Tom While doing our staycation next to Paradigm Mall, we decided to visit Baliban Braised Duck Review (八哩半卤鸭), a short 15 minutes Grab ride away.
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About Baliban Braised Duck
Baliban Braised Duck is located at (Malaysia, Johor, Johor Bahru, 6719409, MY JOHOR SKUDAI 1.5244786, 103邮政编码: 81300). However, we were not able to locate it on the Grab app. Hence, we keyed in the address of Kedai Masakan Itik Taika Huat right opposite it (MY Johor Skudai Jalan Batu 8½ near Lee Pineapple Factory and SJK Kuo Kuang school Jalan Kilang Nenas, 81300, Malaysia).
Baliban Braised Duck is actually a 3rd generation business. They served braised duck as well as various parts of the duck such as wings, tongue and the exotic duck blood – which we tried this time! 😅 We love the “old school” ambience of Baliban Braised Duck – simple chairs and round table like our kopitiam in the past. On the tables, you’ll find utensils and the all-important chili that goes so so well with the braised items from Baliban Braised Duck.
According to Google, Baliban Braised Duck opens from 830am to 4pm. However, on the day of our visit, we arrived at 3pm and Baliban Braised Duck was already about to close. In fact, the 2nd generation owner Mr Quek, was waving us away saying that they had sold out for the day. However, as soon as the Grab car left and he saw us with our backpacks approaching the premise, he decided to serve us.
Later, he told us that since we travelled all the way here via Grab and didn’t have a way out (unlike those who drove), he decided not to let us have a “wasted trip”. Thanks Mr Quek! And because of his kindness, we were able to try out the offerings of Baliban Braised Duck!
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What we had at Baliban Braised Duck
As Baliban Braised Duck was almost closing, we adhered to the recommendations of Mr Quek (based on what they had left) and we had a couple of their recommended dishes including the
– Braised Duck
– Braised Pork Trotters (which we think we superb)
– Braised Tau Kee (fried beancurd skin)
– Braised Eggs
– Braised Duck Blood (a surprise find!)
– Hor fun and Rice
– Barley drinks
The total came up to 120RM which was rather decent for the spread. Here’s a close up of the items that we ordered…
Surprisingly, the favourite of the lot was the braised pork trotters. It has got something to do with the seasoning. Flavourful, yet slightly spicy and with the fattiness from the pork fats itself, the taste was simply enticing. Goes really well with plain rice. The duck was normal but we felt that the slices could be slightly thicker. A little too thin to really taste the real flavours of the braised duck. Nonetheless, it was still a delicious dish. We also enjoyed the tau kee which was pre-fried and has now soaked in the braised spices and flavours. Yummy.
Of course, the surprising find for us was the braised duck’s blood. Haven’t had one of these in a while. The last was probably in Taiwan – pig’s blood, many years back. The version at Baliban Braised Duck had the gelatinous bite to it and the slices were slightly bouncy, infused with the home-made braised. Absolutely no gamey-ness at all. A worthy dish to try.
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After a sumptuous meal, we had a mini interview with the 2nd generation owner Mr Quek. Mr Quek had been helping his father at the stall since he was a little boy. Now in his fifties, he has handed over to his son, Mr Quek Junior, who served us the dishes we had during this visit. If you visit Baliban Braised Duck, you’ll see a really huge tree right next to it. This was the same tree that Mr Quek had grown up with since young. We hope that Baliban Braised Duck will continue for a long time to come – so that we can continue to savour great tastes in a nostalgic environment!
