You Kee XO Restaurant (有记XO烧腊之家) Opens in Singapore

Now you don’t have to travel across the causeway for awesome roast meat in Johor Bahru because You Kee XO Restaurant (有记XO烧腊之家) has opened in Singapore!

You Kee XO Restaurant is famous for its herbal soup and roast meats. The giant urns at the shopfront is a special feature that you’ll see in all their restaurants. This family-run establishment is the FIRST in Johor Bahru to boil soup in urns over a constant charcoal fire for a good 15 hours. It’s been 15 years, and You Kee shows no signs of stopping this unique practice of using urns to simmer their famous herbal soups.

A bowl of nourishing soup is good for the body. Every day, there are two different types of herbal soup ($12) on the menu. Whenever there is an order, the staff will lift the pots of hot soup from deep inside the giant urn. We had the night-blooming cereus spareribs soup or ba wang hua soup with spare ribs. Night-blooming cereus is known for its “cooling” and detoxification properties, and it’s great especially in hot weather.

Another signature at You Kee XO is their roast meats. The XO Signature Roasted Duck ($8/$13.80/$15.80) features slightly crispy skin with tender meat; while the Roasted Pork Belly ($6.80) is juicy and crispy. We enjoyed the Crystal BBQ Pork Belly Char Siu ($9.80) the most. The caramelized meat had a perfect balance of juicy and slightly charred layers.

Besides tonic soup and roasted meats, You Kee XO also offers a selection of cooked dishes such as Ginger Onion with Slice Fish ($6.80) and Handmade Signature Bean Curd ($8.80). Also known as the Volcanic Tofu, the smooth and silky Handmade Signature Bean Curd arrived at our table sizzling in a claypot. The beancurd is drenched in a savoury sauce, and some greens and pork floss are added to it. As it is on the salty side, it is best paired with a bowl of rice.

I was asking the owner if XO sauce is used in the dishes since XO is in his signboard. He laughed and explained that in Malaysia, many stalls use terms like “king” or “imperial” in their names. So he thought of adding XO as a sign of superiority. How interesting!