COCONUTS HOT SPOT — If you love cooking your food in boiling broth at the dining table and then slurping up the soup later, then you must be a steamboat lover. Steamboat lovers here are spoilt for choices, when it comes to the variety of soups available. Every respectable steamboat restaurant worth its soup now offers several options for that.
It used to be just 2 types, ie clear soup and tomyum, many years ago before the competition intensified. So, to be relevant, steamboat restaurants now have to come up with unique soups for the increasingly discerning diners with more sophisticated palates.
One of the latest players in the steamboat scene is YeZi. Located at the hip and happening The Roof, YeZi spots an opulent oriental theme. Circular arches frame the glass walls on one side while custom-made exclusive light fittings decorate the ceiling and walls. To further stamp in the oriental theme, Chinese paintings line one side of the restaurant wall.
YeZi means “Coconut” in Mandarin and the inspiration for this comes from its unique signature broth. It’s a clear broth where coconut water, bamboo pith and water chestnuts are boiled together. Its clear fresh natural sweetness is totally refreshing. This concept was imported from Shenzhen, China, where the owners first tasted this amazing broth.
Sauces
Do order a plate of organic chicken and dunk them into the boiling broth, before anything else. Once you’ve eaten the chicken, then drink the soup. It’s one of the most delicious soups I’ve ever had.
Chicken
There are 4 more broths available in YeZi: Imperial Canton Broth – its fragrant hearty goodness comes from cabbage and bacon. For a bit of kick, there’s the Aromatic Taiwanese Beef Spicy Broth – the flavours are more robust, thanks to the mixed spices in it.
Fresh prawns
Fresh prawn paste
The Fragrant Shao Xing Wine Seafood Broth will work for seafood lovers. Vegans, take heed – the Wild Forest Truffle Mushroom Broth is specially concocted for vegetarians.
Besides the broth, the dipping sauce for steamboat is an important component to the whole experience. At YeZi, their signature dip is rather unique.
It’s a combination of 4 ingredients: superior soya sauce, chopped sand ginger, chilli padi and lime. That’s it – just mix all 4 together and you get this very delectable sauce that goes well with everything! However, if you are the typical Malaysian that can’t do without the usual chilli sauce, YeZi also has a very kickass house-made chilli sauce.
Sauces
For a good steamboat experience, “balls” are a must.
This of course refers to house-made minced meat or seafood shaped into balls, flavoured with a host of ingredients. At YeZi, these are made fresh from scratch every day. As no preservative is added, the balls are never kept for more than a day. Take your pick from fresh Prawn Paste, Black Truffle Balls, Chicken Balls with Mushroom and even Black Pepper Cheese Balls.
Besides the balls, YeZi also offers its signature house-made dumplings. I absolutely love the Coconut Dumplings and Imperial Seafood Dumplings with their sweet tasty fillings.
Coconut Dumplling
Fresh and thinly-sliced meats are also available on the menu. Remember not to overcook these in the hot boiling broth – they are so thinly-sliced that they cook in just 1-2 minutes.
Sliced pork
Just like the meats, fresh seafood are also available, at seasonal prices. Several types of fish, tiger prawns, squids and shellfish are all listed in the menu.
Coconut Soup
In keeping with the eat healthy trend, YeZi’s vegetables and mushrooms are all from organic farms.
For inquiries and reservation, contact YeZi hotline 012-3235841.
YeZi @ The Roof
First Avenue
Bandar Utama
47800 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7729-1628
*Non-halal
Chris Wan also blogs at Pure Glutton.
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