Restoran Ya Wang — Restaurant in Johor

Found this famous local roasted duck place when I googled for best food in Johor. Being a duck meat lover myself, I couldn't let this pass in my visit to Johor. I ordered their famous roasted duck of course and I requested for the lower half like how I usually do with other duck rice stalls. To add variety to my proteins, I also got their siew yoke and char siew. The roasted duck was served in a plate almost flooded with what looked like soy sauce. As I sampled the sauce, it was mostly sweet and abit savory in taste. I believe they were trying to compete with the famous herbal roasted duck in Singapore (I could be wrong) but their sauce just wasn't alike at all. It had very little hints of herbal ingredients and I personally find it to be more of a sweet sauce. Speaking of the duck meat, don't expect the skin to be crispy. The meat was tender and moist enough but that wasn't enough for me to call their version a great one. Surprisingly they did well with their siew yoke. I love how it was of sizeable chunks and the crunchy skin was an absolute delight. The siew yoke had a good ratio of meat and fat so that enhances the texture and taste too. My only gripe was that some chunks can be pretty dry. The char siew was average although I appreciate the good balance between fat and meat. If you're expecting a caramelised version with crispy charred bits then you'll probably be dissappinted with this one. The chilli sauce (at least that's what I thought it was) condiment was more like a tangy sauce dipping for your meat and it did help to add another layer of dimension to the taste profile. Overall, I would say that they serve decent roasted duck and other roasted offerings.

Update: I gave this place another visit thinking my last dining experience was simply a matter of mistaken order by staff and inconsistent quality of batches. This time around I got their dry noodles instead with siew yoke and char siew. I also made sure that I wanted the herbal duck drumstick, not the soy sauce kind in my previous visit. Thankfully it came out right and the duck was served in their famous herbal sauce. The comforting herbal aroma was present but the taste was probably overpowered by the sweetness. The duck meat was juicy but I felt that the skin lacked that thick and luscious fatty texture. Don't expect it to be crispy either as it was not the case for me. The char siew I got was so much better than the last one. Finally a good ratio of fat and meat was served to me. The marination was good with some slight hints of caramelisation. While it was not exactly melt in your mouth, it was a step up compared to the last dine in. The siew yoke turned out equally better with no signs of overly dried meat. The meat was tender and the healthy dose of fatty layer added to the soft texture. Overall my follow up visit was an improved...

Rating: 3.8 / 5 stars 🤩 : good range of options for all, fast service 🤧 : slightly too salty, only the pricier side

Note: They’ve recently moved. Do ensure that the correct address is reflected when making your Grab booking.

I recognise that Ya Wang is still fairly value for money, but with a caveat - you got to be earning SGD. There’s no way a typical Malaysian salaryman finds this place affordable or cheap as this is surely inflated. I am also fairly convinced (for some reason) that there are establishments in JB that offer equally good herbal roast duck at a better price.

Pricing aside, I found the food to be roughly a 4/5. The meats are certainly better than your average hawker, but there are still a couple of misses here and there. Here’s what I thought:

Signature duck - rich herbal aroma from the marinade and jus. The herbal flavour permeates deeply into the flesh. However, as the ducks seem to be fairly lean, there’s (1) a lack of meat and (2) an inevitable toughness in texture. I found it challenging to gnaw through the duck meat and that certainly took some of the enjoyment away. Char Siew - certainly very CHAR with 20% of the bits borderline burnt - not in the good crisp way but the dark, bitter, carcinogenic way. Flavours were fairly good though, even without being drenched in sauce. Roast Pork - unbelievably fatty. The ratio of fat to meat + skin is almost 1:1. It started off as novel and indulgent but very quickly turned gag-worthy and surfeiting. Flavours are okay but can certainly be crispier. Accompanying oil rice - not chicken rice standard but passable. Accompanying egg noodles in sauce - springy, good portion size, but a tad heavy on the salty seasoning.

I would like to highlight the “Signature” claypot tofu with seafood. This was a hard sell for every table, and I got it out of curiosity - it sounded good after all. The egg tofu came in large round pieces and were delightful when paired with the gravy. I can’t say the same about everything else in the pot. The pieces of squid were alright, but everything else were off. Prawns were tiny and overcooked and the fish slices had a very odd mushy-firm texture and seemed stale. It also came with two pods of snap peas and two round slices of carrots. Doesn’t help that the gravy on its own is too salty.

Drinks were reasonably priced. Homemade soya bean was good, but the teh ais felt way closer to teh flavoured water.

The bill came up to RM87 for two persons. You decide if this is good value for you.

Overrated? A little. Thing is, I’ve bookmarked this spot for more than 5 years now. I just had to give it a try. For me, one visit to Ya Wang is...

ONE OF THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCES I'VE EVER HAD!

First of all, the prices of the food are EXTREMELY HIGH! They definitely targeting the tourists from Singapore, hence the price are extremely high.

Secondly, the attitude of the male staff (an uncle with specs) was extremely rude. We dine in on a Tuesday around 11am+, there was literally no other customers in the shop yet. But the uncle was so eager to take order, standing by our side like rushing us to make order, we didn't even decide what to eat yet.

How to make things even worse? We decided to order A Herbal Duck + Siew Yok. Then he replied rudely in Mandarin saying: "什麼來的? 什麼來的？” We were stunned. He was asking we want it to be served with rice or noodle. But is this the right attitude to ask from customers who first time dining in your shop?!

When we asked for the bill, the price is extremely high as expected. But there was some extra charges, therefore we asked what happened. The auntie just replied: "Got charge SST". Hello? You charge SST but not issuing official receipt? You just calculate and write the price & everything on a piece of paper like those traditional kopitiam style. But you charge SST for that, Is that even legal?

The food was not bad, but definitely not irreplaceable. The price is sky high, the service is extremely bad.

So don't waste your time & money coming here, there are more better options out there. Unless you enjoy being potong...