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Johor Bahru’s trendiest neighbourhood has been recently on the wane but a new expansion should ensure it keeps its crown of cool.
The new Jalan Austin Heights 7 area in Johor Bahru opened in the middle of 2023. (Photo: David Ngiau)
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Austin Heights, the northern quarter of Taman Mount Austin, has been Johor Bahru’s trendiest neighbourhood since its birth in the mid-1990s. While its reign is no longer undisputed, it should hold on to its crown for the foreseeable future with recent renewal projects.
The quarter expanded in the middle of last year with seven new rows of shophouses and a two-storey hawker centre/market complex. The area, anchored by the imaginatively named Jalan Austin Heights 7, is inviting and colourful with wider roads that are free of jams (for now).
The expansion has a huge open-air parking lot to the south (between the area and the Austin Heights Water & Adventure Park) and is serviced by a new access road coming in from the south-west (near the golf course entrance and the Midori Green condominium).
The road, in particular, is a welcome boon for the notoriously congested Austin Heights quarter and should relieve traffic on existing avenues (for now).
Shu Da Xia Hotpot Restaurant in the new extension gets an A for ambience. (Photo: David Ngiau) FROM IG-READY CAFES TO KTVS AND BARS
Located 10km north of downtown JB, Mount Austin has always enjoyed an artifice of glitz underpinned by hype. There are no mountains (much less hills) in the suburb and the Austin Heights Golf & Hotel Resort, which opened around 1995, but the marketing worked as its gated communities became the address in JB for some time before the arrival of rivals such as Setia Tropika, Senibong Cove and Horizon Hills.
Austin Heights is where the IG-ready cafes, diverse restaurants, neon-lit family KTVs and bars are concentrated, along with what was once JB’s premier water park. The walkable quarter is about 0.5km from east to west and covers less than 0.45 sq km (if you include the area extending south to McDonald’s).
Jalan Austin Heights 7. (Photo: David Ngiau) The shine has slowly worn off over the past decade with faded facades covered in three decades’ worth of grime a common sight there these days. The Austin Heights Water & Adventure Park was easily eclipsed in 2012 with the opening of Legoland in Medini – the Legoland water park is twice as big, and combined with the theme park covers land nearly seven times as large.
We’d be amiss to not mention the crippling gridlock that rings Mount Austin, which is bound by the notorious Pasir Gudang and Tebrau highways to the south and east, respectively. The 15-minute ride into Mount Austin from the Causeway can triple on a weekend evening, and the 2km drive from Austin Heights to Aeon Tebrau and Ikea could take half an hour.
Fortunately, Monet is still well-maintained on the inside. (Photo: David Ngiau) That said, the organically-grown Austin Heights is still JB’s most charming concentration of chic, holding off new contenders Eco Palladium and Eco Botanic, as well as the old-school cool of Taman Pelangi and Taman Sutera Utama — the latter’s commercial zone next to Sutera Mall is arguably Austin Height’s closest rival and off many Singaporeans’ radars.
With the Jalan Austin Heights 7 extension’s colourful shophouse rows (in faux-Peranakan style) all fully occupied and in full operation after just half a year, it’s clear that Austin Heights can’t be written off just yet.
WHAT TO DO
1. Austin Heights Water & Adventure Park The entirety of the Austin Heights Water & Adventure Park, worth an afternoon. (Photo: David Ngiau) It’s still a decent park, undergoing renovations and upgrading in late January. The main draw is, of course, the water park with five big slides, a couple of water playgrounds for younger kids, a lazy river to drift along and a wave pool. Admission is RM80, less RM10 for kids under 120cm and senior citizens.
Covering the whole park can add up with separate admission charges for the different areas — besides the water park, there’s the adventure park (RM80), the Jump Street trampoline area (RM25 per hour), a skating rink (RM25 per entry) and a drift-kart course (RM25 per 10 mins). Naturally, there are cheaper combo passes.
Opening hours are 10am to 6pm daily, except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the park is closed.
For more info, visit their website.
2. Loud Speaker Family Karaoke A landmark anchoring the horseshoe-shaped Jalan Austin Heights 8/3, Loud Speaker is still a draw for poly kids from Singapore. Incidentally, the Malaysian chain’s other JB outlet is in Taman Sutera Utama.
(Photo: Loud Speaker KTV) Entry per person is RM32+ after 5pm on weekends and roughly 10 per cent cheaper from Mondays to Thursdays, while charges are a quarter to 30 per cent less if it’s before 5pm. The minimum expenditure required for the use of a VVIP room is RM1,500 on weekend evenings. Membership has its privileges here with discounts of anywhere between 20 and 40 per cent.
Loud Speaker is open from 11am daily, closing at 10.30pm on weekdays and 11pm from Friday to Sunday.
For more info, visit their website.
3. Banghistory Escape Room Situated near the 1 Million Hotel in the shadow of the landmark Mount Austin water tower, Banghistory’s escape rooms have live performers getting in on the act, and there’s even a “Rage Room” as well as another room where you can “experience the miracle of childbirth like never before!” in a “comfortable and caring environment”.
Banghistory currently features five different escape room themes. (Photo: David Ngiau) There are two other escape rooms nearby around Jalan Austin Heights 8/7 — The Escaper and Enigma Escape JB — but Banghistory has thrice the number of Google Maps reviews (over 350) as its rivals and an impressive 4.5-star review aggregate. We should note, however, that one patron complained on TripAdvisor that Banghistory’s waiver forms were all in Chinese and staff couldn’t communicate well in English.
Banghistory is open from 1.30pm to 11pm, with closing extended to midnight on Saturday and Sunday nights.
For more info, visit their website.
4. NYX JB JB lacks Zouk-type nightclubs and this is a welcome addition for clubbers. Nyx, which originated in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, just started operating in a standalone building next to the sports centre, near the Jalan Austin 7 extension.
For more info, visit their website.
WHERE TO EAT
Dining options abound, and more so if you widen your net to include Mount Austin, where there’s Bloom By MokMok and Uncle Pou Wok (famous for its KL-style black Hokkien mee), among others. Here are a few eateries to consider as you explore and likely find a hidden gem not on this list.
1. Basilico Founded by Johor chefs who cut their teeth in Singapore kitchens, Basilico is consistently good and has a growing reputation as JB’s best Italian restaurant. Thankfully situated away from the congested heart and on the western edge of Austin Heights.
For more info, visit their website.
2. Slow Day, Out/line and Sweetheart These three interesting cafes in the new Jalan Austin Heights 7 extension capture the trendiness that made and should keep Austin Heights vibrant.
Sweetheart Cafe is perfect for the ‘gram. (Photo: David Ngiau) Slow Day, an art cafe with a reputation for chill vibes and excellent service staff, occupies a prominent corner lot at the entrance of the extension. Out/line has a novel outdoorsy theme, complete with a patch of gravel at the entrance, which led me to believe it was really a store for camping equipment. Sweetheart Cafe is an explosion of princess/Barbie themes that seem partly inspired by the famed Bloom By MokMok in Mount Austin.
3. Shiba Cafe
Malaysia’s first Shiba cafe is a must-visit for dog lovers. One visitor complained a couple of years ago that it can get claustrophobically overcrowded on weekends, which is likely why the cafe now requires reservations.
Shiba Cafe is open from 10am to 3pm and from 4pm to 7.30pm daily (even dogs need a break, you know).
For more info, visit their Facebook or Instagram pages.
4. Mulligan’s Signature This Irish pub on the street corner below the 1 Million Hotel is an oasis for older folks amidst the neon-lit KTVs. There’s live music and sidewalk tables on two sides, facing the junction, which are welcoming on a cool evening.
Mulligan’s Signature is open from 3pm to 1am daily.
For more info, visit their Facebook page.
5. Monet Music Restaurant The dome-shaped Monet features live music amidst wine racks, with a charming ambience that’s still family-friendly. It’s also really cool that they stay open later than most other bars and clubs around JB.
Monet Music opens at 12.30pm and closes at 2am daily.
For more info, visit their Facebook page.
WHERE TO STAY
1. Austin Park Hotel Situated right next door to the water and adventure park and the convention centre, which also houses the high-end supermarket Jaya Grocer, the hotel is ideal for families with young children who don’t plan to walkabout too much around Austin Heights.
For more info, visit their website.
3. Hako Hotel Hako, located in the same building as Loud Speaker, is ideal for partygoers. Will the music keep you up at night? It won’t matter if you’re hammered and passed out.
For more info, visit their website.
1 Million Hotel (and Mulligan’s). (Photo: David Ngiau) While it looks like it’s seen better days, 1 Million is still decent and has an excellent location on the northern edge of Austin Heights – it’s a close walk to the Jalan Austin 7 extension, and right above Mulligan’s.
For more info, visit their Facebook page.