Flame & Fern Cafe: disappointing café with delicious beef in Johor Bahru

June 24, 2025

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Cafés & Bakeries, Food, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

It’s been quite some time since I last travelled – I think the last trip I took was my Melbourne babymoon last August before I gave birth!

We were unsure if travelling with a baby was great idea, but in the end we decided to bite the bullet and try a short car trip to nearby Johor Bahru first. We picked the weekend before the school holidays so thankfully there wasn’t much of a jam at the immigration customs!

After clearing the customs, we headed straight to Flame & Fern Cafe for lunch. This is located a little far away from the customs but relatively near our hotel (St. Giles in Midvalley Southkey). The weather that day was terribly unforgiving and walking there from the parking lot was a torture in itself.

What really surprised us was this notice that we caught at the entrance. Apparently we were unlucky enough to visit on a day when their coffee machine had broken and they couldn’t offer coffee, hot tea, or any hot drinks!

To be fair, the weather was too scorching hot for anything other than iced drinks. But no coffee at a café??

I ordered the Artisan Beef Bacon & Scrambled Egg open face sandwich (RM45), which really is roast beef on homemade brioche.

I was worried that the beef bacon might be a little too dry, but it was actually prepared pretty well. It’s not quite bacon, but I did find it a nice twist on the typical pork bacon!

Husband got the Woodfire Grilled Japan A4 Miyazaki Striploin, which came with seasalt, Kizami wasabi, and roasted garlic. The price is not always fixed and highly dependent on market price. So you’ll have to find out the price for yourself on the day you visit the café.

I forgot how much this cost during our visit but I remember thinking that it was quite worth the price paid. Likewise, the steak was very well prepared and cooked very nicely (requested for medium rare). It was juicy, flavourful, and made even better with the condiments served.

Drinks-wise, we got a mixture of mocktails and matcha latte. I was really disappointed that we couldn’t order coffee that day and settled for the matcha latte. Unfortunately, even though they had used premium grade matcha powder (from Niko Neko, if I’m not mistaken), it tasted way too diluted.

Do I recommend eating at Flame & Fern Cafe?

The beef here really outshone everything else on their menu, and you can tell that it is their star dish. I’ve baulked at beef and steak served at quite a few cafés because they’re always off the mark: tough, bland, and generally unappetising. Hence, it was quite a nice surprise to see that a café in JB.

However, I found it incredibly baffling that this café doesn’t offer coffee and had no backup plans to make a brew. Even their other drinks were pretty mediocre, in my opinion.

That being said, I would revisit solely for the beef. And maybe update this review with their coffee if I ever get to try it.

If you’re still keen on visiting Flame & Fern Cafe after my (rather scathing) review, you can check out their menu here.

DIRECTIONS

Address: 61, Jalan Chengai, Taman Melodies, 80250 Johor Bahru, 80250 Johor, Johor Darul Ta’zim, Malaysia

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