How to know if the food served at a particular eating place is popular with locals? Ask the locals, of course. But, at Restoran Yii Bao (顺利面粉粿) — used to be known as Restoran Yi Bao — along the “Newspaper Street” in Taman Maju Jaya (顺利花园) behind Plaza Pelangi, there is no need to ask, the crowds at the eating place during breakfast and lunch time said it all.
Restoran Yii Bao, established since 1998, is renowned for its authentic, old-taste mee hoon kueh. The restaurant was renovated recently and had upgraded all its facility, including its range of offerings.
Yii Bao serves traditional mee hoon kueh (or hand-pull noodle) as its main offering and various types of noodle, including limited-quantity spinach ban mian and thin noodle (菠菜板面 / 幼面). By default, all noodle dishes are soup-based but dry-tossed options are also available. Newly added to their menu are a variety of traditional toasts, soup-based tom yum flavour for the noodles, crispy prawn chilli ban mian (虾米辣椒板面), series of fried snacks, etc.
The traditional-taste Mee Hoon Kueh (清汤面粉粿) in clear and non-oily broth contains boiled egg, chunks of minced pork, lean pork, fried anchovies and sayur manis. The thin slices of smooth mee hoon kueh are well-cooked and easy to chew. The pig-bone broth has a nice, smooth flavour that makes the dish delightful. Of special mention, the lean pork is tender and minced pork is softer, giving different textures.
The dry-tossed, dark-sauce version of Yii Bao’s Dry Mee Hoon Kueh (干捞面粉粿) has roughly the same ingredients as the soup version with the addition of crispy fried pork lards that added fragrance and texture to the hand-pulled noodle. A separate bowl of savoury soup contains a poached egg. The dark-sauce mee hoon kueh is tasty with crispy textures from the anchovies and fried lards and tasted even richer after putting the poached egg on the noodle and tossing them.
The Dry Spinach Ban Mian (干捞菠菜板面) has the same ingredients as Dry Mee Hoon Kueh except that spinach ban mian is used. The healthier-choice, spinach-infused, greenish noodle has very subtle flavour of spinach and soft, slight chewy texture. As usual, mashing the poached egg with the noodle adds smoothness and richness to the dish.
Restoran Yii Bao’s mee hoon kueh and noodle dishes, be it soup / dry-tossed, are nice and affordable dishes to go for, especially for breakfast to start the day.
Address:
5, Jalan Maju, Taman Maju Jaya, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
8am to 5pm (Sat & Sun till 6pm) | Daily
How to Get There:
From JB Sentral, take BAS.MY J11 / J15 / J20 / J22 to Plaza Pelangi. Read: JB Bus: To Pelangi & Dai Mah Garden.
Nearby:
More @ Taman Pelangi:
Leave a Reply