Yut Kee Restaurant

I’ve been visiting Kuala Lumpur ever so often these days that I’ve been too lazy to take much photos of my trips. I guess partly due to the fact that I have so many backdated photos that I have been wanting to share on my blog posts but never had the time. Regardless of when the photos are taken, the recommendations are always fresh and I would always revisit the same favorite foodie joints in KL each time.

Hidden away in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the corner of Jalan Dang Wangi is this quaint little Yut Kee restaurant.

Stepping into Yut Kee, it almost feels like I’ve travelled back in time as this place seems to have stopped moving since the 1930s. The old school charm of this place oozes out from every corner!

The restaurant looks pretty much like the typical Hainanese Coffeeshops of the good old days and after more than 70 years, it continues to serve affordable chinese styled western food that gives it a significant nostalgic taste.

Even though it was around 3pm and way passed the lunch time crowd, you can tell that this place is very much loved by the local community.

Don’t expect anything fancy here but then again, fancy does not always equate to good food. Sometimes it’s in the simplicity that you find the deepest memories and best tastes. They do not serve the best drinks in the world but the traditional green flower coffee cup really reminds me of the coffeeshop drinks that I used to have as a child every weekend for breakfast.

I’ve heard from many people that Yut Kee’s food is not as good as the yesteryears. But if this is only a fraction of how good they used to be, I think I’ll be floored if I had tried them in the 1950s. Their half boiled eggs were done perfectly.

There were quite a lot of dishes to choose from but we ordered a couple of their signature ones to try. One of our orders was this old school steamed kaya bread. You could order the toast version if you wanted, but it just so happens that I was craving for steam sliced bread that day! The homemade Hainanese Kaya was super flavorful with a gorgeous egg and coconut fragrance and a lumpy texture that we don’t see these days from our store bought kaya.

Traditional Hainanese Pork Chop with potatoes. Awesome! You can choose to have it done with chicken or lamb chops as well but the pork version is probably as authentic as you can get from this Hainanese joint.

In the past, people didn’t care too much about grease and I’m a firm believer of “everything is okay as long as you take it in moderation” when it comes to food. So greasy or not, this signature Roti Babi dish is a must try for me.  It is basically a bread with egg (think french toast) stuffed with pork on the inside then pan fried.

We ordered some of their chinese styled dishes such as Sliced Pork Mui Fan and Seafood Lum Mee. They tasted pretty average but I have to say that Yut Kee have some really nice sambal chilli that goes very well with these dishes.

I really think places like these should be preserved. What I enjoyed most at this place was watching this rustic place with their almost antique like charm juxtapose with the modern city of KL in the background.

Places like Yut Kee reminds us of our roots, and shows us how much and how quickly we’ve moved forward. While progress is generally a good thing, some old kampung spirits (community spirit) and traditions have been eroded too quickly to make way for progress. There are so many things that we need to be thankful for and so much heritage we should seek to preserve.

One of the regrets I had on that visit to Yut Kee was not getting some of the famous moist butter cake and swiss rolls to take away. I was so full from my meals that I couldn’t think of another bite at that time. Well, I guess I’ll just have to leave it for next time!

I did however, remember to tabao (take away) the yummy home made kaya!

35, Jalan Dang Wangi,
50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Business hour: 8 am- 5 pm.
(Monday closed)

Tel: 03-2698 8108

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Outfit of that day

This was taken just at the parking lot near Yut Kee.

Dress/Long Top: Korean

Shorts: A & F

Necklace: Korean

Heels: Korean

Watch: Chanel