Yang Kee + Otak-Otak Place

Oh yes, a food crawl. Which means there'll be a sequel!

The second stop brought me to a residential area that was as unfamiliar to me as Tanjung Tualang and Nibong Tebal. With the help of my faithful 2006-2007 edition of a certain brand of KL’s printed map, I managed to get there in 20 minutes. Not too bad, HairyBerry. I beamed and was very confident that I would be among the first to arrive. But I was not aware of the extremely limited parking spaces surrounding the wet market. Damn...That aside, the wet market was a food haven! At that point, I must admit that I was jealous of the residents here. Besides the colourfully canopied, tantalizing stalls filling up every inch of the market, there were also many restaurants within the vicinity that exude a certain old kopitiam charm. There is NO reason to not to have breakfast in Taman OUG, absolutely NOT! The most attractive, to me, was an impossibly crowded pork noodles stall that spilled out from a cornershop to the adjacent alleyway. It was a sight to behold; the blistering sun, the steaming soup, sweat, chunks of minced pork, the Chinese newspapers, and lard – all the essentials to a hearty bowl of ala wet market pork noodles. I’ll be back to give this a try, definitely.

Back to Yang Kee, the menu was a spread of mostly divergences of the signature beef noodles. The virgin that I was had the infamous dry version with egg noodles and a bowl of soup consisted of beef, tripe and beef ball. Too bad about the rather soggy strands of noodle as it would have enhanced the overall experience, given the well-seasoned minced pork topping. I can’t help but to compare this to Ngau Kee, which offers a sweeter, stickier topping and springier noodles. Some had the lou shyue farn that proved to be a better choice. I wonder if the minced pork will go well with thick rice vermicelli. Another important dish that we shared was the braised brisket with daikon. I could almost salivate, fantasizing about the toffee-coloured braise as it presented itself in front of me. Despite a tried and tested (and loved) formulation of cinnamon, star anise, soy and pepper, there was something that didn’t feel right. It was a certain powdery substance that somehow brought the whole fantasy to an abrupt end. Thank goodness for the soft cuts of brisket, complete with a good amount of attached fat. As for the daikon, too hard for a braise, I thought.

The table was filled with talks of the declined standard of Yang Kee. The virgin wouldn’t know. His mind has wandered off to the pork noodles stall.

If a few hours of songs from the 80s and 90s don’t warp one back to the days of being playful and free, perhaps a visit to Otak-Otak Place will. We were at this local-themed cafe right after a karaoke session at Neway. Local in the sense that the dishes were everything a Malaysian can relate to; otak-otak, nasi lemak, roti jala, chicken rice, mee rebus and asam laksa. Oh, and a cup of hot teh tarik with cream cracker. Local also relates to the props the proprietor used as decoration – toys and games that we all loved when we were young like toy soldiers, Happy Family cards and Lego. I wished they’d offered bottle caps for us to play as well but perhaps it’d be too noisy for a restaurant setting.

Thanks again, Precious Pea, for organizing this outing. It was certainly memorable and we should do this again when you are back. Great meeting my other blogger friends as well! I’ve not met some of them since my first gathering at My Elephant in 2007! Time does fly when we’re having fun, doesn’t it? Maybe the next crawl should..erm, MUST end with a dinner or supper. In the meantime, eat well!

And thanks Simon for the yummy buttercake from Taman OUG wet market!

Yang Kee
52 Jalan Hujan Rahmat 2
Taman OUG
Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur
Click here for Precious Pea's earlier experience.

Otak-Otak Place
Lot LG 311B
Lower Ground Floor Oval
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Bandar Utama
Tel: (+603) 7727 4181