Rotiboy Coffee Bun in Johor Bahru

I was delighted to see a Rotiboy outlet at the Customs and Immigration center in Johor Bahru. The shop is opposite Starbuck Cafe and the KFC outlet. It is a small outlet - buy and go. Even before you arrived at the Rotiboy outlet, you can smell the coffee bun from quite a distance away.

There was a small crowd of people queuing to order their bun and pastries. I noticed that most people were buying the signature coffee bun. The cheapest coffee bun was RM2. I ordered the RM2.50 coffee bun which had coffee cream filled inside the bun. Another version is the coffee bun filled with butter cream also at the same price of RM2.50.


The coffee bun taste good while it was hot and crispy. I find it rather too sweet and the smell of coffee is not too overwhelming. Overall it was a nice quick snack but I don't think I would liked to eat 2 coffee buns - even though the paperbag says ' one is never enough '.

The Loaf - Advice from Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on Starting and Running a Business

I read the news on the advice given by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia to participants of a SME seminar held in Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Mahathir is the owner of The Loaf - which is a gourment bakery and pastry restaurant with 5 outlets in Malaysia. I will normally visit The Loaf whenever I am in Kuala Lumpur to buy some buns and pastries.There is one pastry that I enjoy eating and that is called The Moon. This bun is covered with almond and with crust of orange peel in it - very special taste. In my view the bread and pastry are expensive as compared to other bakery stores in Kuala Lumpur. But The Loaf produces good quality buns and pastry - this is one of their strength.

Dr. Mahathir had given some very good advice to the particpants of the SME; and they are as follows:-

1) don't assume that you know about business - there are many things that you may not be aware of on the business that you intend to set up or run.

2) when you start your business, it is better to start small.

3) expect to inject more capital into your business that what you thought it required. An example he gave was a business that initially requires RM1 million capital may quickly snowballed into RM3 million.

4) he will consider franchising his business only when it is profitable.

5) he does not like to borrow money from the bank for his business.

I think these are very sound advice for those entrepreneurs who intend to start a business. Maybe Dr. Mahathir could write a book on his experience in the setting up and running of The Loaf. If he does, then I would definitely want to buy his book with his signature (autograph) on it if possible.


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Kluang Rail Coffee in Johor Bahru

There is a nice place to sit back, relax and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with crispy toasted butter bread. The small cafe is called the Kluang Rail Coffee in Kotaraya mall in Johor Bahru. This is really one of my favorite place to enjoy tea and butter toast bread. If you are planning to go there on a weekend, be prepared to wait for a empty table; because most of the time it is very crowded.

I normally visit Kluang Rail Coffee store on weekdays so that I can find a nice place to sit, do nothing and just enjoy my cup of tea. I seldom drink coffee, so I am not able to assess the quality of the coffee sold at this place. But I can tell you that the tea is nice and the butter toast bread is super. Also there are many coffee drinkers there enjoying their fresh brewed coffee.  This place also sell other food such as rice and noodles. If I can remember correctly it also sell peanut butter toast bread - I have not try it yet.

Kotaraya mall is about 15 minutes walk away from the Johor Bahru Immigration and Customs checkpoint. The Kluang Rail Coffee is located at the annex of the Kotaraya Mall. If you are not sure, just ask the security guard or anyone in the building for assistance. I do not liked going to those branded coffee outlets commonly found in the malls, these coffee joints simply cannot made delicious and crispy butter or kaya toast bread.

I do hope that the Kluang Rail Coffee could expand this current outlet. There is too little tables and seats available. If you want to try other food, there are also a few food outlets in this mall and the Puteri Pacific Hotel is just nearby, if you are keen in having buffet lunch.