"A 1987 zi char house whose thick, vegetable-loaded curry fish head draws Singaporeans across the causeway — order it and a claypot."
Restoran Sulam has stood at 51 Jalan Sulam in Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru, since 1987, cooking a curry fish head from a recipe more than three decades old. It is a halal Malay-Chinese seafood zi char house, the kind locals send visiting Singaporeans to, and the queue at lunch tells you the recipe still works.
For other Johor Bahru tables, compare the seafood at Hai Kah Lang, the binchotan grill at Binchotan, or browse the wider seafood picks.
The signature is the Kari Kepala Ikan — curry fish head — a thick, rich curry that stops short of being cloying or overly lemak, loaded with long beans, eggplant and okra. The kitchen also turns out a dry sambal version of the fish head, fried to golden ends and tossed in a hae bee-laden sambal, plus claypot curry prawns, salted-egg squid and otak-otak grilled on banana leaf.
Pricing is forgiving for the portions: a curry fish head runs roughly RM42–68 depending on size, and shared across a table it feeds several. It is a feast built for groups.
This is a no-frills, busy zi char shophouse rather than a styled dining room — functional tables, fast service, ceiling fans and a lunch crowd that turns over quickly. The point here is the food and the value, not the decor; come hungry and come in numbers.
Restoran Sulam suits a hearty family seafood feast or a cross-border weekend lunch — the shared curry pot makes it a natural team dinner or birthday table for a hungry group. For more of the city's tables, see Sushi Shin or browse the full Johor Bahru dining guide.
Not for a quiet, refined date or anyone after a polished room — this is a busy, functional zi char house where the curry pot, not the ambience, is the draw.
Its curry fish head (Kari Kepala Ikan), cooked from a recipe more than 35 years old — a thick, vegetable-loaded curry that draws diners from across the causeway in Singapore.
Yes — Restoran Sulam is a halal Malay-Chinese seafood zi char restaurant in Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru.
Roughly RM42–68 depending on size; shared across a table it feeds several, which makes it strong value. Claypot prawns run about RM24–48.
It has operated at 51 Jalan Sulam in Taman Sentosa since 1987.
Open daily, roughly 11am to 3:30pm and 5pm to 9pm. It is busiest at lunch.
No online booking — walk in, or call +60 12-732 2113 for groups.
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Our editors map JB's seafood houses — the curry fish heads, the claypots and the cross-border lunch crowd.
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