No. 69, Jalan 11/62A,
Bandar Manjalara, Kepong,
52200 Kuala Lumpur, Tel: 03 6275 9113.
GPS Coordinates: N03 11.585 E101 37.821.
Business hours are Mon – Sat (11am – 3.30pm; 6 – 9:30pm) and Sun (10am – 9:30pm).
RIF works in a fairly large corporation and has colleagues from all over the country. Through some of them, we got to know about new food places, including Chan Chan Yong Tau Foo in Bandar Menjalara, Kepong.
This shop started out as a small shack in Kepong before shifting into a single shop lot. Today, Chan Chan occupies two shop lots and business is said to be brisk.
It’s been a while since I had good yong tau foo — my favourite yong tau foo place at Batu 14, Puchong has gotten too crowded for comfort.
We found Chan Chan Yong Tau Foo quite easily, as it was located near the famous steamboat place in Bandar Menjalara.
One of the things that irritate me about eateries is when they hire foreign workers to manage the restaurant. Chan Chan was one of them. The staff didn’t understand what I wanted to order and having to repeat myself multiple times on a hungry stomach was not something I fancied doing. I ordered an iced herbal tea but was served iced chrysanthemum tea instead.
Tasty gravy: The fish head curryPatrons have a choice of fried and soup items, and a few non yong tau foo dishes such as curry fish head, Hakka pork belly and asam fish. We opted for our favourites – fried sui kow, fried beancurd, fried brinjal, white tofu, red chilli and ladies finger.
Good thing the food arrived quickly. The yong tau foo (RM1 per piece) was properly prepared and generously stuffed with fish paste.
I especially enjoyed the brinjal. Although soft and tender, it still retained some bite. A lot of places tend to serve this limp, soft and oily, a sign that the oil isn’t hot enough. The fried beancurd skin was very addictive – crispy on the outside with a thin layer of fish paste on the inside. I couldn’t help but notice the ample filling in the fried sui kow. This gave the sui kow a satisfying bite.
The chilli sauce and brown sauce at Chan Chan tasted different from the common ones available at other yong tau foo places. These were both slightly sweet and pleasant tasting.
The stuffed white tofu, ladies finger and red chilli came in a bowl of soup, made from ikan bilis stock and sayur manis. Although nothing to shout about, I was pleased that the clear soup didn’t make me feel thirsty after the meal. Call me silly, but I only ordered the chilli and ladies finger for some colour. Taste wise, I didn’t care much for them.
We ordered the curry fish head (RM20 – small) out of curiosity. Although the gravy was thick, spicy and flavourful, I wasn’t happy with the fish pieces as they were quite tough. That said, the curry went well with white rice.
On a whole, lunch was pretty decent. I would return for the yong tau foo, but not the curry. While the food came rather quickly, I found the serving lacking as the staff were not really paying attention. Note that the restaurant was only ¾ full, so there was no excuse for such inefficiency.
