The Replacement Lodge & Kitchen (Johor Bahru) – Beautiful Minimalist Cafe Serving Delicious Brunch And Coffee

During our recent day trip to Johor Bahru, the wife and I visited The Replacement – Lodge & Kitchen at Jalan Dhoby. I’m really glad we checked out this cafe because it offers delicious food, good service, and a great atmosphere. This article was last updated on 18 October 2019.

The Replacement – Lodge & Kitchen

The Replacement – Lodge & Kitchen is a beautiful Melbourne-inspired cafe that serves brunch items, fusion dishes, pastries, artisan coffee, and specialty teas.

Founded in 2015, it is located in a historic shophouse along the bustling thoroughfare of Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bahru.

The cafe used to have a bed and breakfast on the second floor (the “Lodge”), but it closed down in May this year.

Beautiful Cafe With Great Service

The Replacement Lodge has a breezy and minimalist decor with pastel coloured walls and raw cement flooring. Customers dine on dark wood tables and pretty white chairs.

For us, we got to sit on a round comfy fabric banquette because we were dining in a large group.

I was very impressed by the good service. We visited on a Saturday at around 10am and was dismayed to see that the cafe was already fully packed.

However, a nice staff informed us that the waiting time was 30 minutes and invited us to sit inside the cafe. She managed our expectations well, because we got our table after just 20 minutes.

Even though there were many other customers in the cafe, our food was served shortly after ordering. All the staff were very friendly with smiles on their faces.

There is free Wifi in the cafe too.

Menu (Click to enlarge)

The Replacement Lodge’s menu offers an interesting variety of food.

The brunch items (available till 6pm only) include Berries Compote French Toast (RM 24.90) and The Breakfast Platter (RM30.90).

There are also All-Day items like Crab Meat Mentaiko Aglio-Olio (RM26.90) and Poke Bowl (RM27.90).

Mains include dishes like Chicken Confit (RM 29.90) and Crispy Fish and Chips (RM26.90).

You can also order Small Plates like Sweet Potato Fries (RM 18.90) and Chicken Wings Penang Style (RM 18.90).

A popular dish is the Churros, which comes with Salted Egg Yolk, Salted Caramel, Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Nutella dips.

For beverages, there is a selection of artisan coffee, specialty teas, juices, beers, and cocktails.

The Replacement Lodge does not serve any pork or lard, and all their ingredients are sourced from Halal-certified suppliers.

You can check out their online menu here.

Crab Meat Mentaiko Aglio-Olio

The Crab Meat Mentaiko Aglio-Olio (RM26.90) is a fusion dish that consists of linguine served with Aburi crab meat Mentaiko, smoked duck, mushrooms, sous vide egg, red chilli slices, spring onions and mixed nuts.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good this sumptuous dish tasted. It was simple yet complex, packed with flavours, and executed perfectly.

The heap of linguine, crab meat, mentaiko, smoked duck, sautéed mushrooms, and egg came together perfectly, with the rich savoury flavours punctuated by the crunch of lightly musky nuts. The sous vide egg gave the noodles a smooth and luscious texture that felt really good in my mouth.

Unagi Bowl

The Unagi Bowl (RM28.90) consists of sushi rice served with grilled unagi, sous vide egg, salmon roe, and Japanese cucumber. The grilled unagi was quite tasty, but compared to the Crab Meat Mentaiko Aglio-Olio, the overall flavours of the dish were not as rich or varied.

The Breakfast Platter (RM 30.90)

The Breakfast Platter (RM 30.90) is a popular brunch item that comprises scrambled eggs, Hon-Shimeiji & button mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, chicken sausage, homemade mixed beans, and muesli toast.

It comes with a choice of beef pastrami or turkey ham. We went with turkey ham.

I liked the scrambled eggs which were very buttery and fragrant. The rest of the ingredients were fresh and delicious as well.

I found this to be a satisfying and “safe” dish; you can’t really go wrong with it.

Sweet Potato Fries

The Sweet Potato Fries (RM 18.90) was served with a dollop of yogurt sauce on top. The wife and I both enjoyed this side dish very much! The fries had an addictive salty-sweet flavour and a satisfying crispy texture. I highly recommend ordering this item.

Churros

We also ordered the popular Churros with Salted Egg Yolk Dip (RM 17.90), along with an additional Dark Chocolate Dip (RM 6.90).

The churros were delicious – crisp on the outside, warm and tender on the inside, and dusted with sweet cinnamon sugar.

Paired with the thick and savoury-salty Salted Egg Yolk sauce, the churros tasted even better! The Dark Chocolate dip was pretty good too but I still preferred the Salted Egg Yolk.

Chicken Wings Penang Style

The Chicken Wings Penang Style (RM18.90) were fried perfectly and were very juicy and savoury.

Fried Squid with Lime Aioli

The Fried Squid with Lime Aioli (RM22.90) is another satisfying comfort food dish. It tasted even better with the sweet-tangy Lime Aioli sauce.

Yuzu Summer

The wife is a fan of yuzu, so she ordered a Yuzu Summer (RM 15). This pleasant fruity drink was great for the hot weather, though the serving was rather small.

Latte

The Latte (RM 11) was rich and creamy with a subtle coffee flavour. I seldom drink coffee but I needed this perk-me-up after being stuck for a few hours in the Causeway traffic jam earlier.

Tropical Vibe

The Tropical Vibe (RM15) was surprisingly refreshing with a pleasant fruity flavour. It’s quite expensive but I feel that it’s worth the premium.

Directions

There are three ways to get to the The Replacement Lodge & Kitchen from Singapore.

The first way is to simply walk for 15 minutes from the Johor Bahru Checkpoint.

The second way is to take a Grab ride from the checkpoint. It should cost about RM 6.

The third way is to drive for 8 minutes from the checkpoint. When we arrived at 10am on a Saturday, we managed to park along a street near the cafe. If the streets are full you can try circling around for a while, or park at the nearby Bank Negara Malaysia multi-storey carpark for RM 3.

Conclusion

The Replacement Lodge & Kitchen states on their Facebook page that their formula is to “Serve good food and good coffee, for people to share with good friends”.

After visiting the cafe, I can testify that it has indeed stayed true to this philosophy. With its delicious food, great service and wonderful ambience, it’s no wonder that The Replacement Lodge is so popular.

The cafe gets really busy during peak hours, so make sure you go early to avoid disappointment.

The Replacement Lodge & Kitchen
What to Order: Crab Meat Mentaiko Aglio-Olio (RM26.90), The Breakfast Platter (RM 30.90), Sweet Potato Fries (RM 18.90), Churros with Salted Egg Yolk Dip (RM 17.90)
Address: 33 – 34 Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Opening Hours: | Mon to Thur: 9am – 6pm | Fri to Sun: 8am – 9pm |
Phone: +60 12 547 7885
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thereplacementlandk