My first visit here was a year ago for one of their Hainanese chicken birthday cakes. Then, I bought it as a gift for myself and liked what I had so decided to come back, a year later, to try more of their cuisine today, also for my birthday.
They are located within a food court, inside the giant T&T in South Surrey. All their food is made ahead of time so gets scooped up and served quickly into disposable containers. You can take it to go, or dine in on one of their communal food court tables, which is what we did today.
The following is what I wanted to try and are my usual go-tos and favourites from Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine.
I needed to relive their Hainanese chicken with this combo that comes with soup. A little on the pricy side for a single chicken leg, but they are still my favourite to recommend, locally. The chilled chicken is tender, gently salted and heightened with the chicken stocked flavoured rice, spicy chilli, and the blend of ginger and green onion oil. All together they make the perfect bite, washed down with the sweet corn and carrot bone soup.
The Roti canai was crispy fried dough to be dipped into a sweet chunky curry sauce. Mostly spicy with a hint of coconut, this was as fun to eat as it was tasty.
The House special laksa noodles was bold, but not my favourite. I can’t help but compare any bowl to that of my mother’s and this was more watered down with coconut cream, whereas I wanted more spice and fermented shrimp. Still a decent serving, but won’t be the thing I recommend.
I found the Curry beef brisket and rice comforting, but could tell through its texture that the meat had been long sitting in a trough, under a warming heat lamp. I would have loved to try this one fresh. I can taste the quality of the ingredients and enjoyed all their homespun recipes, but they can only do so much with the food court format.
In short, I was happy to have this as my birthday meal and it hit all the nostalgic points I was looking for today.
YL’s Curry Bowl
15277 100 Ave, Surrey, BC V3R
8X2
(604) 930-1155
ylscurrybowl.com
