604614 Tue Mar 17 18:36:52 -0700 2009 7 48 Greater Asia 0 4514816 Sek Yuen, the 63-year-old Cantonese eatery in KL was unlike anything we have in Singapore - an incredibly precious dining gem which seemed stuck in a timewarp. The retro-frontage on Jalan Pudu opened up to a bright, spacious high-ceilinged dining hall which harked from a different era. Sek Yuen's food was INCREDIBLE!!! Some of the more memorable dishes I had were: - Pork-rib soup with red dates, figs & "wai san" (a popular Chinese root vegetable). The soup was just perfect; - Deep-fried fish head, braised in the house-special sauce ("sar lou yee tow"), which was simply the BEST seafood dish I've had in a long while; - Stir-fried eggplants, dried beancurd, lilybuds, Chinese white cabbage, blakc wood-ear fungus in fermented beancurd sauce ("ka heong choy") Loved the atmospheric cavernous kitchen at the back (we had a peek before we left the restaurant), where elderly chefs conjure up their amazing culinary creations on giant woks atop antiquated wood-fired braziers. Tue Mar 17 18:36:52 -0700 2009 143097 klyeoh 1 4521827 klyeoh, have you tried Yook Woo Hin in Petaling Street/"Chee Cheong Kai" which opened in 1926. Great KL fried Hokkien mee and Cantonese dishes. But you're right - Sek Yuen definitely has a more old-world atmosphere (ever since Yook Woo Hin's new proprietress updated its decor recently). Next time, should try Sek Yuen's most famous house specials:- (1) PAT POH NGAP - 8-treasure braised, stuffed duck. Absolutely SHIOK!!! (2) FAT CHOI CHEE SOU - whole braised pig trotter. Taste is out of this world! Fri Mar 20 06:45:04 -0700 2009 4514816 263674 penang_rojak 2 4542886 Yes, I've tried Yook Woo Hin's dim sum at breakfast a few years ago - really, REALLY old world! Golf ball-sized har gow & siu mai were amazing. I know they are also famous for their fried hor fun and "sin chow mai fun" (Singapore fried bee hoon) at lunch-time - I think I had that before, but don't remember too much except that they were a tad oily for me. Address link for Sek Yuen: Fri Mar 27 01:31:13 -0700 2009 4521827 143097 klyeoh 3 4542894 Address link for Yook Woo Hin: Fri Mar 27 01:53:33 -0700 2009 4542886 143097 klyeoh 4 5044991 Quick update - had lunch yesterday but found Yook Woo Hin's standards have dropped a lot! The oldest daughter-in-law of the late proprietor who used to run the restaurant seems to have gone. Very disappointed. Sun Sep 20 20:32:10 -0700 2009 4542894 263674 penang_rojak 1 4651734 Just a quick update on Sek Yuen - we were up in KL again last weekend and just HAD to pay Sek Yuen another visit. This time, we ordered one of their house specialties: "pat poh chi sou" (8-Treasure Braised Pig's Trotter). It's basically a deboned & braised pig's trotter stuffed with chestnuts, dried oysters, minced pork, etc. You'll need to order this dish a day ahead, except on weekends when they prepare extra a la carte portions for walk-in customers. The pig trotter's skin was incredibly soft & tasty, and could have easily given the legendary French dish Pied de Cochon aux Morilles a la Pierre Koffmann a run for its money. Another dish we ordered was the sharksfin & crabmeat omelette, served with lettuce leaves on the side. This was quite well-done but didn't quite bowl us over. Still, we're very, very impressed by Sek Yuen's dishes and are already planning our next flight up to KL. They have two other house specialties which we had never tried: - "pei pa ngap" (a traditional Cantonese roast duck dish; and - "pat po ngap" (braised 8-treasure duck: stuffed with lotus seeds, mushrooms, etc.) Mon May 04 01:29:47 -0700 2009 4514816 143097 klyeoh 2 5041547 I was back with my family at Sek Yuen today. The braised duck stuffed with lotus seeds, mushrooms, gingko nuts, was delicious as usual. We also had kah heong choi which consisted of eggplants, tung hoon, tau joo (fermented bean curd), pak choi, tau pok or tofu puffs, etc. The fried fish head with black beans and other mysterious stuff was also perfect, although full of bones. Deep-fried prawns with bean sauce was also very well done. Another great dish was pork-rib soup with figs and wai san root. Crabmeat balls were too salty & quite boring, I won't recommend that. Love Sek Yuen, how I wish Penang has a restaurant like that! Sat Sep 19 03:03:09 -0700 2009 4651734 263674 penang_rojak 1 5212437 I visited Sek Yuen tonight after reading this thread. Like many Chinese restaurants here, Sek Yuen is not really set up to accommodate solo diners. And to make matters worse, there was no menu (at least the server said there was none when I asked. Perhaps he meant no English menu?). He just asked me what I wanted to eat, as if I had the slightest idea what the choices were. Fortunately, I remembered fat choi chee sou from this thread (thanks, penan_rojak). A first, the server started trying to dissuade me from ordering it because a regular order is just too much for one diner, but after a brief conference with the captain, they suggested serving me a smaller portion (and at a reduced price of just 18 ringgits). The meal was delicious. Thanks to both klyeoh and penang_rojak for the recommendation. Sat Nov 28 07:56:03 -0800 2009 4514816 48389 racer x