Bentong ~ Pahang
Food Trails ~ Food Tripping
Taking a short break from our busy and hectic life back in Klang Valley, my family and I decided to go on our favourites food tripping again. This time, our latest "Makan Adventures" of Hong's family food trails have brought us to Bentong, Sungai Lembing and all the way up to east Malaysia to beautiful capital of the state of Pahang, Kuantan.
Frontage Of Yuen Kee Kopitiam
(The Shop Without A Signboard)
Our first stopover is in Bentong town for breakfast. My food trail has brought me to this typical corner coffee shop called Yuen Kee Kopitiam for its most talked about famous Bentong's Hooi Kee Wan Tan Mee and Yong Tau Foo stall, located right next to the wan tan noodles stall. It's just a walking distance from the Bentong's morning market and easy to spot as the corner shop without a signboard.
Be prepared to wait for seats especially on public holidays and weekends as it's crowded when we reached there for breakfast at around 8am.
Crowded & Busy Yuen Kee Kopitiam
Business is brisk on this Sunday morning and we have to stand and wait for seats as the Kopitiam is particularly crowded on this day. Tummies were growlings as we left Kuala Lumpur without any breakfast, in anticipating for some real delicious and much-recommended eats at Yuen Kee Kopitiam.
I can't help but noticed that the chief cook blanched the wan tan noodles in
big batches rather than the traditional way of cooking the wan tan mee one serving per person/per bowl. Anyway, his helpers were quick and fast to add and mixed in the sauces and seasoning before serving.
Wan Tan Dumplings
We ordered 4 bowls of dry wan tan mee seeing that most of the patrons opted for the dry version instead of the soup noodles. You can have a choice of wan tan dumplings in soup or the deep-fried ones. My hubby chooses to have the wan tan dumplings in the soup as it's more original and authentic.
As the saying goes 'Many Hands Make Light Work', we were served our noodles in less than 15 minutes. Frankly speaking, I doubt the taste and quality to be good as these noodles are cooked in large quantities. Seriously looking at the chaotic and messy way the wan tan mee are cooked and prepared, I regretted my decision of ordering 4 bowls in the first case.
The wan tan mee are sold at RM 4.50 for small serving while medium serving goes for RM 5 and the big-serving is priced at RM 6.
Bentong's Hooi Kee Wan Tan Mee
RM 4.50 (Small)
The wan tan mee comes heavily coated in the dark soya sauce, topped with thin slices of 'Char siu' (BBQ pork) and scallions only, and this makes me wonder where's the choy sum (vegetables) usually served with wan tan mee???
The egg noodles were pretty springy, up to my mark but it fails miserably both in taste and flavour. My son said "Mom, why is there a funny bitter taste in the wan tan mee unlike the ones we used to have in Kuala Lumpur?" Leaving much to be desired, it was a bad tasting experience for me. Big mistake having to stomach these lousy 4 bowls of noodles.
Totally Drenched In Dark Soy Sauce
The wan tan mee was wet with an overdose in the dark soy sauce, lacks the aromatic smell of sesame, garlic and shallots oil. Let me explain, regardless of the preferred toppings, a good plate of wan tan noodle is usually defined by the quality of the egg noodles used and the sauce that gives the primary flavoring to this heavenly plate of noodle.
Good-tasting wan tan noodles usually have oyster sauce or pork dripping from the BBQ pork (CharSiu sauce) to heighten the taste, in which I think clearly lacking the noodles served here.
Leftover Sauce Of The Wet Wan Tan Mee
Thumbs down to the highly over-rated
Bentong's Hooi Kee Wan Tan Mee. We are both
disappointed and sad after all the hyped and waiting to taste this so-called 'famous' wan tan mee in Bentong. I'm pretty sure any other stalls back in your favourite eating places can 'fight' this dish.
In fact, we shared a table with a couple from Kuantan who had their first taste of the noodles which didn't approve of the noodles too. They said it's tasteless and bland plus too wet, drenched in the dark soya sauce!
Yong Tau Foo Stall
Moving on, we checked out the next door stall and it seems to be having a brisk business too. They specialised in selling Yong Tau Foo such as fish paste and minced pork stuffed in vegetables such as bitter gourd, brinjal, bean curd sheet, fish balls, tofu, Chee Cheong Fun ( flat rice noodles)and much more.
Mixed Varieties Of Yong Tau Foo
Curry Chicken
Noodles, Fried Omelettes & Sauces
Apart from the Yong Tau Foo selections, you can choose to eat the 'King Cai Mi Fun' aka the plain fried noodles with the rest of the dishes. They have plain fried mee hoon, mee, omelettes and even some curry chicken to go with your noodles.
Our Order For The Day
Hubby opted for the Yong Tau Foo instead as the rest of the dishes doesn't look too appetising. Instead, we had stuffed tofu pok, brinjal, foo chok rolls, bitter gourd and Chee Cheong Fun just to check out their food.
Stuffed Tau Fu Pok
RM 1.20 per pc
My verdict for the Yong Tau Foo stall is good, not fantastic but it's really decent food to try out if you are a great fan of YTF. They used a mixed paste of fish and minced pork with chopped scallion added in. Something different and tastier than those stuffed with only fish paste. Must try is their smooth and soft tau fo pok and I find it pretty tasty when served with soup.
Stuffed Brinjal, Foo chok Rolls & Bitter gourd
RM 1.20 per pc
Chee Cheong Fun
RM 1.20 per pc
Good Choice For Foo Chok Roll
Next, we took a short drive cum tour around this quaint Bentong town. Carmen, my eldest daughter wanted to try the famous home-made ice cream here. It reminds her of her schooling days when she was with BRATs, the young journalist programme at The Star, travelling on the excursion to visit and learn about the people and places she visited.
Bentong Kow Po Ice Cream
We were lucky as the shop was just preparing to open for business at around 10am when we arrived there. The owner, Uncle Kow Po in his eighties now, is a warm and friendly man shares with us his story on how he started his shop many years ago.
Thumbs To Uncle Kow & his tasty home-made ice cream
Kow Po Ice Cream Parlour have been in business for more than 4 decades, 42 years to be exact according to Uncle Kow Po. Uncle Kow's dad is in the ice cream business selling his ice cream when he was young. When he grew older, he joined his dad to work in the ice cream factory too. He picks up the trade, learned the skills from his dad and there from on, the rest is history. Now, he runs his business with help from his son and daughter-in-law.
Peanut Flavour
Uncle Kow prides himself in only serving the best of his homemade ice cream for so many years and garners lots of attention becoming one of the famous attractions in Bentong itself. There are more than 10 flavours to choose from here such as strawberry, pandan, vanilla, chocolate, durian, peanuts, coffee, coconut, banana and much more.
Vanilla Flavour
He also serves a wide variety of floats, ABC ice-kacang with 10 different sets of ice cream here for you to indulge in. The secret to his tasty homemade ice cream is that he uses fresh ingredients especially milk which must be fresh.
Best Seller ~ Chocolate
My family's favourite is their Chocolate ice cream. It's pure, creamy and rich in taste.
Clean & Simple with No-Frills Decor
Take Your Pick From Kow Po's Menu
More Ice Cream Combinations
Freshly Homemade Ice Cream
As we are running short of time, we didn't try the rest of their offerings as we're rushing off to our next destination in Kuantan. If you are in Bentong, do come and try their delicious homemade ice cream.
Overall, it was a nice and short stopover for my family and me on our 'Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan' expedition for a simple local taste breakfast in Bentong. Wished we have more time to explore much more cuisines available in this Bentong town, to eat where the local eat and check the hidden haunts to discover more.
My recommendation is to try Uncle Kow Po's homemade ice cream, have a chat with this sweet Uncle as he brings you down memory lane and shares his nostalgic stories with you. Oh yes, there's also a nasi lemak stall right in front of his shop, and that you can try if you like.
For the Yuen Kee Kopitiam, I totally write off the wan tan noodles, save your money and eat elsewhere. Uncle Kow Po told me Hooi Kee Wan Tan Mee used to be a favourite among the local folks but the standard has dropped tremendously ever since they got famous with the tourists. Apart from that, the better choice is to try the Yong Tau Foo especially the stuffed tau foo pok, brinjal and bitter gourd. The chee cheong fan is so-so as the sauce is just average to my liking.
Happy Food Hunting in Bentong!
Yuen Kee Kopitiam
57, Jalan Chui Yin
28700 Bentong
Pahang.
Tel: 012-9468406
Business Hour:
Closed On Wednesday
Kedai Kopi Kow Po
No.2 Bentong Heights
28700 Bentong
Pahang
Tel: 09 222 1258 / 016 931 0391
Business hour: From 10 am to 6 pm
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