Restoran Seng Lee

March 2011

Although Seng Lee in Jalan Batai can hardly be described as KL’s best-kept
secret – lunch time there is chaotic and a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare – it is probably most famous for its fried kway teow. As a Penangite who has drunk from the magical fountain, I cannot understand the fascination since the noodles there are a pale comparison to the original in all its unctuous glory. Nevertheless, I am a familiar face at the coffee shop because
the pork noodles there are some of the best – and most sensorily distinctive – that I’ve sampled anywhere in Malaysia.

I unfailingly order my pork noodle soup with noodles on the side, so that the soup arrives scalding hot, replete with pork balls, minced pork pieces, green vegetables and a whole lightly cooked egg just waiting to spill its yolk and enrich the already hearty goodness of the soup. The noodles – make mine kway teow thanks – are tossed in a combination of soya sauces and a fistful of fried lard morsels, and served separately.

I can honestly say that I’ve eaten this dish no fewer than 50 times (no one can and I’ve never, ever left dissatisfied). That, by anyone’s accounting, is a pretty impressive track record. Of course, you have the option of ordering the soup version but the taste sensation when a spoonful of noodles meets a mouthful of steaming soup for the first time is so unmistakeably beguiling that ordering the noodles pre-cooked in soup just seems like riding a bike with training wheels on; you’re never going to feel the full thrall of flying down the road, driven only by the power of your two legs.

I would have written about these magical noodles a lot sooner, I promise you, but the greedy gourmand who lurks not too far below the surface was
unwilling to let the cat out of the bag just in case it became too difficult to secure a table, even during off-peak hours. Now that I’ve had several years’ headstart however, I figured it’s only fair to share. So now you know too. Enjoy! Fay Khoo

Awards

Food 40 is our monthly, definitive guide for where to eat in the Klang Valley. No entry into the Food 40 has provided any Time Out team member with a free meal or other incentive. If you have eaten somewhere that you think should rank amongst KL's top 40, email us and we'll check it out: [email protected].