Foong Foong
Located on the far right of all the yong tau foo shops is Foong Foong, which always draws in the lunch crowd
Foong Foong Restaurant was our first stop, and they have the simplest menu: drinks and yong tau foo. You make your order at the counter, not your table, and it is put through to the kitchen by a microphone.
The restaurant is completely crowded during lunch (they don’t open for dinner) so everyone knows that you want sixteen sui kow (dumplings), but that’s okay. Be proud of your choices!
The rich colour of the broth belies its clear taste
We ordered a plate of chilli, ladies fingers, taufu, and brinjal yong tau foo, along with some deep-fried sui kow (RM1.10 each). The best thing we can say about Foong Foong’s yong tau foo is that it is very clean-tasting.
Original Hakka yong tau foo has salted fish hand-mixed into the meat paste, whereas these days the paste is manufactured by a supplier instead. Foong Foong’s meat paste has only a hint of salt in it, and the broth tasted clear despite its deep colour.
The taufu however, was a little too firm and unusually porous. The rest of the vegetables were fairly tasteless - but healthy nonetheless.
"Flavourful" is not what you'd expect when dining at Foong Foong
Orchard View
Our second yong tau foo stop was right next to Foong Foong: Restoran Orchard View. Their shop was just as packed but their menu had an extensive list of food items beyond just yong tau foo, with dishes such as white wine chicken, fish head beehoon, and Hakka roast pork.
Since there were so many other things we could order, we stuck to just taufu and brinjal yong tau foo (RM1.10 each). The broth here was much thicker (read starchier) but the yong tau foo were very good. Their taufu had a much better consistency than Foong Foong’s, and their brinjal slices were cooked thoroughly.
Brinjal yong tau foo that could slide down easily
The star of the show was actually the sambal fish (RM12). Stuffed with sambal then fried to a slightly blackened crisp, the fish is then slathered with even more sambal for a full effect.
The fish was cooked very nicely, the flesh easy to pick from the bones, and the sambal sweet and tasty. We recommend eating this with a bowl of steamed white rice to dampen the spiciness.
Oh so spicy, so good!
Another great dish from Orchard View was their paper bag chicken (RM3.50 each). Though this dish usually comes with a whole chicken, at Orchard View they serve them in either drumstick or breast portions.
The chicken is wrapped in a paper bag with slices of ginger, herbs, and a thick sauce mix, then baked to infuse all the ingredients into the flesh. We couldn’t get enough of the sauce and even scooped it out of the bags to eat with our rice!
This ginger soy chicken was to die for
Home Town Yong Tau Foo
Our last stop was Home Town Yong Tau Foo, located just around the corner from Ampang Point. This one was halal, and very popular with the Malay crowd (though we believe yong tau foo is universal and encompasses all things and peoples).
Home Town serves their yong tau foo in a very large bowl of broth - we ordered the brinjal, taufu pok, and steamed taufu (RM1.20 each). The taufu here was the best out of all the restaurants, soft and slippery, with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency. The fish paste, however, still loses out to Orchard View’s, being a little too salty.
This taufu wins the title, hands down!
One of Home Town’s exclusive foods is the you tiao or char kway stuffed yong tau foo (RM1 each). The char kway is fried twice, once alone and the second time with fish paste, becoming very crunchy in the process.
However, if you’re looking for that doughy breaded taste, you won’t find it here. The char kway only serves as a crispy covering for the meat inside, but it still remains a must-try for its unusual fusion with yong tau foo.
Crunchy you tiao yong tau foo! A must-try at Home Town
