YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
YONG TAU FOO @ BIG TREES
Pasir Pinji, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia - May 2014
I had always thought that good Yong Tau Foo of this style was restricted to the Klang Valley. But I was wrong. And I stand corrected when Seng Yeap, a friend from Ipoh, took us to this place to savour the Ipoh version. It was a day after we rode at the Ipoh City Nite Ride 2014 event.
For those unfamiliar with Yong Tau Foo, it is an assortment of vegetable, tofu, etc. filled with fish paste. Of course the most important ingredient is the fish paste, with the good one having adequate fish inside to give that fishy flavour. The springiness is also important - not to hard for it to be difficult to bite into, OR too soft that it becomes jelly-like.
This Yong Tau Foo stall is located at the food court called "Tai Shi Tau" (meaning Big Trees) in Pasir Pinji. The food court lies under shady big trees, hence the name.
Seems like people like to eat under big shady trees for there is another place in Kuala Lumpur with the same "Tai Shi Tau" name (.... see blog).
The stalls is well patronized by the locals. Often there is a queue of people lining up, but there is no worries of a long wait, the queue is short as service is fast.
They have a large range of Yong Tau Foo, some items like the Teochew Rice-Soy Bean Roll that are not found in the Kuala Lumpur stalls.
Among those available are these:
Bitter Gourd, which uses the larger variety of bitter gourd that is not extremely bitter.
Eggplant (Brinjals). This is one of my favourites; the soft and underlying sweetness of the eggplant blends well with the biteyness and fishy flavour
Green Chilli. For those who want some spicy oomph! The green chillies are not as hot as the red ones, which they don't serve here.
Okra (Ladies' Fingers). This is a difficult one as the okra has to be selected well - over-matured okra is certainly too fibrously tough.
Medium-soft tofu. This is okay but I am more in favour of the soft white tofu; again that one not sold here.
Deep Fried Tofu Skin (this one does not have any fish paste). These are about 3"x3" square deep fried to crispiness. Another of my favourite; their crispy crunchiness goes well with the slight bitterness of the deep frying and yet it has some underlying soy sweetness.
Deep Fried Fish Paste Wrapped In Thick Tofu Skin. In contrast to just the plain tofu skin, this has a thin layer of fish paste inside. The thick tofu skin blisters when it is deep fried making it crispy and also crunchy.
Lightly Fried Fish Paste Single-wrapped In Tofu Skin. Compared to the above this one has more fish paste, i.e. it is a thick roll of fish paste wrapped in a single layer of tofu skin. Lightly deep fried such that the skin is not crispy, it is normally taken with soup.
Tau Pok (Spongy Tofu). Tau Pok is a a type of tofu that has been lightly deep fried such that it is spongy on the inside. For this the tau pok is cut in half and filled with fish paste. It is then deep fried which causes the tiny sponge cells to be very crispy.
Deep Fried Teochew Rice-Soy Bean Roll. This is a traditional Teochew dish, not normally sold at Yong Tau Foo stalls. It is a mix of boiled rice and soy bean is rolled and wrapped in a layer of tofu skin and then deep fried.
Deep Fried Wantan. Instead of minced pork or prawns, the wantans sold at Yong Tau Foo stalls are filled with fish paste before being deep fried.
Fish Balls, something that every Yong Tau Foo stall will have. The difference here is that they are not stingy on the amount of fish used in making the fish paste. The fish balls here have that definite fishy taste.
Here's a quick look at some of the items before they are deep fried:
Wantans.
Lengths of Teochew Rice-Soy Bean Roll before they are cut into 1/2-inch slices and deep fried.
Fish Paste Wrapped In Thick Tofu Skin.
Hard Boiled Egg White Filled With Fish Paste.
Business is brisk and the items sell off fast. Motor tricycles makes delivery often to top up the food.
Our meal!
As can be seen, the deep fried items are served separately. Others are served with soup.
To make a fuller meal one can order some noodles soup - in this case a friend ordered Loh See Fun.
Other than the Yong Tau Foo, there other many other stalls selling other Ipoh delicacies - we had this Pak Cham Kai (boiled chicken) ...
... together with Ipoh's famous short and stubby Nga Choy (bean sprouts).
This stall sells Deep Fried Durians and other such dessert delicacies.
A close-up look of the Deep Fried Durians.
TAI SHEE TAU YONG TAU FOO @ BIG TREES
652, Jalan King, Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Tel.: 012-524 5408 (Mr. Ricco)
GPS: 4.579700, 101.085226
Opening Hours: 8:30 am to 5:30 pm
Closed on Wedensdays (except public holidays)
View Yong Tau Foo @ Big Trees, Pasir Pinji, Ipoh in a larger map
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