Yit Yee @ Pandan Indah

It was by chance that I parked where I parked which made me had to walk past this shop, Yit Yee @ Pandan Indah, enroute to my hairdresser, and realised that they sell one of my favourite noodles.  I drive past this road all the time but have never noticed the shop as its view is usually obstructed by the blinds and parked cars in front of the shop.

So, it was inevitable that I would stop by after my haircut.  I was told by the lady boss they started out as a Teochew braised duck shop (just before the MCO struck) but business wasn't particularly encouraging, so they changed to making chicken rice and kai see hor fun instead (sometime mid last year).

Of course I must start with my favourite noodle of Kai See Hor Fun @ RM9.  This shredded chicken kway teow soup was alright, not the best I've had, not the second best, possibly not even in the top five of my list...lol.

But it's certainly the most respectable bowl of kai see hor fun I can find in my neighbourhood for now.  The bowl of noodles came with 3 small to medium-sized prawns which were moderately fresh, shredded chicken, beansprouts, a bit of garlic chives (gow choy), chopped spring onions and (crucially) house-made fried shallots.

A sip of the soup and I found the flavours a little lacking...not enough of crustacean goodness in the soup base.  The all-important fragrant prawn oil was was there but rather scarce.

The hor fun was good enough for KL standards.  The portion of noodles was more than sufficient and the liew (ingredients) adequate.

Where there's kai see hor fun.....you're bound to find poached chicken too! ;)  I got a side order of a Poached Chicken Thigh @ RM5 (RM5.50 with rice) which was a very, very reasonable price.  Some may even say it's cheap.  I think so.

The poached chicken thigh was tender and fairly wat (smooth)...a decent poached chicken by any standard. The only letdown for me was the less than stellar taste of the soy sauce accompanying the chicken.  It was on the saltier side and not as fragrant but I really have no cause for complaint for a lesser quality soy sauce for the prices they charge (no worries, just mix the ginger paste with the soy for better taste).

If you think the chicken thigh was cheap, what I'm going to share with you next will shock you to your core! O_o  The Poached Chicken Breast Rice @ RM4.50 is shockingly cheap (I don't think you can even get a packet of chicken rice for anything under RM6 these days!).

I noticed the prices on my first visit but found it hard to believe, so I returned the following week to check it out!  I guess you have to see it to believe it (I did).  Look, look...you might think that the portion will probably be miserable (that was what I thought too) at such a price...and it clearly wasn't.

If you thought the chicken breast rice was cheap, let me tell you the Poached Chicken Wing Rice @ RM4 is even cheaper.  What do you call prices like these?  Dirt cheap is what I call it...I would think it's not normal to see such prices in this day and age! :O

As you can see, the portion sizes (of both the chicken breast and wing, served separately from the rice) weren't meagre at all as I initially expected based on the price point.  I thought my chicken wing portion was decently smooth (perhaps not as smooth as some other poached chicken specialists out there)...but I will take it bearing in mind the price...lol.

The rice (as you can see) is also of an acceptable standard, perhaps not as flavourful as one would like it. There are higher priced chicken rice that I've eaten where the rice quality is not even like this one.  Note that you can also order the chicken wing and breast separately without the rice (which will cost RM0.50 less). Only RM0.50 difference for the (chicken flavoured) rice...you can't ask for more, right? ^.^

Even at such low prices, a blended ginger paste is still provided.  We don't even get that at places where the chicken rice cost more.  The fresh chilli dip is a bit on the spicier side and though the blended ginger paste was a bit coarse, the dips were still within acceptable standards.

Besides all things chicken, they also offer pork noodles, lam mee, pork innards soup with salted vegetables (chee chap tong), pork stomach pepper soup, seaweed soup with egg and a few types of porridge as well. This was the Pork Innards Soup with Salted Vegetables @ RM11 (RM12 with rice).  Good to see they weren't stingy with the soup or the liew.

The soup was filled with all the requisite pork organs like stomach, intestines, tongue, heart and also pork slices (no kidneys or coagulated blood cubes, no problem, not missed and not wanted either) along with tofu cubes, tomato wedges and salted vegetables (ham choy), of course.  I found myself liking the thin cut, big pieces of pork that were mostly lean but with a layer of fat on top (most probably pork belly) as they were tender and delicious.

I love the pieces of heart and tongue (I think that was what they were) though it was missing the small intestines (fun cheong) which I love (just as much) as it came with large intestines (which I don't eat) as it has lots of fat around the inner walls unlike the texture of small (layered) intestines.  

So, on another visit (for a take-away), I asked for the intestines to be omitted but they still came with it and I was surprised to find small intestines given this time, so it's not standard as to what kind of intestines you'll get.

The soup base was sufficiently peppery (like the ones you get with any pork stomach soup) if you ask me.  If you ask my husband, can be even more peppery.  I believe they've a non-peppery version too since the lady boss asked if I wanted my soup to be spicy (as in pepper-spicy).  The salted vegetables were nicely soft and not too salty.  Overall, this was a very good pork innards soup which my husband was slurping away, something we can't find in our neighbourhood.

Seeing that their pork innards soup was a success, I thought their Pork Noodles @ RM9 should be just as good. Another option I see is Pork Root Noodles...what is that?  This is probabaly lost in translation (as in poorly translated to English).  The photo showed some fatty pork so I'm assuming this could be pork belly noodles.

This bowl of pork noodles was abundantly filled with porky ingredients of liver, intestines, lean pork, minced pork and pork balls finished with a topping of fried pork lard bits (that weren't particularly crispy nor fragrant) and crispy garlic.  The liver was fairly thick cut and cooked right but the lean pork and minced pork didn't have that smoothness I seek.  The pork balls were good though.  The intestines, unfortunately, were the same large ones used in the pork innards soup, not the standard small intestines you'd find in other pork noodles.

The soup base was also lacking the sweetness of the porky liew that I seek.  Overall, this was just a passable pork noodles which cannot compete with the many good ones I've had, heck it doesn't even stand a chance against my go-to pork noodles in my neighbourhood.

The Pork Stomach Pepper Soup @ RM14 (RM15 with rice) is something both my husband and I enjoy.  For the price charged, I thought they were more than generous with the portion of pork stomach since pork stomach (and intestines) are two of the more pricier innards.

The soup base (like the pork innards soup) was adequately peppery by my husband's standards but a bit too peppery for me towards the end (which stopped me from drinking more).

Between pork innards soup and the pork stomach soup, the latter is still easier to find as it's usually also offered by shops selling bak kut teh.

I've never been a fan of Lam Mee @ RM but someone (a hawker stall's boss) mentioned that he heard that their lam mee is good.  So, out of curiosity and based on his recommendation, I decided to get one to try but soon regretted my decision.  The plate of lam mee arrived looking the part with shredded chicken, prawns and crunchy beansprouts in a fairly thick but not overly starchy broth with eggy strands (I noticed the broth was also slightly lighter in colour than usual ones).  

But the noodles turned out overcooked and too soft (I chose a mix of meehoon and kway teow) but what was worse was that the broth was totally bland.  Coming from someone who doesn't like her food heavily flavoured, I can imagine how tasteless this would be to the norm.  Luckily, there was the fresh sambal to kick up the flavour a notch but even that couldn't save the dish ultimately.

The Iced White Coffee @ RM4 was way too sweet.  I didn't ask for less sweet as it was probably those 3-in-1 versions where the sweetness level is already set (not sure if they added more milk/sugar).  Tried the Iced Kopi-O @ RM2.10 on another visit and it was very thin (kopi-o pok) with hardly any coffee aroma and taste (although RM2.10 is insanely cheap when most traditional coffee shops sell them at RM2.50 - RM2.80).  Suffice to say I won't be ordering anymore coffees from here. ;P

My Personal Opinion

Their forte definitely lies in their poached chicken rice first and foremost with a taste and portion that's competitive with most chicken rice stalls....but at insanely low prices that will knock your socks off...I don't think such prices can be matched anywhere else! :O

A good place not only for those with a limited budget but also those who are limiting carbs in their diet as you can get double portions of just chicken without rice (RM4 a portion for breast and RM3.50 a portion for wings).  Heck, at such prices, you can even go triple portions if you like and it would still be very affordable!

I'm also happy that there's now a very decent chee chap tong and pepper pork stomach soup (both of which my husband is a big fan of) in my neighbourhood.

Restoran Yit Yee

37G Jalan Pandan Indah 1/23

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 012-632 2838

Girl & Mommy Curry Mee @ Chan Sow Lin

I finally dropped by Girl & Mommy Curry Mee @ Chan Sow Lin to try their famous curry mee I've heard so much about for a while now.  It's run by a mother and daughter team and they relocated here in 2020 (during the pandemic) from their previous location at Chan Sow Lin Foodcourt.

It's a no-frills, unassuming place in a zinc-roofed shed.  It isn't the most comfortable place to eat as I found it a bit hot and humid even when there were ceiling fans (and I was there in the morning!).  The place is kinda small and looked somewhat unkept/messy (as half the place seems taken up by a lot of storage items), so expect a wait for tables during busy hours since tables are limited.

We came on a public holiday as I've heard about the difficulty in finding parking space in this industrial area of Sungei Besi full of factories and was rather lucky to get a spot just in front of the shop.  Even though we got there early (around 8.30 am), we snagged the last small table available which was right in front of their stall/cooking station (just past the fencing gate).

We later realised that was probably not the best place to sit as the menu was propped up against the stall's counter and customers that were queuing (a steady queue started when we were tucking into our noodles) or entering the shop would stand there (right beside our table) to look at the menu to see what is offered and some would sneak a glance or two at what we were having while at it. ;P

We came here with one intention in mind and that was to try their Curry Mee @ RM10 (small, RM12 for big). There are two options here...you can choose to have your curry noodles with siu yuk (roast pork) or chicken. My husband obviously went for the roast pork.

The other ingredients in this bowl of curry mee included pork rind, tofu puffs, taugeh (beansprouts), sihum (cockles/kerang) and your choice of meat (in this case, siu yuk and it was plentiful).  The roast pork is (of course) not of the standard of roasted meat stalls but still nicely savoury with crispy skin.

I did ask for wantan mee for our curry noodles but the worker said "don't have".  Not sure if she meant "don't have at all" or "don't have for that day", so we settled for bihun + mee instead (their mee is flatter, slightly different from the usual yellow mee).

My bowl of Curry Mee also @ RM10 (small)...and small is already too big for me with big portion of noodles (which I had to pass to my spouse).  It had the same usual suspects as ingredients with the earlier bowl except mine came with poached chicken as my option of meat.  The poached chicken was respectably executed to decent standards with tender meat.

When I took a sip of the broth, the first thing I felt was that it wasn't hot enough (at least not my definition of piping hot).  It had a fair dose of santan flavour and was fairly thick, overall a more than decent curry.  My husband said that the curry tasted better without the addition of sambal (which was available tableside for you to help yourselves to) as the sambal made the curry take on a sourish note (I didn't add much sambal, so I didn't taste a difference).

I decided to add on sihum for RM4 and was flabbergasted to see the insanely huge amount of sihum given when my bowl of curry mee arrived.  Sihum has become a rather expensive ingredient and most curry mee/char kway teow stalls are usually quite stingy with it, so I didn't think I would get so much for RM4.

I did see photos of their curry mee online piled with a mountain load of cockles but I thought that was their Big Mac Curry Mee, a super big bowl of curry mee with overflowing cockles, for a whopping RM23.  That said, the cockles are super fresh, bloody, plump and juicy.....everything you'd want in a sihum...and bloody good (pun intended), I tell ya! ^o^

But for those who want to eat kerang in moderation, you certainly don't need to ask for any add-on kerang as the standard amount they give is already adequate (probably 3 times more than other places).  This add-on amount is good enough for 4 - 5 portions of curry mee.  After all, kerang isn't something we should eat too much of (some will say not at all).  Oops, I got even more when my husband's kerang landed in my bowl! >_<

If there were any negatives, I thought the tofu puffs were cut up a bit too small (at least on our visit there). They should be cut into bigger pieces (as in halved) to allow it to soak up enough broth for a greater burst of sensation when we bite into them.  The other negative I had was that I found the broth not piping hot enough.  I say this coz I usually like to submerge my sihum into the hot broth to cook it just a little to take the raw edge out of the cockles.  Here, it didn't do that for me as I could still taste the raw blood (or perhaps I had a little too much cockles?).  Although cockles are best eaten raw, sometimes the bloody taste (no pun intended) can get to you (you know, like fresh blood in your mouth when your teeth/mouth bleeds...lol..and that's not something I want to taste).

Besides curry mee, they also serve beef tripe and tendon soup and noodles, pork ribs curry, braised chicken feet, saury (mackerel pike) fish ball noodles and fish skin wantans.  We decided to get an order of Fish Skin Wantans @ RM10 (for 10 pcs) to share as it's something I absolutely love to eat.

To my surprise, the fish skin wantans were very good but not the soup base though.  The thickness and texture of the fish skin were just right and the pork mince filling had a very nice fragrant aftertaste (I'm guessing fragrant dried sole fish/flounder powder may have been used).  It's like fragrant dried cuttlefish used in pork meatballs, only better! ;)  The fish skin wantan seems to be under the radar since I've not seen any reviews mentioning it when reading reviews on their curry mee.  If you like fish skin wantans, you must give this a try.

My Personal Opinion

This place is known for its generous toppings in their bowl of curry laksa (and they were indeed generous)...and an even more generous amount of fresh cockles! ^.^  As much as I love cockles, it was too much for me in one sitting (I can't believe I'm saying this but I felt a bit jelak trying to finish it because of the abundant raw blood taste).  Then again, I only have myself to blame for getting add-on cockles!  Believe me when I say you don't need any add-on cockles here as the amount given is already sufficient.

I don't know how their beef or fish ball noodles fare (since I didn't try)...and don't think I would (try the latter) after seeing that their soup base (for the fish skin wantans) didn't impress.  But I definitely recommend their surprisingly good fish skin wantans though.

So, for ardent fans of cockles where no amount of sihum is ever too much, this is the place to get your sihum fix as their bowl of curry mee comes fully loaded with kerang unlike elsewhere where they're so kedekut (stingy) with this rather precious commodity! ^_~

Girl & Mommy Curry Mee

33 Jalan Emas

Chan Sow Lin

55200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 018-321 4606

Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar

Bonjour!  After having had some awesome Spanish food at Mercat Barcelona Gastrobar in my previous outing with friends, I thought I'd have some (yes, you've guessed it) French food for a change.  So, Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar was where my friend and I ended up.

With a typical Parisian bistro feel and a French-styled white and black checkered floor, this quaint little bakery and bistro has a casual vibe with an outdoor patio for you to enjoy your meal in a laidback ambiance. Established since 2012 as a boulangerie and pattiserie, it has built its reputation to garner a good rating over the years (let's see if I concur with the ratings). ^_~  Love the open kitchen concept inside...and the absolutely beautiful hanging copper pans (Do they cook with those or they're just part of the decor?  I'd love to take one home...hee..hee).

Our meal began with some complimentary (in-house) bread (probably a combination of French sourdough, baguette and farmer's bread?) served with butter (French, I hope...lol).  Chewy, crusty and delicious, I wish I could finish them (but we couldn't).

Starting off with an absolute favourite, a must-have for me, is the Escargots a la Bourguignonne @ RM25, a French delicacy of gourmet snails.  If you love the mollusc family like cockles, clams and oysters, then you won't be squeamish about eating snails.  The dish features 6 baked escargots with shimeji mushrooms, garlic and parsley butter.

I can't say I tasted shimeji mushrooms but you can definitely taste (and see) the herbed butter.  The cooking of these French snails was not like the usual preparation I've had at other places where you'd find them in an intensely flavoured garlicky sauce.  Here you'll bite into tiny pieces of garlic found along with the snails.

What was also different in the preparation of these snails, other than eating them for the first time out of their shells (which was even better!), was the tiny piece of crispy something (almost like a cheese crisp) covering the snails.  I believe it's possibly a piece of buttered breadcrumbs, infused with garlic and parsley (maybe even some cheese?), which was then baked to crispy perfection.  Eaten together with the tender, lightly chewy snails, the ensemble offered an incredible burst of textures and flavours.  Gloriously tasty, absolutely addictive...and best not shared...hehe (I can eat a dozen of these on my own)! ^.^

Our next appetiser for sharing was the Crab Cakes @ RM36 served with garlic aioli and a rather chunky citrus vinaigrette (can't remember tasting what were the exact components though since there was so little of it but I do remember it was nicely refreshing) together with some fresh greens (of lettuce, frisee, arugula, purple cabbage and cherry tomatoes).  When the dish arrived, I noticed there were 3 pieces of what looked more like crab balls than crab cakes (as in shaped like patties) that I was expecting.

Taste wise, it was just acceptable, not something special that would warrant a repeat order.  Truth be told, I was expecting to see chunks of fresh crab meat in the crab cakes (I think I wasn't expecting too much based on the price point of RM12 a piece, right?).  But what I got was finely shredded crabmeat instead (you know, like those we get in a packet from the supermarkets together with fake sharksfin that we would use to cook crabmeat and sharksfin soup or omelette at home...haha).  Hmmm, not quite the crab cakes I was hoping for.

For mains, I couldn't resist ordering the highly popular French dish of Boeuf (or Beef) Bourgignon @ RM78 which has been a signature dish of theirs since 2012.  The dish is made up thick chunks of prime-cut beef braised in a red wine sauce served with pearl onions and tender glazed carrots over a bed of smooth celeriac puree and finished with crispy sweet onions and some micro greens.

There were 3 sizeable chunks of beef that were braised to tender perfection sitting atop a creamy, fluffy celeriac puree.  If not for the description of celeriac on the menu, I would have easily mistaken it for a potato mash.  I welcome a celeriac mash since it's a healthier lower-carb alternative to potato (+ they do taste almost similar).

This is a classic recipe that's both hearty and authentic in flavours.  The red wine reduction sauce was rich with an immense complexity of flavours.  Look just how unbelievably velvety and shiny the sauce is. ^o^  I've to say this beef bourgignon was way better tasting than the one we had at Cork & Cleaver.  If you want to enjoy a proper beef bourgignon, there's no other place to have it really than at a place that specialises in French cooking.

Our other main was the quintessential French dish of Confit de Canard @ RM40 that's a firm favourite with many.  It's confit of crispy duck leg served on a bed of potato wedges and caramelised onions with a side of salad greens and some crispy onions together with a delicious sauce that binds everything together.

Duck confit is a classic French preparation where the duck leg is cooked in duck fat at a low temperature for a long time (low and slow) to render the meat absolutely tender while infusing it with fat and flavour.

The duck skin was expertly finished to crispy perfection...it was just out-of-this-world crispy on the outside. We decided to add on another well-known delicacy in French cuisine, foie gras @ RM32 coz I have this thing for livers (be it pork, chicken or duck liver, except beef liver...lol).  The foie gras which was well seared with great grill marks was incredibly rich and creamy but probably not so worth it for such a tiny piece (since it's such an expensive ingredient). >_<

For drinks, we had Fresh Orange Juice @ RM14 and a Virgin Mojito also @ RM14.  As with any place offering traditional French cuisine, you can bet they'll be equally adapt at making fantastic French pastries but my friend and I were already bursting at the seams after two meaty main courses and just didn't have any stomach space left for desserts.  Merci beaucoup! ^_~

My Personal Opinion

When one thinks of French food, a few popular French dishes comes to mind immediately like French onion soup, bouillabaisse (seafood stew), ratatouille (vegetable stew), croque-monsieur/madame (sandwich with ham and cheese), boeuf bourguignon (beef stew), coq au vin (wine braised chicken stew), fish en papillote (baked fish wrapped in paper), lamb shank, duck confit, salad nicoise, escargots (snails), champignons (mushrooms), charcuterie (meat and cheese board), steak-frites and foie gras along with some of the finest French patisserie (and who can forget the spectacle of a flambeed crepe suzette).

I've had the privilege of trying/eating most of them, some of which I'm happy to call my perennial favourites.....and that's why French food (along with Spanish food) ranks at the top of my list of favourites when it comes to western or European cuisine.  And the selections we had here (other than the crab cakes) were simply magnifique too! ;)

If you've not had French food before, I implore you to try especially if you love tender, braised meat in red wine sauce washed down with a glass of (the finest) red wine....lol!  I may not drink much red wine but I certainly enjoy dishes made with red wine.  If you must have escargots and beef bourgignon, there's no other place to enjoy them other than by one expertly experienced in fine French cooking techniques.  Bon Appetit! ^o^

Yeast Bistronomy

24G Jalan Telawi 2

Bangsar

59100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2281 0118