Sherman's Food Adventures: Yu Kee

Yu Kee

Sometimes the casual Chinese meal gets lost with all the available options for eats, particularly after hockey or softball.  I mean, it is something one usually does with their family, not with their sports teams.  And really, it ain't exactly the sexiest choice out there...  Think of it, "team, good game today, let's go for a Chinese multi-course meal".  No, that doesn't really have a good ring to it.  But with growling tummies and playing at nearby Ross field, we ended up doing the Chinese meal thing at Yu Kee in the Killarney Market complex.

Just like what I said in the intro, we proceeded to go for the set multi-course meal starting with the Daily Soup. It consisted of dehydrated bak choy and pork bones with some dried dates.  It was pretty good since there was no shortage of ingredients and it wasn't over-salted either.  Our first dish was supposed to be the sweet & sour fish, but honestly we are not all that interested in the Cantonese version.  So we had the Fried Fish tossed in salt, pepper, garlic and chilis instead (and MSG of course).  This turned out to be very good with lightly crispy and moist basa fillets which were barely cooked through. There was just enough seasoning to give it a good spicy garlickiness.

Next, we had the Peking Pork Chops in a deep shade of red.  Even before taking a bite, we could smell the black vinegar.  Hence, there was a rich tartness which was balanced by an equal amount of sweetness.  The sauce was tight as it clung onto each piece of properly tenderized pork chop without creating a gloopy mess on the plate.  Bam Bam insisted we add another dish to our meal which was the Mongolian Beef. Their interpretation of the dish consisted of extra large pieces of tenderized beef which were bathed in a spicy and savoury sauce.  Once again, there was just enough it to coat each piece of meat, hence, there was no pool of moisture on the bottom of the plate.

With the need for green, and since most set meals included a veggie dish, we had the Gai Lan with Beef.  Who doesn't love some beef with their greens?  This was also well prepared with good wok heat.  The beef was nicely caramelized and tender while the gai lan was properly prepared where it exhibited a pleasing crunch.  We did find the beef a bit salty though.  The somewhat "lighter" dish of the bunch was the Silken Tofu topped with seafood.  Naturally, the tofu underneath was buttery soft.  The seafood on top was bathed in a starch-thickened sauce that was mild with some sweetness.  We found the seafood to be on point where the shrimp had a nice snap.

Our last dish was the Yeung Chow Fried Rice.  They had run out of BBQ items when we arrived, so the chicken you see in the rice was probably a substitution.  The fried rice exhibited enough wok heat where it was nutty and chewy.  I thought it was a bit on the drier side though.  Moreover, the rice wasn't aggressively seasoned.  Despite my rant about our softball team not going for a Chinese meal very often, this would be our 3rd already since we had previously visited Old Buddies and Yu Xiang Yuan.  I guess that will be our MO from now on?

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Owner lady was nice, but spent too much time chatting with her friends to notice us much
- A bit salty and greasy

Yu Kee BBQ Kitchen 裕記燒臘小廚 on Urbanspoon

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