Our next makan trip had me searching in circles for Restaurant Brother Yat! Food hunting can be quite fun… hehehe. We were recommended by another foodie that there are a few special dishes we should check out at Brother Yap who has been around for more than five years.
I like the name of the restaurant. It reminds me of some mafia movie with a name like ‘Yat Kor’ in Cantonese. I finally located the restaurant in an obscured industrial area in USJ near the infamous Giant hypermarket.
The restaurant ambience fits the name with its rustic and no frill décor. Minimal décor but brightly lighted with spacious basic table settings with red cloth, Brother Yat also has some live seafood tank at one corner on the restaurant. The place is airy despite it being al fresco as there are plenty of fans and the high ceiling helps.
Brother Yat caters towards the industrial factory crowd during the daytime, hence one may not know of its existence unless you are told or recommended by someone or you work close by! Don’t let the exterior fool you as Brother Yat serve up a few unique dishes that is worth checking out.
Our makan gang arrived and we were busily chatting when suddenly a metal pot appeared. The server brought out a big basket of live prawns and lucky for me, I managed to snap some actions on this dish! Our dishes were pre-ordered so we were all so excited about what was to come… J
Sauna Prawns (RM80 per kg) was what we came for! Holy smoke… talk about smoking hot, the live action of this dish took only a few minutes and some of us could not even catch it with our cameras. Live Tiger Prawns was made to consume Xiao Shing Wine to drunk them before cooking it by sauna style. At least the poor prawns enjoyed wine before dying for a cause… (hahaha, I am so bad… ignore me!)
Catch the action from clockwise right. The steel pot arrived and the waiter quickly dumps the prawns into the pot. He then proceeds to pour a glass of white beer into the pot. That is when the smoking action starts! Wait a few minutes and suddenly we caught a glimpse of the red crustaceans. The lid was lifted and we all were gawking with oos and ahs from the aroma of the beer…
Isn’t this a glorious sight? The crustaceans look almost surreal with its bright red color and check out the hot stones beneath it. We were told that these are river stones heated to high temperature so that it only takes a few minutes to steam cook the live prawns simulating the sauna ambience!
The prawns were really sweet from its natural flavors of the crustacean. I didn’t need any sauce although they provided some as I enjoyed the natural taste of the juicy prawns on its own with a light hint of beer. Nothing beats freshness anyway…
Claypot Sea Garoupa or ‘Sang Poh Hoi Pan Yue’ (RM8 per 100 gm) arrives in an old fashioned claypot. As soon as the lid was lifted, a fragrant soy sauce aroma lifted across the table. The fish pieces were accompanied by loads of garlic, ginger, and scallions all simmering in supreme soy sauce. This dish is quite ordinary for me but I love the sauce as I keep flooding my rice with this gravy.
To porcine lovers, the next dish of German Pork Knuckle with Mongolian Sauce (RM45) is a must-try! What’s not to like? Super crispy pork knuckle well marbled with its natural fats was irresistible with the peppery Mongolian sauce. The dark meat was delicious enough to eat on its own but the sauce really makes this dish more unique. The sauce shares a similarity to American BBQ sauce but was fusion with more Asian flavors to cater to our local taste buds. Needless to say, we chomped on this till it was super clean!
The pork knuckle was accompanied by this Pickled Vegetables to offset the fats and I was glad the owner thought of this. It was nice to cleanse our palate with this pickled vegetable.
Check out the young owner happily hacking the pork knuckle with scissors. Such glee can only be seen in passionate people who are serious about their enjoyment… hehehe!
I have to rave about this next dish of Smoked Village Chicken with Tea (RM26 half, RM52 whole). We were presented with the lovely evenly tan chook sitting nicely on the platter. The chicken was first steamed and then followed by smoking session for its golden tan and to flavor it. It looks quite normal but wait till you taste it!
The chicken was returned to the kitchen to be chopped up into bite size pieces and came back looking gorgeously divine in its colorful presentation. The aroma of smokiness with ‘Pu Er’ tea in the chicken is what makes me ramble enthusiastically about this dish! The chook has a deep flavor and coupled in its own essence elevated the dish to another level. As it was village chicken, the texture was firm and I could taste the chicken flavors in the meat itself. I ate so many pieces of this bird that night!
If you had read my other post, you would know I am not really a frog fan. Maybe it’s the slimy and ugliness thoughts at the amphibian itself that really puts me off. I would try it but only a small piece. Bamboo Steamed Frog or ‘Lung Chai Tin Kai’ (RM40 per kg) was presented in a bamboo basket lined with foil. The pieces of frog were steamed with dried lily flowers, ginger and black wood ear fungus with hint of wine. Not too bad as the flavors was sufficient and the frog meat was sweet and fresh.
Kai Lan in Two Styles or ‘Seong Xi Kai Lan’ (RM13 small) was beautifully executed. I had this before in a few places and although it’s quite a normal dish, it does take quite a skill to execute this flawlessly. The stems of the vegetable were lightly blanched and stir fried quickly to retain the crunch while the leaves were shredded finely and deep fried till crispy. This was round off with a crown of crispy chicken floss to intensify the flavors of the crispy leaves. Nicely done…
Braised Pork Belly with Peanut or ‘Poh Chai Heong Yuk’ (RM26) looked ravishing! The layers of the pork belly was braised for hours with peanuts and had a lovely balance of salty and sweetness in the gravy. It doesn’t have the melt-in-the-mouth texture but it is still tender and delicious with rice. I love the peanuts and kept searching for it…hahaha! More peanuts please…
Look at the layers of the sinful pork… how to resist? The lovely thick sauce glazing the pork had me drooling while writing this post.
Can you figure out what this is? I was told it’s called ‘Suet Lin Guo’ and belongs to the root vegetable family. It shares the look of a yam or sweet potato but taste and textures are really the opposite of them both. Let me know if you know the english name for this vegetable.
‘Suet Lin Guo’ (RM 12 small) is stir fried with a medley of carrots, snow peas, corn and almond flakes. The texture had me at surprise as it tasted like across between a jicama or sengkuang and celery. It has a lending sweetness against its almost crunchy texture which I quite like. This is certainly a first for me and I don’t mind ordering this again.
Our last dish was Crispy Homemade Bean Curd or ‘Chui Hau Tau Fu’ (RM10 small). Golden nuggets of breaded bean curd were crispy and addictive with the mayo sauce. I detected salted egg and century egg in the mixture of fish and prawn paste with water chestnut to lend it a natural sweetness. Anything with salted egg taste heavenly in my opinion! Kids will devour this for sure…
Restaurant Brother Yat was a pleasant discovery for me. I love their unique dishes and they do play around with all the senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell! For a simple hidden restaurant like this, I have to give the young owner a great deal of credit for being so creative in his dishes and presentation! Portions are a good size and the quality is great. Price is also fair for simple dishes and freshness is truly detected here.
I have read about this place before and other bloggers seem to fare it for consistency as well. I will be back for more…
Restaurant Brother Yat
Lot B1-765, Jalan Subang 4, Taman Industri Sungai Penaga,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 012-684 6276 (Lenard Lee)
GPS Coordinates: N3 02.812 E101 35.807
Business Hours:
Lunch 11am to 3pm
Dinner 5.30pm to 10.30pm
Closed on every 1st Thursday of the month
*Please call for reservations for some dishes.
I love the chicken too, very flavorful~
ReplyDeleteGlorious food!
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Sauna Live Tiger Prawns, need to call and early booking, I went with my parents last weekend, but we miss it Sauna Live Tiger Prawns. Other Foods are nice too. Go check it out!
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