. I would like to congratulate all the students for showing good sportsmanship, confidence and all the best to their future. Choral speaking is a great way to improve English in Malaysian schools and I am glad that students have this opportunity to boost their speaking level. 

We had our breakfast here in A Luck Kopitiam and freaking love the Moonlight bread! it reminds me of roti goyang, a toasted bread and 2 soft boiled eggs in the middle which resembled moonlight.

Right after breakfast, we headed back to the hotel as we have some free time to pack our luggage. I took my own sweet time to pack a relax a bit. Then we went to Satay Warisan for lunch!

It is normal for the locals to eat satay in the morning as breakfast, so jangan terkejut tau. Hahaha Satay Warisan is open from 7am, so please do make way here because the meat satay is so sedap!! 

Besides satay, they also have mee rebus (I had this and it is good!), soto and lontong. They also have nasi lemak but by the time we arrived, the nasi lemak dah sold out. 

It was a really filling lunch, I will definitely come back here!

Satay Warisan

Location : 13, Jalan Majidi, Taman Sri Tanjung, 84000 Muar, Johor

Right after that, we went off to buy some souvenirs to bring back home and we stopped by Yong Sheng to get some snacks and coffees for our family. Boleh rambang mata kalau kat sini, ikut hati semua nak beli! ahahah

Yong Sheng Gift Concept Store

Location : Lot 256, Jalan Sulaiman

Business Hour : 8.30am - 7pm

2 days 1 night is not enough to explore Muar! I will definitely come back with my family to discover more interesting places and food here. I do agree that Muar has good coffee and a food haven, as well as the mural arts is worth hunting for. Have you ever been to Muar or are you from Muar? If you have any suggestions about places to eat, attractions or what to do in Muar, please let me know in the comment box below.  Thanks so much for reading my travel post, it has been a while and I really need to travel often! 

>>Watch my instastories during my trip to MUAR<<

Thanks for reading!