Food Blog | Tastea Restaurant Mount Austin

Tastea is a quiet little restaurant in Mount Austin serving up gorgeous lunch and dinner meals, albeit at a (fairly premium price). A few friends and I headed there for lunch and sunk our heads into their uber unique soft shell crab pasta, here is what I thought of the experience.

Is this Place Halal?

Yes. On their Facebook page, Tastea claims that their food is halal - although they say no pork no lard after. I suspect there’s no halal certificate, but everything on their menu is halal is what I have to say.

Where it Is

In the hustle and bustle of Mount Austin, my personal opinion is that if you can’t locate it via GPS, locate it via a high rise building - the Menara Hartamas Homestay. It is one of the shops outside it. Either that on Morganfields would be the landmark you are looking for to know it is near.

Address: 49, Jln Austin Height 8/5, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor

Tastea, Mount Austin

What it Costs

Not exactly the cheapest place in the world, don’t expect a budget meal when you head to Tastea. I believe their ‘showstopper’ dish would be the soft shell crab pasta - either with a chilli sauce, or a ham dan (or salted egg) sauce - comes it a pricely RM 23 (plus 10% tax).

I will admit they have a pretty wide variety of choices for you to choose from in their menu. Loads and loads of pastas, pizzas (which I here are pretty good as well from reviews, burgers and even the rarely found risotto.

Here are a few prices I saw from the menu. Of course, take it with a pinch of salt, as prices might vary with changes in their menu, and factor in the 10% tax.

Pizza 19.90
Risotto 18.90 to 20.90
Burgers 23.90
Aglio Olio Seafood 18.90
Soft Shell Crab Chilli spaghetti 23.00 (What I had)
Chicken Pesto Pasta 18.90
Chicken Chop 18.90

Lots of drinks as well, but I think prices are kind of in the pricy to just about okay range. Lots of teas which I think they were famous for, but I settled with water (their waiters are very generous, coming and refilling on numerous occasions).

How it Tastes

Delicious! I loved my soft shell crab chilli pasta. The crab was actually surprisingly cooked really well, and although I feel the sauce was a bit hit and miss, I still think it was an excellent dish overall. It goes REALLY well together. The Man Tou is really to die for. I would say it is THE BEST part of this dish.

The few friends who I went with tried the cabonara and the soft shell crab, but with salted egg, and they agreed that whilst pricy, it was definitely pretty darn delicious.

The presentation in this place is top notch. I didn’t quite have the time to really take a nice photo, but you get what you get. VERY Instagrammable location to go to. Whilst the portion does look a little bit small, it deceives. This thing makes you FULL. Even a friend who I personally feel eats a lot normally, thought this filled up his tummy.

This Place is Suitable For….

-Family (Maybe not so much. Very Western kind of feel, and a bit pricy to have in big families, but they put a lot of love into their food, so it could be worth considering)
-Friends (A good place to come maybe once with friends. Not the type you would be going to regularly though. Got to get those Instagram shots)
-Solo (Don’t come here solo. No that kind of place, in my opinion)
-Colleagues (Maybe not the best thing to recommend in the sense that it is budget heavy and only Western, but maybe if you want to impress a colleague or show them a new place to go to)
-Little Kids (I’m on the fence, but I am of the opinion that little kids won’t be wholly appreciative of this place)
-Dating (I’m definitely thinking of bringing my girlfriend here eventually, so you know what that means!)

Star Rating

7.5/10. My highest rating on this young food blog so far, but I think it warrants it. The ambiance is really good, the restaurant is really well decorated. The food being produced from the kitchen in this restaurant is absolutely on point. Service was good (although this can be slightly skewed by the fact that there were no other customers today), and the food is pretty unique in its own right, so I think it warrants a 7.5/10.

Definitely worth at least a try (and the Gram) !