Travel / Malaysia

Season’s – Not For Any Season

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There was a period of time when I traveled to Malaysia frequently. But due to work, I have stopped going there for over a year! Last weekend I finally went to Johor Bahru with a friend.

New eateries have opened at City Square, a shopping mall there in which the Singapore government has a 70% stake. It also happens to be the tallest building in Johor Bahru.

Season’s is one new restaurant at City Square that I haven’t visited. Interestingly, it bears a strikingly similar menu to Swensen’s.

I initially thought that season’s is the Malaysian wing of Swensen’s. You can find identical baked rice dishes, pasta items and other main courses here at half of Swensen’s prices!

They have most of the Swensen’s dishes too, although some of the ones that are missing happen to be my personal favorites — fried calamari rings, rodeo wings and crayfish pasta.

Here’s a closer look at the burger menu. Besides the fact that little Malaysia flags have been used, don’t the burgers look familiar?

Season's burger menu

The desserts menu appeared to be an exact copy of Swensen’s. All the names and pictures, right down to the ice cream descriptions were identical! Even the menu cover was printed with the name “swensen’s” instead of “season’s”.

Season's dessert menu

Would someone please clarify if there’s any relations between Swensen’s and season’s? If there isn’t, the amount of copycatting we’re looking at is so extensive and blatant, it is a joke! For the time being, I can only assume that season’s is in fact part of Swensen’s.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Salad (small)
RM4.50++

To give an example of how every item on the menu is half its price in Singapore, a cream of mushroom soup would cost S$4.50 in Singapore, and only RM4.50 in Malaysia (the exchange rate I got for that day: S$1 = RM2.24). It actually tasted pretty decent. But then again, how wrong can such a basic item go?

Breaded Chicken

Breaded Chicken
RM16.90++

Being a chicken lover, I didn’t have a hard time picking out the breaded chicken. I was pleasantly surprised when it was served to me within 10 minutes. Wow! That had to be the shortest time I ever had to wait for my food. Brownie points to season’s for such quick service!

Then, I realised why they could serve it within such a short time.

Breaded Chicken drenched in oil

The entire slab of chicken and French fries were practically soaking in oil! They had served the dish directly after deep-frying without even bothering to drain off the oil. Argh! What a greasy mess!

If this had been in Singapore, I would have asked for the dish to be returned to the kitchen. But I was in Malaysia. I didn’t want to appear like a fussy and bratty Singaporean who’s full of complaints, lest further reinforcing the “ugly Singaporean” image. But really, I was grossed out!

Curry Chicken Baked Rice

Curry Chicken Baked Rice
RM9.90++

The curry chicken baked rice was quite simply curry chicken layered upon some moist rice. If it wasn’t for the oval-shaped bowl that baked rice is usually served in, it would have passed off as any regular cooked rice.

At this point we knew that this place simply couldn’t be a part of Swensen’s. The food at Swensen’s may not be knock-your-socks-off fantastic, but it certainly wouldn’t be of such shoddy and sub-par standards either.

Folks, stay away from this place! Although as far as “away” goes, we’re already pretty far off. Season’s is all the way in Malaysia!

Urgh! Argh! It’s been almost a week and I’m still grossed out when I think of that greasy chicken!

Season’s
City Square
108 Jalan Wong Ah Fook Level 3
Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Service:

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Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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11 responses

Leave your comment

jkaiser
May 4, 2007

i dunno if i should laugh @ u or just kok ur head… pls lah..go jb eat this kind of stuff..u walk out of city sq, past merlin tower, to the mobil station there..behind the lorong in evenings got roadside stall..damn nice! haha
Reply
darren
May 5, 2007

i agree. don’t eat in these places when u’re in jb, jb is famous for its senibong nasi lemak, various kinds of bak kut teh in and out of the central city, chinese seafood restaurants particularly near the east, or even chinese fine dining (also seafood lah) near the city.

alternatively if u want to try road-side stalls or hawker stalls, jkaiser is right. the food street behind merlin tower in the evening offers very very authentic malaysian food at very low price. or you can go to the hawker centre in taman daya (大马大排挡） for more chinese hawker food.

don’t eat in those aircon restaurants in city square! you can get almost all of them in singapore. :) happy weekend~!
Reply
darren
May 5, 2007

sorry i mean taman sri tebrau not taman daya
Reply
KopiSusu
May 5, 2007

i am so sorry that i’ve to laugh with jkaiser. yrs’ KOK yr head is price less!!!
Reply
eiggam
May 6, 2007

actually season’s and swensen’s are under the same company hence the similar food.

season’s also have a bakery on the first floor of city square. it’s not bad!

i agree with the comments above, if u go JB, dun eat at city square. be adventurous & try the 大排挡 outside! it’s much much better!
Reply
Veron
May 7, 2007

Okay! I will eat more from the outdoor stalls in future! Actually I have already had much of their sambal stingray, frog porridge, chicken wings, et cetera. But those things are really fattening, especially since we tend to order them in large quantities!

I have seen the Season’s bakery. We bought their mooncakes before. Thanks for clarifying that Seaon’s and Swensen’s are under the same company! The menu may be similar, but the difference in standards sure is astonishing!
Reply
Jo
May 11, 2007

Hmm, why didn’t you try the ice-cream? I was kinda looking foraward to how they will turn out…

For the prices, I reckon the food is pretty ok =x
Reply
Veron
May 11, 2007

We were too stuffed for desserts! Besides, the main courses that we had didn’t leave us craving for more of their food.
Reply
Keiko Ishikawa
December 25, 2009

I was there yesterday and noticed the same thing. Later on, when looking at the menu, I saw the Swensen’s logo at one corner. Aha.
Reply
- Veron
  December 26, 2009
  
  So it IS the Malaysian wing of Swensen’s. It’s been a while. Is the food good?
  Reply
dea jb
July 1, 2010

i suggest 4 cheapest wstern fd in jb…btter go 2 hutan bandar..cant imagine hw chic chop etc can sold 4 only 5rm…wahhhhhhhhhhh so cheap n da serving wsnt dat bad ( incl da tste 2 )..
even in bbu sold da same item 2…( i guess da owner ‘ciplak’ da idea 1 )….
Reply