‘Summer’ is here in Malaysia, and you will be amazed how I can craved for Thai food, while sweats dripped down my temples. Hence all hail Yee Wen Thai! Cause we got more Thai for ringgits here – Thai chefs, Thai helpers, Thai diners, and an owner who speaks Thai like a native.
The dark and dingy Yee Wen Thai restaurant is stowed in a tattered industrial area of Kepong. At one point, we thought we should turn back, as GPS took us cutting through narrow lanes I never knew existed in KL.
We reached anyway, but 20 minutes later than we intended. If you’re ever there, and there are no seats left, walk straight to the owner (man with papers and pen). He will take your order and assign a seat to you once available. We made the mistake by standing-silly while eyeing out for seat by ourselves.
We got a seat at the corner, and by corner, it comes with the downside of being easily neglected in this busking restaurant. Service was not intentionally bad. It’s just that, the owner was the only frontline soldier, while the rest of the crew can only speak Thais and prefer to work in the kitchen. Our food arrived in different timings and we had to remind them for our plain rice.
Lala Steamed with Chili and Lime could have been our favourite for the day. The aroma from the lime was strong and great. I typed ‘could have been’ because the dish arrived cold. I guess, the little candle below the dish was supposed to heat it up, but it flamed out soon after reaching our table. Even with the flame, I doubt it will be enough. I miss the aplenty-charcoal served at Khuntai Restaurant.
Fried Squid in Batter was surprisingly good, albeit it’s not really a Thai specialty. I suspect that special spices were added in, making the crispy batter very delectable, with or without the squids. The squid were just the right toothsome firmness, and we cleaned them up to their last tentacles.
Tom Yum Kung was the miss of the day. Contrary to what I read online, it wasn’t really packed with seafood. There were only tilapia fish slices (which tasted muddy), squids and a few prawns, not something I would label as ‘fresh’. The soup was lacklustre, not spicy nor tangy enough.
Thai Style Otak-Otak was like a liquid form of fish cake with the additional of coconut milk, the very opposite of Malaysian styled solid form. This is a dish that no one should leave Yee Wen Thai without trying it. The generous amount of seafood (mostly squids) simmered in creamy curry paste, was bursting with flavour. We had finished our rice by the time this arrived, but still ordered extra rice to go down with it. It’s just that tasty. It made the full stomachs grew hungry.
Our total bill was RM105, inclusive of drinks.
Yee Wen Thai Food
Jalan Helang Merah, Kepong, 52100 Kuala Lumpur.
Phone: +60 16 – 2728223
GPS: 3.194400, 101.641891
