It was one of those boring weekends spent on land, I needed some action to fill up my time. Since I’ve woke up half past noon, I rang up the usual weekend suspects, MH and CW to check if they wanted to do lunch. After venturing into Pudu last weekend for the `pun intended` closed roast pork, we’ve passed by Sek Yuen Restaurant. Been hearing quite a number of people raving about how good this place is, I’ve decided thats gonna be the answer to everybody’s usual question, “eat what and where?”
The old school building that still houses the restaurant. Next to this shoplot is the air conditioned Sek Yuen. Dishes are still served from this old building
A good view of the interior from the main entrance. Old school indeed
Upon reaching the place, we’ve decided to sit at the `non air conditioned` shop to get some old school feeling and also to satisfy our shutter lusts. We leave it to MH to do the honour of ordering since he had dined here before to know what are their signature dishes. For the first order, we had called for Garlic stir fried Choy Tum, the signature Pei pa Duck and `Xing Kong` tofu. MH and myself was contemplating to order another signature dish as CW said he is no big fan of `Kau Yuk`(Yam with Pork Belly). Finally when the first 2 dishes arrived, its been decided the `Kau Yuk` shall make its way to our table as the serving was not as big as we thought it would be.
Sing Kong Taufu @ Sek Yuen
Simple dish with all you can find. Pork bits, prawns, sweet corns, carrots and of course, deep fried beancurd(tofu), all smoothened in a semi raw egg gravy.
Sauteed Choy Tum with Garlic @ Sek Yuen
Smelt of strong `wok hey`(breath of the wok) when served. Garlic was done just right in the oil before the greens are sauted together in the firewood flamed wok.
It tastes good even without the Chinese cooking wine in it.
Pipa Duck @ Sek Yuen.
The air dried butterflied bird has the fried to the perfect crisp while maintaining a balanced juicyful flavor of a duck and its spices. An absolute winner especially when its dipped with the house special sour plum sauce concoction.
Wu Tao Kao Yuk – Yam with Pork Belly @ Sek Yuen
While the ordinary Wu Tao Kao Yuk served elsewhere are normally braised, Sek Yuen’s version is steamed to the right tenderness marinated with a generous amount of fermented beancurd(nam yue) and just the right pinch of 5 spice powder while the Yam absorbs all the goodiness of the pork belly from the steaming.
Overall, the food here is considered very satisfactory for me although the service needs a little bit of improvement. Soya sauce is a commodity in this restaurant. You’ll get your saucer filled with soya sauce that comes with the utensils. When CW requested for more soysauce, expecting the soy sauce to come in the serving bottle, he was given another saucer filled with soya sauce! As of when I asked MH if he’s ok to order the 4th dish, we put in our order with the uncle that took our order, and we were given the annoying `can’t you order it one short` on his face. Oh well, I guess there will never be perfect hospitality when you dine in places like this.
Final verdict, the greens was done very well with a generous amount of finely chopped up garlic and the gravy for tofu was awesome with the half done egg. As for the Pei Pa Duck, the crispyness and the flavour is just perfect although i reckon the bird was overcooked as the chicken drumstick meat was a little dry while the texture on the breat portion was just nicely done. Coming to the Wu Tao Kao Yuk dish, it kind of brought back some nostalgic memory to me. This is the 3rd time in my life I’ve tried the steamed version from the usual braised version you typically get to eat, the first 2 time being made by my late grandmother. Nevertheless, last 2 dishes did impress me alot for the chef’s effort to get the marinade just right for the duck and the tenderness of the pork belly & yam. The bill came up to RM 62.50 for 3 of us. I will definitely be back to try out the other signature dishes very soon.
Rating:
Greens: 6
Tofu : 6
Duck: 7
Pork: 8
Location: N3 08.119 E101 42.741
Meals I had 
any landmarks?