[CLOSED] Jia Yi Wan

Signature dish at Jia Yi Wan, definitely a must-try if you ever visit the restaurant!

Same same but different. The soup was way to far from being the authentic Penang style, but they have generous amount of ingredients in the bowl with meats, prawns and egg.

Beside serving Penang cuisine, they also offer other foods.

Ended up with this although we ordered the pork trotter as the staff realised they were out of pork trotters only 10 minutes after we had ordered our food and came to ask if this would do instead. Although this is supposed to be one of their signature dishes, I found the pork belly tough and dry. Also frankly, for $4, the portion size is way too small but maybe that’s CBD pricing 🤷‍♀️ Don’t waste calories or stomach space on this.

Visited Jia Yi Wan primarily because some reviews claimed it had authentic Penang food and we’re always on the lookout for good Penang CKT. While this is pretty affordable food in the CBD, come with LOW expectations. This did not taste anything like Penang CKT and we were sorely disappointed. The noodles were quite sweet, and held none of the smoky taste of Penang CKT. Noticed other tables leaving 3/4 of the plates as leftovers too so I’m sure we weren’t the only ones disappointed. Not sure if this is an isolated incident or that they changed chefs or something but I really don’t think any reputable food blogger can claim this is authentic Penang food.

In addition, the kitchen was a mess with all the orders and the staff scrambled to check our receipts at our tables.

With this standard of food and service, I would definitely not make a return trip.

The prawn balls took the longest to be served, and that was only after the cook came out to check our receipts personally.

I must say that the prawn balls did actually taste pretty good. The meat was springy, and they weren’t stingy with the prawn bits. Little cubes of water chestnut added crunch. Overall this was a nice side dish, but not nice enough to compensate for the disappointing main dishes to warrant another visit.

Another one of the signature mains on the menu and it was a letdown as well. The taste of the mee tai mak fell short, it didn’t absorb much of the taste of the gravy. Same went for the minced meat which tasted quite unseasoned. We did finish about half this bowl though, not because of the noodles but because of 3 varieties of chilli sauces that are offered. I really liked the ‘curry noodle chilli paste’ but needed some noodles to undercut the saltiness. Other than that, I wouldn’t waste calories on this.