Fusion of Chinese Western food - Kedai Makanan Yut Kee

The effects of colonisation is very evident in Malaysia, although we are about to celebrate our 50th independence soon on 31 August 2007. When you come to this shop, you will hear a lot of the families that visited the shop be it Chinese or Indian, speak in English most of the time. Even the shop owners speak mostly in English. Even the food that this shop offers has a hint of English influence. This shop offers customary hainanese coffee and toast. There are other asian food like soup noodles, beef noodles, curry chicken rice, fried noodles, etc. It also has chicken chop, french toast, as well as roti babi (pork bun). But the sheer variety of menu and efficiency of the staff are worth the while of us going there frequently.



Malay-English Translation
Kedai - Shop
Makanan - Food

Rating - Some very good, some so-so
Location - Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur

Review
The usual goodstuff are toasts and eggs. The toasts are roasted using charcoal, providing a hint of flavour. The coconut jam (kaya in Malay) is thick and creamy. I believe they gave kampung (village) eggs. The eggs' shell colour is whitish and the yolks are more orangey.
The more popular choice among families are chicken chop. The batter that they use are fuller in taste. I believe they mix eggs into the batter. And what I like most is that they understand not everyone likes the dry and salty french fries. And the onion with worchester sauce further captivate our taste buds. No chilli sauce needed.
Coffee is supposed to be very good, but I have to say theirs are only so-so. Not extremely fragrant or smooth, but very thick.
You can also order take-aways like swiss roll and butter cakes. They are very rich and fragrant. Or you can simply order 1 there. They are kept in an antique display cupboard. Really cute stuff.
More than 70 years of history. The shop itself is an attraction.

Ikan Bakar at Jalan Bellamy

Grilled fish with air asam (tamarind sauce) and sambal belacan (chilli prawn paste) is an original malay food. The fish is marinated with turmeric and other spices. It is best to eat ikan bakar with ulam (herb/salad kind of leaves). There are ulam that taste like mango - ulam raja and daun selom.

Malay-English Translation

Ikan - Fish

Bakar - Grill

Rating : Average

Location : Jalan Bellamy, Kuala Lumpur

Review

This place is quite well known among the urbanites. There are 3 stalls behind the Royal Palace that sells ikan bakar (grilled fish). The one I went and featured here is the corner most stall that also operates at night.

The fish is a bit dry. The sambal belacan is mildly spicy. In actual fact, the ikan bakar here is really just average. You can also order additional dishes to compliment your meal, as shown below. But if you are longing for some ikan bakar, this place might just do to ease your desire. The dishes are reasonably priced.

Taiping town night market

Like any Malaysian, midnight does not inhibit my culinary cravings or fulfilment. My recent visit to Taiping for our yearly Cheng Beng (a Chinese tradition to visit the ancestors' grave and pay respect) brought me back to our favourite haunt. What's good here?

Location: Taiping, Perak
Rating: Gooooooooood!

Review
The nasi lemak (literally fat rice, but actually it is coconut milk rice) here is superb. They are still wrapped in banana leaves. The leaves simply increases the fragrance to the rice.

Choices like sambal udang (prawns in chilli gravy) and kacang panjang udang/ikan (prawns/fish with long beans) are hard to find nowadays.

Steamed butter and kaya (coconut jam) bread is so soft and creamy. I am not a bread fan, but this is yummy.






Chee Cheong Fun (literally Pig Intestine Noodles, but in actual fact just a type of rice noodles) from Taiping/Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Penang all offers different flavours. Those from Taiping or Ipoh are gushed with a choice of soy sauce with chilli/sweet sauce, curry or mushroom sauce.

All in all, it might just be some food that I grew up with. But if you have tried it, I am sure you will miss it.

Seoul Garden

Whenever we talk about Korean food, bbq will definitely come to mind. Well this is not a traditional korean bbq but a buffet bbq-steamboat concept. But they do offer a variety of korean flavours like bulgogi, kim chi & ginseng soup. What I love about this place is the cleanliness. Usually shops that offer bbq are very smoky and stuffy. But this shop is not only airy, the staff's constant changing of the frying plate makes the experience even better.

Rating : Good
Location : Gurney Plaza, Penang

As you can see there are variety of meat (chicken, beef, fish, squid, prawn, etc) available for frying and steamboat. There are also various type of condiments like fishball, sotong (malay for squid) ball and others, but I am not a fan of processed meats.
Price range between RM20 to RM30 per person, depending on choice of weekdays/weekends, soup and drinks.
For vege and dessert lovers, no worries. There are also sufficient choices to spoil your taste bud.

Last but not least, I love these...

East Imperial Chinese & Thai Restaurant

For once I do not have to translate a single word for a restaurant name. But then again this is not something to be amused of, given that this restaurant is situated in Langkawi. A travel destination for many. Ah yes... Let's go somewhere further than the usual. The restaurant operates in the afternoon and night. You won't see much people during the day, but a lot of westerners during the night. To be truthful, this place is caterred more for foreign tourists. But the food was actually very good. And spicy!

Location: Beside Underwater World, Langkawi
Rating: Good for those who love hot and spicy

Review
I love Thai food. I love the fragrant of spices and herbs. And I love the taste of sweet, sour and spicy. Hence I am sorry to say that, although the restaurant offerred Chinese Food as well, I did not spare a single thought on that. Reason? Well Langkawi is very near Thailand. Need I say more?
What I ordered? Khao Phad (Thai language for fried rice), Tom Yum (Thai for Hot Soup) and fried water spinach with belacan (belacan is a local delicacy made of shrimp). A signature Thai fried rice is white in colour. Fragrant of fish sauce and the texture is puffily soft. The fried rice I had here is a bit different. The colour is brown due to some use of soy sauce and chillies (must have been localised). But the rice itself is still soft yet not lumpy. So I was not that disappointed afterall.
The tom yum? Oh... heavenly. I have tried tomyum cooked by Malaysian. Nomatter what, I still find some taste is missing. Just like going to a non mamak stall and ordered roti canai. Somehow, the taste is different. I believe, some herb ingredients is missing. Most probably roots of coriander or some sort. But the tom yum is is rather spicy, so those who can't take spicy may need to take note on this.
Fried water spinach or kang kung in Malay has nothing to boast of. BAsically, overall food was good if you like spicy food.
Ahh... but one thing you have to take note. Since this shop is catered mostly to foreignors, the price is a bit on the high. The total for our food cost RM40, but of course that include our drinks. We ordered Heineken beer. Hey this is afterall Langkawi - a duty free zone, what do ou espect we might drink. Orange juice?

Restoran Bei King

Of all different clans of Malaysian Chinese, Foo Jiu Nen are one of a kind. Fu Zhou in Mandarin, Fook Chow in Cantonese or Hock Chew in Hokkien. The early settlers of Hock Chew clan were clustered mainly in Sitiawan (Peninsular Malaysia) and Borneo (East Malaysia). So that's where we went for some pure Hock Chew dishes - Sitiawan. Well, of course we do not know much about what to order. Luckily we had a colleague who is a Sitiawan Hock Chew and all we have to do is pass the cellphone to the restaurant owner. Hence, I can assure you that the food intorduced below are 100% Hock Chew dishes.

Malay-English translation

Restoran - Restaurant

Chinese-English translation

Bei King - Beijing (Bei - North, Jing - no idea)

Location - Sitiawan, Perak

Rating - Good

Review

What have we ordered (or should I say our friend ordered)? Well we have (clockwise from top left) Hock Chew fried mix vege, salted egg fried chicken, tofu thick soup (tau fu kang), and red wine thread noodles (hong jau min sin).

I can't really make much of a comparison because I have not eaten a lot of Hock Chew dishes. But what I can say is the salted egg fried chicken provides a fragrant and rich aroma. The crispy rich flavours of salted egg coating is nicely blended with the soft succulent chicken meat inside.

I have tasted red wine thread noodles in another restaurant in Sitiawan, but I think this restaurant offers a more aromatic variety compared to the one I had. Usually thread noodles are easily soften, hence not many people like to eat. But I believe they must have some secret process, as the thread noodles here do not get soften easily. In fact they are quite tangy. The red wine is actually made of red rice grains. I have seen a lady made this at home. It seemed that the preparer must maintain serene and peaceful composure while processing the red wine. Otherwise, the wine will come out sour instead of sweet.

My favourite of all is the tau fu kang. I remembered when I was 8, my dad brought us to Teluk Batik for picnic. On our way back, my dad brought us to a Hock Chew restaurant. I am extremely bad at recalling my childhood memories, but the one thing I remeber most about the trip was tau fu kang. The soup is thick without a hint of smoke on top, but be careful there. It is because the soup is sooo hot that there isn't any smoke. But that aside, the clear soup taste of seafood and smell of tofu. I just love it!

What I like about Hock Chew dish are the fact they they are all aromatic and fragrant but not overwhelmingly strong. The taste may not linger in your mouth, but it certainly lingers in your heart.

Kedai Makanan May King

In my previous post, I have mentioned that it is difficult to find good curry noodles, let alone with accompaniments like fish balls, tofu and soy bean rolls. Well, thousand apologies... I just manage to find one in Pudu, K.L. Not to say the greatest curry and not a lot of variety of accompaniments, but the taste is good. At least, I dare say the best that I have tasted in K.L. so far.

Malay-English Translation
Kedai - Shop
Makanan - Food

Cantonese-English Translation
May - Beauty
King - Scenery

Venue - Around Pasar Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
Rating - Good

Review
As you all know, I am a big fan of curry/spicy. In KL, the standard of curry noodles you find are just not to the par. Then I found this shop. It was introduced to me by a colleague. The Lum Mee he introduced to me is similar to Loh Mee in Penang. But it is the dry curry noodles that caught my attention. It reminded me of the santan version of Ipoh dry curry noodles. The only different is that it still comes with cut chicken pieces (very KL style), but you can request to change them to chicken floss and prawn (ah... more Ipoh style here). I think what makes the dry curry noodles here good is the generous usage of curry spices, herbs and santan. Sometimes you just can't be stingy in this.

I especially like the accompaniments namely tofu, fishballs and soy bean rolls. If you like the taste of what Ipohan calls "fei yuen" (literally "flying balls" ahahahahaha), you will definitely like the accompaniments here. They all have similar ingredients of fish paste and dried squid bits. The dried squid bits provide you a pungent aroma. It is an acquired taste, but those who have tasted them before will find these aromatic indulgent.


The food here may be a bit pricy. Each plate of noodles are priced around RM5 and each piece of accompaniements costs around 80 cents. Of course you can't compare this with KLCC and neither can you compare with the normal noodle stalls. But I would say the price is worth the taste.