Since 1928, Yut Kee has been serving local-style brew and traditional Hainanese fare and over the years, it has remained one of the most popular coffee shops in KL. Its charming nostalgic setting – with old school dark wooden chairs, round marble tables, old portraits and hand-written menu hanging on the wall – takes you back to days of yore.
Hainanese cuisine is well known for its great culinary delicacies, and the Hainanese are especially known for whipping up Westernised Malaysian dishes during the pre-war era. The founder of Yut Kee was one of those great Hainanese cooks. This restaurant was passed down to Jack Lee, and eventually his son, Mervyn took over. I like how Mervyn implemented a first-come-first-served seating arrangement at Yut Kee. It makes the waiting time bearable, even during weekends and weekday lunch hours.
As a Hainanese himself, KampungBoy is a big fan of Yut Kee’s Hainanese pork chop (RM10). “It sends me right back to my childhood, as my mum used to make this when I was young”, he said.
The pork fillets are served alongside some sautéed onions, peas and potato wedges. The breading makes them juicy on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside. The Worcestershire-based gravy has the right consistency, colour and balance of flavours, and goes really well with the pork fillets and potato wedges.
We also love Yut Kee’s belacan fried rice (RM6.50) – it is light, fluffy and simply delicious with its wonderful aroma of sambal belacan. Beware of the spicy after-taste! It is a tad too hot and fiery for me but I still can’t stop ordering it because it is wonderfully addictive!
While the Hainanese are credited with making some of the best kopi (coffee), we do not like Yut Kee’s version. We always go for the barley with lime (RM2), which is lightly sweet and very refreshing.
he French toast with kaya (RM3.50) makes a great sweet ending at Yut Kee. We think it is a twice-cooked French toast – deep-frying the egg-coated toast twice, allowing the outside to be crispy and brown, and the inside to be soft. It makes a great combination with Yut Kee’s homemade kaya.
The roasted pork roll (two slices in each serving, RM14) is only available during the weekends – Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am onwards. The pork rolls stuffed with pistachios and peach is amazing. It is the ultimate pork roast, with its crowning glory of perfectly cooked, crisp, golden crackling. Yut Kee’s homemade apple sauce adds a refreshing, acidic element to balance the richness of the roasted pork. We also like the mee hailam and fried tang hoon here.
Do not leave Yut Kee without trying their delicious marble butter cake and kaya Swiss roll.
We like how Yut Kee retains the charm of an old Malaysian coffee shop though admittedly, food standards have dropped a little over the years due to the crowds. Hopefully, Yut Kee will carry on as it is, a step back in time and a special place preserved for our future generations
Yut Kee
Address: 35 Jalan Dang Wangi,50100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2698 8108
Opening hours: 8am – 5 pm daily, closed on Mondays
GPS Coordinates: N3 09.373, E101 42.011 | Non-halal
Not tried their belacan fried rice. Certainly in my list for a must try before the next major run.
Came here once. Kinda miss the food here.
But many complained saying the food quality has dropped. T_T