Entree Kibbles: Old School Dim Sum (传统点心) @ Restoran Yook Woon Hin 玉壶轩茶楼 [Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia]

When i was actively searching online for authentic dim sum around my hotel in Kuala Lumpur, i came upon numerous articles mentioning an old school dim sum restaurant located in Petaling Street.

There's something about old school that i could hardly resist - the likely recollection of memorable childhood memories that could momentarily bring me back to the olden days.

Restoran Yook Woon Hin was indeed not your typical yum cha restaurant at first glance as i would classify it as more towards a coffee shop setting with minimal decor than a fancy, air-conditioned restaurant

Nonetheless, the traditional push cart service was still in operation and manned by an elderly staff who has to cover the whole shop singularly! For assurance to get the first pick, please sit near the entrance where the dim sums were steamed.

We were not ambitious in getting more food (at least not with Alex around) and ordered our usual of siew mai, har gau (steamed prawn dumplings) and chee cheong fun. Most were served in tiny stainless steel plates instead of the more common bamboo steamers.

These were supposedly siu mai and although i was expecting a revelation, i received none. They lacked the robust juicy flavour that was almost a norm in Singapore. Disappointingly, it was the same issue with the thick-skinned har gau.

The Lo Mai Kai (glutinous rice with chicken) tasted pretty good with a balanced play of both sweetness and saltiness. Amazingly (note the sarcasm), i was thinking towards the line of rice dumplings (instead of lo mai kai) as i dug in.

For a chee cheong fun lover, Alex stopped after having his first bite since he was more accustomed to the slightly sweeter sauce whereas in my honest opinion, i totally enjoyed the uniqueness of the savoury sauce which came with fish cake, beancurd skin and mushrooms.

In terms of texture, the chee cheong fun won many for its softness and delightful slurpiness!

A mish mash of beancurd puff, brinjal and fishcake made up this dish known as fried beancurd (please don't ask me why as i seriously have no answer). The same sauce for chee cheong fun drenched the items and provided the taste that would otherwise be really dismal.

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I wasn't impressed (except for the chee cheong fun) as you can guess from my review but i am not ready to throw in the towel yet. With over 50 dim sum dishes on the menu, what i had was at most 10 percent and there MUST be a few that continue to draw customers back to the shop.

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