Yut Kee in Kuala Lumpur

So in my earlier post about Sheraton Imperial KL hotel, I said I would write about Yut Kee, a gem that I stumbled upon while in search for lunch. According to some websites and the owner, this coffeeshop has been around for more than 80 years and was handed down through the generations. The signboard in the pic below is of the menu and prices of the items displayed prominently on one of the coffeeshop's wall, and below the menu are framed newspaper articles about the place.
Yut Kee caught my attention because of the small crowd of people standing outside the coffeeshop waiting for a seat at about 1.30pm that Sat afternoon. Curious, I joined in the crowd and was most pleased when the owner's son, the chap in blue on the extreme right of the pic below, called out to me and asked me how many pp I had in my party. Well, I told him that there was just me, and he alloted me a seat immediately at a table with 2 other couples. Thumbs up for a great first impression! Unlike some owners of other famous/popular eating places (eg this Bak Kut Teh place in KK called Yu Kee), Yut Kee's owners make an effort to take care of their customers' primary need - securing a seat/table at their popular coffeeshop based on a first come first serve/no of pp in the party system.

Now, I had no clue what to order and asked one of the servers for recommendations. He suggested having the slices of the roast pork roll with apple sauce which apparently is available only on certain days of the week. Below is a pic of the table where the pork roll was placed, sliced and either served on the green plates or packed for customers in the white styrofoam boxes.

This is how my meal of roast pork looked like. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. The skin of the pork roll was extremely crunchy (but not burnt at all) and contrasted nicely with the soft tender mix of meat and fats. The potatos were rather unremarkable and so was the veg. If one must try the pork roll, just order the pork roll slices on its own without the sides. I didnt like the apple sauce though which was rather too cold and sweet for my liking. That being said, I liked the roast pork enough to order a helping for takeaway for my CEB (who hadn't arrived in KL yet). My CEB who ate the roast pork about 2hrs later (which meant that it was cold), didn't rave about it so I guess this is one of those dishes which should be eaten at the restaurant instead of packed home.

The server also recommended to me, the Roti Babi dish which cost RM7.50. (The restaurant forgot my order so I had to remind them...or they probably thought a gal shouldn't be eating two main courses. Hah). This is how it looked like when served - very unimpressive.

But my oh my, the roti babi tasted freaking fantastic, even when eaten 2 hours later according to my CEB. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. I've never eaten a roti babi before but the incredible light soft fluffiness of the bread totally blew me away - from the moment I sliced in to when I put it in my mouth where it blended and melted away...totally heavenly! The stuffing which comprised of sliced sausages, minced crab meat etc was a delicious mix which proved neither too salty, or hard but was a perfect complement to the bread. Definitely a must-have!

I noticed many people had ordered this dish below which looks like fried noodles in dark sauce, including both couples at my table. The owner's son told me that the shop would be open for breakfast as early as 7.30am on Sun and I said I would drop by for breakfast to order this dish but unfortunately, because of Jogoya, my CEB vetoed the idea. I guess I will just have to wait for the next time I get to KL then :)

Here are the necessary details to help you get to Yut Kee

33, Jalan Dang Wangi
Tel: 03-2698 8108
Opens from 8am – 5pm daily
Closed on Mondays and last Sunday of each month

Sheraton Imperial KL Hotel

Following my last post abt how Tiger Airways and before I leave for my next weekend jaunt tomorrow, I thought I'll write a bit about KL. There are so many food places and hotels that I've been meaning to write about but never had the time/mood to. So the entries are all haphazard and not in chronologically order, which bugs me some but not enough for me to redo. :D

So, KL. I'd bought my plane ticket some months before when my CEB and I were just friends. I initially thought of not going to KL altogether or going alone but my CEB was all game to go up so we did. Because I was 1 stay away from being a gold SPG member, we decided to stay at 1 of the Starwood group of hotels in KL. It was a toss up between Sheraton Imperial and The Westin but in the end we chose Sheraton after reading some net reviews.

So, because of Tiger's cancellation of my flight, I reached KL on silkair b4 my CEB. From the airport, I followed the signboards that said "Coach/Buses" and got on one of those coaches heading to KL Sentral. Cost was RM10 compared to the cost of RM70 taking a taxi and the ride was pretty comfortable and not too long - about an hour without any traffic jams. (Not too sure why the buses/coaches bay is located some distance away at the corner of the basement level of the airport.

When I got to KL Sentral, I had no idea how to get to the KL Monorail so I took the lift up to the shopping centre level only to be told that I had to take the lift back down to the same level as the bus bay, cross the road and follow the sheltered walkway all the way to the KL Monorail Station which is about a 8min walk away and on the other side of the road. I am not sure why KL Monorail does not have any ticketing machines so I had to queue up at the counter to purchase a ticket to get to Medan Tuanku Station. The journey was rather short from KL Sentral - about 15mins max but of course, being a monorail, the no of seats was minimal. Below is a pic of Medan Tuanku Station which is just a very short 2 mins walk away from Sheraton Imperial KL Hotel.

The official check-in time was 3pm so when I reached the hotel at 12noon, the hotel staff told me that I could not check in yet. As my plan was to go to their award-winning (the award was won in 2006 hah) spa anyway after having lunch, I was fine with that. The entire row of restaurant cum pubs along the left side of the restaurant near the monorial station was closed for lunch so I ended up walking all the way to the end of the street and making a fortituous left turn to chance upon Yut Kee (which I shall write about in the next post).

After lunch, I tried my luck once more with the reception at Sheraton Imperial and was told that they had a room ready for me at 1pm! The counter staff told me, as I was taking the 2 room keys, that the room was on the 4th highest floor and I was wondering why he'd told me that until I got to the lift. I'd to use the room key to access the floor my room was at and next to the button was a little plague that said "Club Room". However, when I tried to access the club lounge, access was denied :P No club lounge benefits despite the complimentary upgrade.

Anyway, a pic of Sheraton's club room taken from the foyer area.

And another picture of the room taken from behind the couch.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Sheraton Imperial KL's club room certainly is generous in size as most club rooms would be, provides a seperate room (behind the pic on the wall) for hanging clothes and luggage bags (there is also a weighing scale and ironing board with an iron in the room), but what I really dig about this room is the bath tub which is considerably deep and large for two. Nothing remarkable about the toiletries provided except that there was a mouth wash and a body loofah. The only thing I didn't really like was that the size of the LCD TV, and I think this is the first hotel I've stayed where the marble floor was so cold I had to use the bedroom slippers, something which I never had to do. No alcohol provided in the fridge of course (this is a Muslim country mind!) but there was an ice bucket for us to chill the drinks we bought. Given its proximity to the monorial, unless one is a late night party-goer, Sheraton Imperial provides more than decent enough digs if one is in KL