[Penang, Malaysia] Hainanese lunch at Yeng Keng Cafe

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Hainanese lunch at Yeng Keng Cafe today. The old, long-serving Hainan-born Executive Chef Tan Jee Yong has retired last year, and Yeng Keng Hotel now sub-contracts the running of the restaurant to Bok Jee Seem’s Hainan Town of Weld Quay.

Yeng Keng Hotel’s main building was built in the 1850s, and has functioned as a hotel/lodging house since the early 1900s. It came under the auspices of the trustees of the Straits Chinese British Association (SCBA) in 1939.

Lunch today:

1. The Hainanese chicken pie turned out to be the best I’d tasted in town. It’s very tasty on its own, but came with very piquant home-brewed Worcestershire sauce which further improved the flavours tremendously. The filling was akin to Hainanese chicken stew, with chicken meat, peas, carrots, onions, mushroom and a wedge of hard-boiled egg.
   
   

2. The choon phneah, unfortunatly, was not authentically done, with the use of smooth-skinned popiah skin wrapper. Filling is okay: finely-diced jicama, carrot, chicken, shallots, parsley and a little crab-meat. It’s served with the excellent Worcestershire sauce dip, which also incorporated cut red chilis and finely-chopped raw shallots.
   
   

3. Inche Kabin - the classic Penang-Nyonya fried chicken dish. The chicken pieces are usually marinated overnight in coconut milk, pounded shallots, cumin, coriander, fennel, cloves and cinnamon. The chicken pieces are usually twice-cooked to obtain its signature crisp crust, and served with a Worcestershire sauce dip.
   
   

4. Hainanese chicken chop - the kitchen delivered a standard rendition, with all the requisite touches - light-brown, fairly-liquid gravy, crisp-fried chicken, potato wedges, peas. Didn’t have the aromatic smell/taste of cinnamon & cloves which we expected. It’s okay, though I won’t come back specifically for this again.
   

   

5. Hainanese fried noodles - another average rendition. Loved the fresh shrimps in there. Didn’t have the depth of flavours we found in Nam Kie on Kimberley Street.
   

   

We finished off our meal with some traditional Hainanese coffee, lightly sweetened and aromatic.

It wasn’t a perfect meal as we’d hoped for, but the new kitchen team still acquitted themselves pretty well, though we weren’t sure if the chefs are Hainanese.

Address
Yeng Keng Cafe-Bar-Restaurant
362 & 366 Chulia Street, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604 2633177
Opening hours: 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-10pm daily

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Back to 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻 @ 𝗬𝗲𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝘆𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 for dinner last evening.

The restaurant is presently run by Hainanese restaurateur, Bok Jee Seem. Back in the post-war years, Bok Jee Seem’s father, Bok Pin Kee, was one of the chefs in Penang’s legendary Loke Thye Kee, the iconic dining landmark owned by the Loy brothers, Kok Boon & Kok Dai, which dated back to 1919. Bok Jee Seem’s grandfather had also owned a traditional Hainanese coffeeshop on Prangin Road.

Today, Bok Jee Seem and his wife, April Yeoh, run Yeng Keng, offering traditional Penang-Nyonya and Hainanese dishes.

Many of the dishes here were conceptualised by the founding chef, the late Tan Jee Yong (former head chef of Penang Club for 25 years) who ran the kitchen of Yeng Keng when the hotel first opened in June 2010 till 2020, when Yeng Keng owner, Tan Sri Dato’ Ong Gim Huat, decided to sub-lease the restaurant to Bok Jee Seem’s Hainan Town.

Some of Tan Jee Yong’s iconic dishes are still maintained, i.e. the family-sized 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘦 and 𝘉𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘢.

Some of what we had this time:
𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘦 - a classic Hainanese adaptation of British chicken pie, but with a more flavoursome taste profile. Boneless chicken meat, mushrooms, carrots, onions all smothered in a classic Hainanese brown sauce, all encased in puff pastry. Served with very good Worcestershire sauce. A large pie is enough to serve 10. Absolutely luscious. Requires advance order. Don’t miss this.

𝘒𝘶𝘦𝘩 𝘱𝘪𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦 - beautifully presented in a decorative serving dish.

𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘩 - delicious, even though spring roll skin, instead of the authentic crepe-like egg skin is used.

Inche kabin - deep-fried bone-in chicken pieces marinated in spices and coconut milk. Topped with prawn crackers and served with Worcestershire sauce- cut red chilis dip.

𝘏𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘱 - one of the best in town - batter-fried chicken, potato wedges, peas, onions and carrots - again, smothered with a very good Hainanese brown sauce.

𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘕𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘺𝘢 𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘬-𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘬 - very authentic rendition, and an absolute must-order.

Stir-fried mixed vegetables

Fried “bee hoon” (rice vermicelli)

Desserts
𝘉𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘢 - a retro classic, recreated to perfection here. It’s flambéed tableside.

Overall, a 5-star dining experience in a lovely space.

The Anglo-Indian mansion housing Yeng Keng boutique hotel was originally the private residence of local Indian-Muslim merchant, Shaik Eusoffe bin Shaik Latiff. The building was sold to the trustees of Yin Han Pin Shu, a Cantonese guild, in 1897, and subsequently bequeathed to the Straits Chinese British Association in 1939.

[ZivBnd (Ziv)]

Both trips looked delicious! I think the Hainan Chicken Pie looks outstanding but I have to admit that the only so so Hainanese Fried Noodles from your first visit looked great, pity that they were not as good as they looked.
When I saw the name Kueh Pie Tee my mind translated that into Kutie Pie which was a affectionate diminutive oldsters used for little girls when I was growing up. But the dish itself and the dish it was served in looked outstanding.
The Nyonya Otak Otak looked like something that was authentically something grandmother would make.
The Bee Hoon looked rich and delicious, as well.
Great meals in a beautiful setting. It sounds like the more recent visit really worked well.

[BierMonk]

@klyeoh

Inche kabin

That really looks like “Chicken 65” from Chennai. Do you know when this dish first appeared in Nyonya Cuisine? I imagine that it predated the Chennai Dish.

Also that Otak-Otak looks great!

When I was looking for the emergence of Inche Kabin I ran across and Article in Micheline by, guess who? You

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@BierMonk

Do you know when this dish first appeared in Nyonya Cuisine? I imagine that it predated the Chennai Dish.

I do believe the two dishes evolved independently - essentially spice-marinated chicken pieces which are then deep-fried.

Chicken 65 has a slightly murky past - the Times of India attributes its origins to Hotel Buhari in Chennai, and dates the dish back to 1965 - a relatively recent introduction by Chennai (Tamil Nadu) to the already-rich Indian food universe. The creator was A.M. Buhari, then-Sheriff of Madras, now called Chennai. The restaurant also has other variants on its menu, Chicken 78 and Chicken 82, both named respectively after the years they were created.

Straits-born Chinese or Nyonya cuisine’s inche kabin dates back much further - it was my father’s fave snack when he was a boy, and he is now 91! Inche kabin’s creation is attributed to the Hainanese, who dominated professional culinary industry of British Malaya at the turn of the 20th-century.

The two dishes have rather different flavour profiles, though - inche kabin is much more subtly-spiced, with cumin, coriander, fennel, clove, cinnamon and turmeric in its marinade, plus thick coconut milk for added richness.

Chicken 65 is spicier, and dominant spices are garam masala, whilst the rest of its marinade includes typical Tamil aromatics: ginger, curry leaves, turmeric, and chili powder, with yoghurt (in place of coconut milk).