Johor Tim Sum at Yoong Lei 古来云来点心 in Mount Austin, Johor Bahru

古来云来点心 is one of those famous food names in Johor that has numerous branches registered under various similar English names. There are at least 8 shops under the 古来云来点心 brand. (The Sze Hwa 世华 and Soon Huat 顺发 bak kut teh group of shops run along the same idea.)


I have not eaten at any 古来云来点心 outlet before as the idea that these dim sum are made in a central kitchen far away and the shops are merely "heat and serve" points doesn't appeal to me. But, I did notice that the 古来云来点心 shops usually have a good crowd inside. I mentioned many times when we pass a 古来云来点心 shop that I shall give it a try, and I finally did today.

This 古来云来点心 shop in Mount Austin is headed by a couple - an expressionless man and woman with a few rather cheerful and quick Chinese speaking Indonesian and Thai workers.



The dim sum are neatly laid out in bamboo trays and waiting for orders.



The selected bamboo trays of dim sum are steamed using this large steamer at the front of the shop.



Once properly warmed up, the bamboo trays are served to the waiting customers. It's pretty straightforward - pick, heat and serve.

There were just two of us and these were what we sampled.



I like the inviting look of 云来's big bao 大包. The big bao is nicely shaped and the pattern is bold.



Inside, the tender minced pork filling with egg and chopped onions was sweet and savoury. The white bun was bouncy and nicely sweet.



The big bao had pretty generous meaty fillings.



I especially like 云来's char siew bao.



The meaty char siew filling was moist and tasty. Plenty of juicy good char siew inside. 



I like 云来's braised fried chicken feet. The flesh which was deep fried, braised and then steamed, had good mouth feel as the skin and fat were wrinkly soft. The watery braising sauce is sweet and savoury.



Looking around and seeing that most tables had at least one of this, we added this glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Starchy glutinous rice with salted eggs and pieces of well marinated chicken - everything infused with the nice aroma of the dried lotus leaf.



The bitter gourd with fish paste - the bitter gourd was fresh and crunchy. The fish paste had some fish flavour but it was otherwise mostly some unknown bouncy filling.



Added a dab of the bottled garlic chili sauce to the bitter gourd with fish cake.



I love chili peppers and so will always order a tray of these at dim sum shops. The chili peppers were fresh and crunchy, but the fish paste filling was the same as that in the bitter gourd which I found a little boring.



The century egg porridge with bits of minced pork was quite tasty though the gruel was not as dense and thick as I liked.

This sampling was good enough for me to want to come back with a bigger group of makan kakis to try more dim sum at a 古来云来点心 outlet or better still at 云来's homebase at Yon Lai in Kulai.



Restaurant name: Yoong Lei Dim Sum 古来云来点心
Address: Jalan Mutiara Emas 9/3, Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/3xllr
GPS: 1.54558,103.789156
Hours: 6:30am to 4:00pm (Closed on Weds)
Non Halal

Date visited: 19 Nov 2013