Malaysia's Gateway South — the Singapore causeway, a legendary street food scene, and one of Southeast Asia's most underrated cities
Johor Bahru, universally known as JB, is the southernmost major city in peninsular Malaysia — linked to Singapore by the Johor-Singapore Causeway, one of the world's busiest border crossings. That proximity is the engine of JB's food culture: Singaporeans cross the causeway specifically to eat here, where the same quality of hawker food, laksa, char kway teow, and crab cost a fraction of the price across the strait. The historic Jalan Segget and Jalan Wong Ah Fook food precincts, Mount Austin's food courts, and the Johor Bahru City Square anchor a city that lives to eat.
Johor Bahru became the capital of the Sultanate of Johor in 1855, when the Temenggong Abu Bakar moved the royal seat to the southern tip of the peninsula. Under Abu Bakar, who styled himself Maharaja and later Sultan of Johor and cultivated close ties with British royalty, JB was developed as a modern city with gaslit streets and the magnificent Istana Besar palace. The Johor-Singapore Causeway, completed in 1923, tied JB's fortunes permanently to its island neighbor. During World War II, the Battle of Singapore (February 1942) — in which 85,000 Allied troops surrendered to Japanese forces —…