Yong Lock Huang Yong Tau Foo @ Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Old Town Johor Bahru 永樂園(釀豆腐)

First time eating Yong Lock Huang's yong  tau foo even though I passed the restaurant at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee many, many times since 2012. The yong tau foo is nice and I would be back again for it when I am around JB's old downtown.



Yong Lock Huang is along that stretch of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee beyond the intersection with Jalan Pahang, where few tourists venture. The humble shop has bare bones furnishing and is a little dim inside. There's a steady clientele of locals but never any queue. Yong Lock Huang has been here for 30 years 😮 I passed by this way countless times and looked at this exact same unchanging scene for nearly 10 years. 



I am stingy with my calories. Coming from Singapore, I want to be pretty sure that my calories are spent on something memorable, worth the often arduous Causeway crossing (both ways 😱 ).



Ten years already, I've tried every food stall in old JB town, except this. Really, it looked like one of the hundreds of similar nondescript little yong tau foo stalls all over Johor.

This time, we decided to go for it, anyway.



Two of us, we had one kway teow (kia) and one lou shi fun (rat tail noodles).



The kway teow and lou shi fun were generic. The dark soy sauce was mainly savoury salty, quite flat tasting.



Then, I dropped a dollop of their house made sambal chili into the noodles.

Wham! 😮

It transformed the bowl of noodles. From flat, plain tasting to layered savouriness from the dark soy sauce and umami from from the belacan and dried prawns. The chili added spicy highlights to the noodles.

Love it 😋



We had an assortment of fresh handmade yong tau foo which are Hakka style i.e. stuffed with minced pork.



Most of the yong tau foo pieces were served deep fried (except for lady's finger). The vegetables were a little greasy, especially the brinjal which sponged up a bit of oil.



The minced pork fillings were generous, quite juicy and tasted mildly savoury sweet. We didn't detect the taste of salted fish in the meat filling (which would have given it a nice layer of umami savoury note).



Not really outstanding Hakka yong tau foo but it is still leagues better than those surimi filled yong tau foo which is the norm in Singapore.



Information for you 👌 We love the noodles when mixed with their soy sauce and sambal chili. The yong tau foo pieces were generously filled with mild and clean tasting fresh pork. It's a simple meal we appreciate and will be back for more e.g. try their Foochow fish balls. Our meal cost RM9.70.



Restaurant name: Yong Lock Huang 永樂園(釀豆腐)
Address: 29, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°27'22.6"N 103°45'48.1"E 🌐 1.456280, 103.763366
Hours: 9:30am - 2:00pm

Non Halal




Date visited: 10 Jan 2020