Motormouth From Ipoh

Happy long weekend (again?) dear folks! If you are cruising smoothly back to your hometown (or jamming your way there), be patient, persevere and think of the finer things in life waiting for you at your destination; food … glorious food.

Having said that, for those of you who are locals residing in the Klang Valley or smart enough to avoid the traffic back home, here’s a piece of story on Yook Tho Yin Restaurant in Damansara Utama (or Uptown; to most of us); a 26 years old establishment that is renowned for their huge dumplings (bak zhang), mooncakes and roasted meats.

Golden shades of glory from the pumpkin gravy dousing the silky smooth blocks of homemade beancurd; complemented by chunky bites of shrimps, filament sticks and snow peas.

Let’s not deny the fact that Yook Tho Yin (YTY for the rest of this post), now helmed by the second generation of the Loo family can also effortlessly whip up delicious Cantonese cuisine too. 

Crispy Yam Basket filled with boneless chunks of spare ribs in sweet and sour sauce; aka “Pai Kuat Wong”

YTY opens for lunch and dinner everyday. The challenge is when is the best time to come and where to park. You see, Damansara Uptown is not exactly your idea of a quickie lunch where you can dump your car (literally) by the side of the road, waltz in and order a plate of char siew rice or two, then embark on your great escape back to your office for a noon siesta.

No sirree. You’re living in your dream world if you had that thought in mind.

I forgot what this chicken dish was; like a Kam Heong version of chicken but leans more towards a sweet and sour taste. Could be Marmite or Guiness chicken for all I remember, but the curry leaves and ‘cili padi’ did lend more weight to this being a Kam Heong dish.

I usually park at Damansara Uptown 7 (one of the commercial blocks in the middle); for a fee of RM1 for first 3 hours, then walk over to wherever I intend to eat at. Of course, if you’re wearing glass sandals, or would rather roll to your destination than walk half a kilometre away, then by all means, wait for the feeder bus (FOC, btw) running the route around the business area.

Sambal Belacan Kangkung

Anyway, we came for dinner and the restaurant was hosting a quite healthy crowd. The entire premise is equipped with air-conditioning; a plus point if you’re made of wax and cannot bear with the erratic Malaysian weather.

Two floors of dining arrangement; YTY still practise the safe method of ordering by means of the captain’s recommendations. Or any of the staff making their rounds with platters after platters of roasted pork, Char Siew and chicken to every table.

We shared 5 dishes amongst 5 of us that evening; and glad to say that most (if not all) of the dishes we ordered came out satisfactory. The Pumpkin Sauce Beancurd especially, was an aesthetically pleasant creation coupled with a sumptuous taste to boot. The Kam Heong Chicken (let’s call this that, though amnesia strikes and I forgot what the dish was) and the Yam Basket with Pai Kuat Wong were equally passable; and guaranteed hit with the kids if you’re dragging the rascals along.

Large claypot of curry fish head, Chinese style, with abundance of long beans, brinjal, tomatoes, onions and beancurd (tau fu pok)

The Sambal Belacan Kangkung was below par though; the vegetable being slightly fibrous and the sambal belacan (fermented shrimp paste with chili) sauce was not as pungent (in a good way) as we had come to expect. However, all was well when the incredibly large pot of Curry Fish Head arrived in a majestic manner.

All in all, the meal cost us about RM20-RM25 per pax; and I daresay this was a steal given the quality of the cooking, the portions served and the environment. Plus, this being a restaurant in Uptown after all …. where you often don’t pay for a meal that’s less than RM10 unless you’re eating in coffee shops, McDonald’s, or gems like Annie1!

YOOK THO YIN RESTAURANT (www)
No. 13, Jalan SS21/37
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Contact : 603 – 77296534, Mobile : 016-6200211
Business Hours: Monday – Sunday : 10.30am-3pm & 6pm-11pm
Same row as the incredibly famous Village Park Nasi Lemak; about four doors away only.