Top Recommended Cafe Johor Bahru: Union Fashion Bar Pelangi

Some experiences in life stay with you forever. One such experience for me was the day I met Chef Yap. He has carved a special place for himself in the culinary world.

He started his career in 1998 with Pokka Japan Corporation’s patisserie. Later he joined Bakerzin and then the Boga group, of Indonesian heritage, which has several popular brands under its belt. Some of those are Bakerzin, Boga Catering, Pepper Lunch, Ten Ten etc. Chef Yap was the group’s Executive Chef (R&D) just before he decided to head back home in 2015, where he launched his own brand “Union Fashion Bar”.

It was at Union Fashion Bar’s Garden in Taman Pelangi where we met. Since 2015, UFB has grown from one to three outlets – one at Taman Pelangi, the other at Inderapura (Kulai) and the third one at Taman Sutera. Apart from a Cheese U Bistro in Kluang, he is soon coming up with a new outlet of UFB there.

UFBs boast of their independent style statement. Using the word “fashion” in a restaurant’s name itself describes how creative and innovative Chef Yap is. He has remodelled his outlets after the restaurants in malls of Jakarta where Anak Johor Yap has worked for thirteen years. You can expect to be served lunch, tea, supper and dinner at UFBs.

Over a bowl of UFB’s Papachos, we warmed up. The Papachos are the plain old papadums with a tangy, sweet and saucy twist. Served with diced tomatoes the crispy Papachos are a sure shot crowd pleaser. It’s no surprise. After all it comes from the Executive Chef of Boga Group.

The next thing I had were the deep fried Pork Bone Noodles. They were pretty decent but the broth and sambal chilli just took my breath away. I wanted to keep ordering them again and again. The milky broth, which was made by boiling pork bones, had a natural porky sweetness to it and a smooth thick texture owing to the melted collagen.

I am planning to suggest them to bottle their classic sweet and savoury sambal chilli. The chilli flakes and fried flakes of shrimp in it give it a crackling spicy body. One just craves for that explosion in your mouth.

Next up was the Frozen Cheese Cake Pop. They make all cheese cake ice-creams in house. And that too it in several different flavours like plain, chocolate, spicy orange and coffee. The flavours are then given a coating of chocolate and there are a wide range of toppings to choose from such as cranberry, marshmallow, Oreo crumbles, bacon etc.