Restoran Tho Yuen 桃園茶樓雞飯 is a Chinese dim sum and chicken rice restaurant along Campbell Street in George Town, Penang. Tho Yuen serves Cantonese-style dimsum such as pao and dim sum along with several varieties of Chinese tea during breakfast time. Towards lunch time, the chicken rice stall takes over from the dim sum.
19 October, 2014: Dim Sum Breakfast
Having heard glowing recommendations for this restaurant, my wife and I were eager to try out its dim sum. As we drove around looking for a parking spot, I saw that within the city block comprising Cintra Street, Campbell Street, Rope Walk and Kimberley Street, there are at least three other dim sum places in the vicinity (Leong Kee, Tai Tong and Yong Pin). We finally found a spot on Rope Walk, and walked from there to the restaurant.
We must have arrived a bit early, because there were still a lot of tables vacant. We deposited ourselves at a table under a fan, and we immediately felt that this restaurant is more airy compared to the one we taste-tested last week, Restoran Aik Hoe.
Dim Sum at Restoran Tho Yuen (19 October 2014)
We picked the dim sum from the passing trolley, and on top of that, we also ordered two plates of chee cheong fun and one hundred-year-egg porridge. When it arrived, we thought the porridge was a marvellous sight. Take a look:
Restoran Tho Yuen Porridge (19 October 2014)
And it was very tasty too. We also enjoyed the various items such as the sio boey. I find that the kao ci given to us was not that well wrapped, but never mind. The char siew pau received my wife's high accolade when she remarked, "I wish I could make one like this." As my wife was quite capable of making char siew pau herself, including making the char siew from fresh meat, that's saying something. She showed to me how springy the skin of the char siew pau, and that it has more filling than the same pau we had in the previous dim sum place.
Restoran Tho Yuen pau (19 October 2014)
However, with all the ups, there are also the downs. One of them is the lok3 mai2 fan3, which is not good enough. The colour was also not dark enough for lok mai fan.
Restoran Tho Yuen lok mai fan (19 October 2014)
The egg tart was quite unusual, and we were impressed by its appearance - it looked a lot like Portuguese egg tart. To me, it didn't taste particularly special, but as I am not a good judge of egg tarts (it isn't one of my favourite dim sum items), I referred to my wife's opinion. She loves egg tart, but unfortunately, for this one, she also gave it the thumb down. She said that the best egg tart she had taken among all the dim sum restaurants in Penang is the one at Maxim's in Taman Pekaka. (We need to go there to properly taste test that place one day).
Restoran Tho Yuen egg tart (19 October 2014)
Our chee cheong fun did not materialize. We checked and was told it was still being steamed. How long should we wait for it? Another 15 minutes. That was too long for us, and in the mean time, we were starting to feel full. My wife ordered a tua33 pau1 to go, to be eaten the following day. (She later informed me that the tua33 pau1 was lousy.)
So all in all, Restoran Tho Yuen gave us both the ups and the downs. Overall, we found that it is much better than Restoran Aik Hoe (which I rated B last week). Also, perhaps due to two chee cheong fun that never came, our bill came to RM29.90. Of course, not cheap, but to be expected if you're having dim sum.
Food Rating: Restoran Tho Yuen
Dim Sum & Porridge (19 October 2014): B+
Parting Comments: This restaurant would have gotten an A- from us, if not for the chee cheong fun that did not arrive, and the below-satisfactory lok mai fan. While the char siew pau was great, the tua pau wasn't.
Getting there
If you go down Campbell Street from Penang Road, you will arrive at Restoran Tho Yuen on your left after the intersection with Cintra Street.
Address
Restoran Tho Yuen
92 Campbell Street
10200 George Town, Penang
Phone: +60 4 261 4672
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