You Kee XO Restaurant (有记XO烧腊之家) Opens 4th Outlet in KSL City

JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA – When people think of You Kee XO Restaurant (有记XO烧腊之家), they will remember the two giant urns placed prominently at the shopfront. No they are not used for bathing like what you see in those black and white movies. These huge urns are used to simmer their famous herbal soups. This is another gem in Johor Bahru every serious foodie should know. They already have 3 outlets in Johor Bahru. Good news is, You Kee XO Restaurant has just opened its 4th outlet in KSL City!

As a Chinese saying goes, “男人的加油站， 女人的美容院”. A bowl of nourishing soup is good for the body. This family-run establishment in Skudai is the FIRST in Johor Bahru to use urns in 2004 to boil the soup under constant charcoal fire for a good 15 to 18 hours. Everyday there is about 2 different types of soup on the menu. Whenever there is an order, the staff will then lift the pots of hot soup from deep inside the giant urn.

Nothing like a bowl of double-boiled soup that has been simmering for hours to whet one’s appetite. The Tonic Soup (RM$18.60/$34.80) has so much meat and herbs in each pot. It’s gentle on the palette yet helps to cool us down hot days.

To pair with your soup, you should order their roast meat platter which has the classic combination is roast duck, siew yoke, and char siew. The star of the platter is You Kee’s Crystal Char Siew which is a glistening mound of pork belly slathered in a gooey sauce the color of dark chocolate. The first bite hushed us — the caramelised meat has a perfect balance of juicy and slightly charred layers. The meat is flavourful yet not overly sweet. The sio bak is decent, but nothing much to shout about. Since it is named XO restaurant, you definitely should not miss their XO roast duck with golden-brown skin on top of a fine layer of fat and juicy duck meat beneath.

Besides white rice, you can go for noodles which I recommed. The dark sauce coats the springy handmade noodles perfectly, giving it a savoury and umami finish.

The menu goes beyond roasts, too, offering a range of comfort food dishes like Steamed Fish Tail (RM$40.60) with Green Ginger Paste and Volcano Beancurd (RM$11.60). The former features moist fish with heady with fragrant ginger and soy sauce. Pair with a bowl of white rice to complete the meal.

If that’s not enough to perk you up, how about some Volcanic Tofu? The soft and smooth homemade tofu is drenched with savoury sauce and arrived at our table sizzling in a claypot. Some pork floss gave a contrast of textures. As it is on the salty side, it is best paired with a bowl of rice.

READ: 13 Cheap & Good Food Near Johor Bahru Checkpoint

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