Ya Zhou Cafe

I tried the chicken cutlet set and was pleasantly surprised. The portion is very large. The chicken cutlet tastes good, a little oily but not too bad, and the rice is good quality too. It comes with green vegetable side, which I appreciate to make the meal more nutritional. The miso soup also tastes good. Great value for 9 bux and with lime juice (a bit too sweet for me). I concur with the previous reviewer. I think before that it seems to be reviewed quite harshly, but I think I would come back... better than food court experience, and basically same price.

Noticed that there was any recent review about this place where I have visited with a friend for a late lunch (3.45pm).

There was any crowd as expected with only 2-3 tables occupied. I ordered the Curry Chicken Cutlet Rice Set ($5) which came with some Kimchi and Ikan Bilis as side dishes and a bowl of miso soup.

The cutlet was well marinated and deep fried. They were crispy outside and tender inside. The curry was fine but not as sweet as like other Japanese Curry. The rice on the other hand was not the Japanese rice but normal rice which was a bit disappointing. The soup was ok and not too salty. The Kimchi was normal and nothing great and Ikan Bilis were a bit over deep fried and as such charred. 

Overall, I enjoyed myself, especially the cutlet.

My friend ordered the Seafood Ramen ($7). According to her (where I also tried some as the portion served was quite large), the soup was good and the noodles were very springy and Q. Ingredients wised were quite generous too, it had 2 prawns, 1 white shell clam and Mussell, Sotong, Fish Cake, lots of Vegetables such as Cabbage and Carrot. Complimentary Kimchi and Ikan Bilis were included too. She too liked the ramen.

Ambience. We were seated deep inside the cafe and so it was still quiet. It was quite well lighted with unique pictures on the wall. The only comment I have was that there were too many lights being turned on and yet the aircon was either switched off or on at the highest temperature and you can imagine, we were sweating while eating. We felt like "suana"!

Service...hmm, Chinese workers...talked very loud and expressionless faces and mind you, its self-service too. Tables were not cleared immediately even after diners left and we noticed 3-4 tables needed to be cleared were left untouched. Well, if you have low expectations, it will be fine.

Value for money. Quite good, at this price with the portion and quality of food, you cannot grumble more. 

Poor hygiene. Saw containers of kimchi left in the corner uncovered under a serving trolley. Spoilt my appetite

Food wise, I dont think its any better than the food court Jap/ Korean stalls around. Service was poor.

Not coming back.

10 August 2007 : came here for dinner with RL & JO. We decided to try this tiny "cafe" tucked into a small shop space(narrow rectangular dining area...Funny configuration .... )

We ordered:

Fried Chicken Chop Ra-Myeon ($4.50)

Kimchi Fried Chicken Chop Ra-Myeon ($4.80)

Baby Octopus ($3.00)

[Served with a dish of kimchi and ikan bilis]

Im highly partial to eating baby octopuses.... i really enjoyed this dish. (but i dont think any culinary skill went into preparing this)

The Fried Chicken chop Ra-Myeon was pretty average. JO enjoyed this mainly because it was not spicy and he was dead tired and just wanted to fill up and head home. I tried the soup of the Kimchi Fried chicken chop Ra-myeon. It was nice and spicy with enough "kick".

I will not return again because there is nothing really special about this place. It was also uncomfortably stuffy and hot. There were at least 6 air-conditioning cassettes but none were working at all. Instead, this feeding establishment depended on 2 wall-mounted fans to circulate stale air around.

Another really really strange thing to note... they piled stacks of EXPOSED uncooked noodles(circular yellow discs of noodles) along the already narrow corridor of the dining area. There was also a container of cucumber next to this stack of uncooked noodles. This is downright gross.

My shoes also kinda stuck to the tiled floor of the dining area as i walked cos' they did not mop up spillage.

Friday (10 Aug 07). Came here for dinner with JC and JO. We ordered:

Item 5 - Fried Chicken Chop Ra-Myeon ($4.50)

Item 12 - Kimchi Fried Chicken Chop Ra-Myeon ($4.80)

Item 39 - Baby Octopus ($3.00)

The noodles were fine. I was pleasantly surprised that the fried chicken came in a separate plate instead of on top of the noodles as depicted in the menu. This helped to preserve the crispiness of the chicken and I savoured it with delight. However, the chicken was rather tasteless. The Kimchi noodles were just all right - enough spiciness to raise a sweat, but not so spicy to cause an uncontrollable sweat. The baby octopus was standard fare, but still enjoyable nonetheless. I suspect the baby octopus was served direct from a packet.

Ambience-wise, this place rates poorly. The seating arrangement is just simply too cramped. The tables are so close to one another, there is barely just enough space to walk. In addition, the chairs are just backed up against one another. The dining experience here was hot and stuffy because there does not seem to be any air-conditioning. The only source of ventilation is a lone wall-mounted fan.

Be warned that much unlike other cafes, the staff here will come round with a plastic pail a la hawker centre style to clear away the used plates and bowls when you have just finished the meal and are still seated at the table. It was also quite gross as well that there were trails of water (of unknown origin) snaking about the floor, much akin to a hawker centre.