Malaysia: Yut Kee

Yut Kee is not only a family establishment, but it's also a landmark in Kuala Lumpur:

Seriously.  Where do all these people come from?  They're definitely not all tourists like us.  Don't they have anything better to do than to clog up the restaurants we want to go to?:

The wait wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.  Before we knew it, we were sharing a table with a family of three.

I drank hot Milo as a kid, but I'd never had it iced, so I thought I'd give it a try:

Meh.  I prefer my Milo with lots of condensed milk.  This watery stuff wasn't to my liking at all.

When we heard that Yut Kee's signature dish is its pork chop, both CK and I scratched our heads:

Pork chop?  In Malaysia?  What the heck?  I don't even eat pork chop in the States.

But maybe I need to start because Yut Kee's pork chop was surprisingly good.  Pork chops in Malaysia.  Who knew?

Yut Kee is also known for its kaya (coconut egg jam).  I had it once from a jar and I didn't like it at all.  I figured I needed to give it another chance, so we got the french toast with kaya:

This kaya was nothing like the crap in a jar I had previously.  So coconut-y and delicious.  The french toast on the other hand, was kinda greasy and unpleasant.

We originally wanted to order the roti baba, but they ran out.  Ugh.  We went with the belecan fried rice instead:

What is belacan anyway?  I have no clue.  (Wikipedia says it's shrimp paste.)  All I know is that my mouth was on FIYAH.  Almost literally.  I couldn't take more than three bites even with the help of watery Milo.  I left the rest for CK to tackle.

The family sharing the table with us bought the last box of kaya swiss rolls.  CK and I thought we would have the endure the torture of watching them eat the sweet goodies, but the mother took pity on us and offered us a slice:

There are definitely perks to sharing tables with strangers.  Woot!  I'm not a cake roll kind of girl, but the kaya made it fabulous.

The other perk to sharing tables is that you get to see what other people are eating.  The kid next to me was spooning away at this half boiled egg and I guess I was so obvious in my staring that CK asked me if I wanted one.  I pretended for all of two seconds before I gave in:

Just look at those beauties:

Stir it up and you have the best yolk soup ever:

I wanted to lick the bowl.

Two days later, we were back at Yut Kee once more.  CK had read online that Yut Kee is the place to get Malaysian coffee or kopi, so of course we had to go back.

Funny thing is, I don't drink coffee and CK can't really handle too much caffeine.  All the same, CK got a glass of iced kopi to see whether we should commit to buying the coffee beans:

CK wanted to buy the kopi beans, but when the owner Mervyn Lee (grandson of the original owner) explained how the coffee grounds would mess up the average french press, she reconsidered.

Meanwhile, I munched on toast with kaya:

Much better than the french toast.  I tried to see if I could bring a jar of kaya back to the States but the shelf life was simply too short.  On top of that, apparently U.S. customs has a problem with Yut Kee kaya, so pack it at your own risk.  Gotta love Mervyn and how informative he is.

We didn't leave with kopi or with kaya, but we did get to try the roti baba the second time around:

The roti baba is basically pork and onion stuffed in bread:

Definitely good stuff, but I'm not sure if it lives up to all the hype.

We also ordered the half boiled egg again.  Is anyone surprised by that?

Don't be that person who goes all the way to Kuala Lumpur and fails to stop by Yut Kee.  If you ever find yourself in KL, make the time.  It's part of the Kuala Lumpur experience.


Yut Kee
35 Jalan Dang Wangi
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
03 2698 8108