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Friday, June 04, 2010

Yau Char Kwai @ Stall in front of Restaurant Lim Mee Yoke, SS2, Petaling Jaya


glorious golden crullers

Don't you just love it when you stumble onto new discoveries? This place may not be new to most PJ folks but for me on an early Saturday morning it felt that way. I've heard quite a lot about this legendary stall that served one of the best ever yau char kwai in town but since breakfast is never my forte (I'm too much of a night owl), I've not ventured around this place in the mornings.

expanding in the oil, long chopsticks and pressing the dough together

By chance I stumbled onto the hordes of people patiently gathered around this stall. The crowd looked interesting hence I joined them as I was curious why everyone was willing to wait 15-30 minutes for the yau char kwai. The small consolation of waiting forever for your food. You get to compensate by observing how it is done.

stretching it out just before it is slipped into the hot oil

Even though this stall owner makes other varieties: dough wrapped with a thick slab of glutinous rice, with red bean, sprinkled with five spice powder, everyone asks for their yau char kwai and is willing to sacrifice precious time for it. Regulars will just fill up the exercise book, the stall owner's wife keeps track of the orders.

For his work, everything is prepped up ahead. For instance the dough is packed in plastic boxes that he can reach out for whenever he makes a fresh batch. The oil used to fry the fritters is also fresh and golden in colour, unlike those who recycle the oil a million times till it blackens. It is interesting to see how he treats the yau char kwai's dough a little differently - kneading it one more time with flour before leaving it to rest under a specially designed compartment with a stainless steel lid.

Once rested, he stretched it into a long piece of dough, flattens it, scatters a little sesame seed, and starts to divide them by cutting it into even pieces. Then he reaches out for a long thin metal rod. With deft fingers, he places one cut piece of dough on top of another to overlap. A quick press with the metal rod onto the dough makes an indentation. He then proceeds to stretch the dough with two hands and drops it into the hot oil. It puffs up to form those crullers we call yau char kwai. The two pieces are stuck together, puffing up and turning golden brown in the hot oil. Continous turning by a long chopsticks see these fritters get evenly cooked into a beautiful golden brown colour.

Well worth the wait, each piece is crunchy on the outside, soft inside and light. I can imagine this will be great with a bowl of piping hot soy bean milk or plain porridge. If you're a crispy dough addict, head over here as this may just be the best ones in the town.

Yau Char Kwai Stall
In front of Lim Mee Yoke (or the magazine shop next to it)
Jalan SS2/6
Petaling Jaya

(Pork free. Available from 9am to 12 noon and night time too. For a load more pictures, see
the Flickr set.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.

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17 comments:

  1. YUMS.
    Love yau char kwai. It's so sinful tho!... :D

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  2. his hamchipeng( 5spice) fresh and crispy from the over is the best.Foodgasm

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  3. fat and juicy one! love it but cannot eat too muchieee ><

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  4. Is Art!! I love the ordering system with the exercise book - no chance of missed orders whatsoever!

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  5. yar nice.. but sec17 one is better;)

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  6. My favourite! That's the Indian-chinese family right?

    Don't they operate at CHOW YANG at night? Looks like the same bloke.

    Its AMAZING stuff ... funny I was just talking about his YCK (Yau Char Kuey) to my friend here in Abu Dhabi over coffee this morning ... Psychic!

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  7. Yummm....now longing for hot soy bean milk with yau cha kuey for breakfast..maybe i shall i have that for tomorrow!

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  8. hi there!

    I'm a fellow blogger from the Philippines and I'm planning a trip to KL. I would love to know what are your top 5 must-visit food places in your country

    thanks!
    Fran

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  9. I think it might be the Chao Yang one too - same long queues. :P

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  10. yes, an indian boy is helping out by taking orders n "tau pau" d YCK!

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  11. This is one of my favourite Yu Char Kway stall! I love the Ham Chim Peng here too. But aitelyu, the wait is crazy.

    Your shots of them at work are amazing Boo!

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  12. Hmmm...we were there recently, but he wasn't open., Turns out he changed his operating hours :) thanks for the tip boo.

    Wanna know what I really like about this place? The oil he uses is fresh!

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  13. ss2 morning market one also not bad, if i'm not mistaken the yu char kuai stall is facing ambank

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  14. Like the comments say, the hamchimpeng is also very good. even when the pasar malam is there this stall gets a bigger crowd than most others.

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  15. Oh, I so miss this yau char kwai man!! The wait is long but usually I will just place order first, walk around and come back abt 30 mins later...

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  16. Hi,
    Thanks for posting this tutorials..Really like your recipe..I am going to try it..

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  17. Looks good..going to try when im in kl :)

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