Nearly half the KL price: Bentong yong tau foo after a hike

Bentong draws plenty of weekend visitors from the city, and a hike is as good an excuse as any to eat well afterwards. That's how our editor ended up here: a hike in Bentong, then yong tau foo at 天记酿料 nearby. The point our editor wants you to know is the value. The yong tau foo here is cheap, and compared with KL and PJ it comes to almost half the price. Other diners mention the low prices too.

It also helps to know what makes this town's version different. Malay Mail describes Bentong-style yong tau foo as a mix of fish paste, ground pork and Chinese chives, unlike the fish paste heavy Hakka style that's common in the Klang Valley. So even if you eat yong tau foo every week in the city, it's worth trying here.

The shop's motto is up on the wall, on a sign that reads 万物皆可酿, roughly "anything can be stuffed". Our editor's photos and video back that up. Steel trays fill the counter with stuffed tofu, tau fu pok, brinjal, green and red chillies, fish balls, golden fried parcels and sausages, with more trays of curries and braised dishes behind them.

The table in our editor's photos gives you a good idea of how to order. There's a bowl of stuffed pieces in curry broth topped with spring onion, a plate sitting in deep red curry, folded bean curd skin under a brown sauce, a side of dark fried noodles and an iced drink to wash it all down.

Reviewers add a few pointers of their own. They describe the yong tau foo as big and fresh, and call the chee cheong fun silky. Bitter gourd and tau fu pok get special mention, and both the curry and the black sauce have their fans, so order some of each. There's more than yong tau foo here as well, with noodles and nasi lemak on offer if someone at your table wants something else.

🍽️ What to order

• Yong tau foo picked from the trays
• Stuffed tofu, bitter gourd and tau fu pok with curry or black sauce
• Chee cheong fun, a favourite with reviewers

💡 Good to know

• It's a daytime shop, so plan it for breakfast or lunch, not dinner
• Sunday mornings get busy, with queues and a hunt for parking, and diners say the crowd thins as the morning goes on
• It's largely self-service, so one person can queue while another finds a table
• Check the hours on this page before you drive up