Neighbourhood joint Yi Pin Chu scores big

(UPDATE: YI PIN CHU CLOSED FOR GOOD POST MCO)

When weekends come by, we usually eat out as I wanna take a break from cooking. There are so many new cafes and restaurants popping up. Sometimes, I forget that there are many outlets in my own neighbourhood which I haven’t been to.

Passed by Yi Pin Chu Restaurant many times, but the signboard says Asian dessert so we normally don’t stop as Tong Sui (sweet soup/dessert) is not on our radar for lunch.

This time, I actually got out of the car and looked at the menu and saw that they had real food too, so we decided to go in as we didn’t want to go too far. There was quite a good variety of local fare as well as desserts.

We ordered Curry Laksa – something someone will always inevitably try – and No. 3 settled for Nasi Kerabu while I opted for Spicy Thai Chicken Chop.

The Laksa (RM8.20) was surprisingly very good and an unexpected hit. Slightly different version from what we are familiar with, this one had thicker rice vermicelli (coarse meehoon), prawns, fishcake, egg and bean sprouts. The soup was nicely thick yet not too rich, balanced in flavours. Totally forgive them for not having cockles and roast pork instead!

Also found out that Yi Pin Chu had been open for more than two years. Funny that only now we never noticed it but then, it is a little off the main street. It is also under the same management as Tang Pin Restaurant which specialises in fishballs and fishcake, which explains the larger fishcake slices in the laksa, better in terms of taste and quality.

The Nasi Kerabu (RM14.50) came with a generous chicken drumstick which no. 3 said was quite yummy as it was well-marinated, moist and juicy. The ensemble also had a half a salted egg, keropok, ulam and the blue rice was topped with lots of kerisik (coconut). Verdict: passed with flying colours.

Mine was the chicken chop (RM13.50). Tastewise it was not bad, but total fail in the presentation department. The menu showed a full piece of chicken while the actual dish came with the meat cut into small pieces on a bed of lettuce. More like a chicken salad?

When I asked the manager, he said, “If I serve one whole piece, but how will you be able to eat it?” So they so kindly cut it all up! (Me – rolls eyes). I ended up eating the chicken pieces with chopsticks.

For dessert we had Momo cha cha (RM5) which was a corruption of bubur cha cha, or more commonly called bo bo cha cha. I asked the manager what’s with the name, and his smart alec answer, “Oh, so that people would ask us about it, and then order it!”

Guess it worked as order it we did. It was thick, made rich with santan, and had quite a few pieces of yam and sweet potato. The other dessert we tried was cold mango with sago (RM6.50), with shaved ice and quite a few pieces of sweet mango. Also highly recommend this.

We noticed other tables ordering dumplings (pot stickers) so we had some too. At RM8 for a set of 8, each dumpling was adequately filled with meat and nicely juicy.

Round 2: We came back the next day for dinner again as No. 1 and No. 2 wanted to try the food too.

This time, I tried the Nasi Dagang (RM9.50), a Terengganu specialty, with mackerel fish curry and pickles. A very straightforward dish, everything hinges on the curry. I must say I was pleasantly surprised that the curry was pretty authentic, with a certain brightness brought on by a mellow sweetness.

The Signature Pan Mee (8.30) was ordinary though the noodle was slurp-worthy smooth, while the Nasi Lemak Rendang Chicken scored top marks for its creamy rendang chicken.

The Signature Lor Mai Kai was OK but predictable; the Yam Cake kinda weird as it smelt yeasty though Mr Manager said it was supposed to be like that, and the uncommon dessert on the menu was Double Skin Milk, which was kinda like yogurt or egg custard. Nice, but very filling as it’s a whole bowl of milk, after all. I’ve tried this in Hong Kong before but not here.

Generally, prices are more than reasonable, almost coffeeshop standards but you get a clean, comfortable air-cond environment, and food, for most part, above average. Guess this is gonna be one of my go-to haunts for the weekends!

Add: 25, Jalan SS 2/30, Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-766 0725