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