Bak Kut
Teh Yu Yi
88 Jalan
Kepayang, Off Jalan Kuching
Taman
City, Segambut
52100
Kuala Lumpur
(Coordinates:
E101° 40' 9.6" N3° 11' 43.8")
We are
here for a reason, and that reason has everything to do with Brendan. Ever
since coming back from his trip to Singapore, he’s been asking for curry every
chance he gets. So it came as a surprise this evening when he specifically
requested that we have 1Bak Kut Teh for dinner instead.
1A Chinese soup that literally
means "meat bone tea", and at its simplest, consists of meaty pork
ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise,
cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours. Additional
ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of
dried tofu or fried tofu puffs. Additional Chinese herbs may include yu zhu (玉竹,
rhizome of Solomon's Seal) and ju zhi (buckthorn fruit), which give the soup a
sweeter, slightly stronger flavor. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to
the soup during cooking and garnished with chopped coriander or green onions
and a sprinkling of fried shallots, and usually eaten with rice.
After a
quick check online, we settled on Yu Yi (which means friendship) and made our
way. Despite being situated along the very busy Jalan Kuching, the restaurant
sits in a row of shop houses that is unusually quiet at night. This particular
restaurant is apparently a branch with the main outlet headquartered in Jalan
Imbi.
 |
| a slight drizzle meant this was the only photo of the exterior |
 |
| "friendship" |
 |
| plainly and simply BKT |
We
ordered a large bowl portioned for three persons with a side order of Cha Kueh (a
long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough conventionally lightly salted and
made so they can be torn lengthwise in two). Since we were early, and with only
two other families dining at the time, our large bowl of Bak Kut Teh was served
in no time.
 |
| thin and thick soy sauce |
 |
| no herbal tea, so barley it is |
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| pretty speedy service |
 |
| pale broth |
 |
| here we go! |
The verdict?
To be perfectly honest we found the broth a let-down, as it was not nearly as ‘herbalistic’
as the ones we’re used to. To further compound things, we could not get over
the overbearing flavour/fragrance of charcoal in the broth which drove us to
distraction. And the damage? thankfully the total came to R50, at the absolute
border of what we define as the everyday food for the everyday person. Leng Kee still has our vote as the best BKT shop in Kuala Lumpur, and still very
reasonably priced at that.
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