Yaw Char Kway, Jalan Alor

A quick Google search revealed that I am not the first one to blog about this Bukit Bintang Institution.

So what is Yaw Char Kway? Think of it as the origin of bagels. The story behind it is pretty tragic and cynical to those who hear it:

Towards the later part of the Sung Dynasty, one heroic general emerged to defend China against the Jin and Mongol Invasion; his name is Yue Fei. Battle after battle, victory after victory, he reclaim China in the name of the emperor. Unfortunately, he was undermined by a court official, who was also a Jin double agent (who was sent back to Sung under the guise of a prisoner exchange) name Qin Kway. Striped of his post and authority, General Yue Fei was condemned to death. In honour of the general (and despise of Qin Kway), the masses started making fried pastry and called them Yaw Char Kway (literally meaning 'Oil Fried (Qin) Kway') and eating them to vent their frustration for being helpless.

Now that you know the story, back to the food.
The Tew couple have been operating it probably before I was born, specializing in 5 types.

The most common type is the 'Yau Tiao', which is the one associated with Yaw Char Kway, two long stripes on doughs stuck together and fried until crispiness with the center of the doughs being hollow and stacked with layers of dough like a croissant.

After that I usually plump for the 'Ngau Lay So', which is dough, wrapped around another type of sweet dough and fried, it looks like a donut squished together with the skin in center resembling roti pisang, while the outer skin is smooth like a bagel. A lot of my Malay colleagues like this.

3rd up would probably be the 'Ham Jin Bang', the dough is coated with cinnamon powder on the inside before being rolled into a swiss roll. Cut lengthwise and rolled into a flat disc. This is my current favourite.

The 'Ma Geok' would probably be a shorter and fatter variation of the 'You Tiao', and the dough is not crispy, but more spongy and is seasoned with sesame seeds.

Last but not least is the 'Cup Chung', which is dough wrapped around glutinous rice and deep fried. *Drool*

Since I just work just around the block (1 minute walk), it is easy to just drop by, buy/order, go back and enjoy. Nowadays, there are starting their operations a bit later (they used to be there in the morning back in the 80s, afternoon in the 90s, and now 3ish in the new decade). So is to wishing them a long and prosperous business.