Jit Seng Hong Kong Roasted Duck Rice — Restaurant in George Town

Old master may have apprenticed in Hong Kong, but our local ducks have let him down. The sauce is the highlight of this meal, with aromatic tones of fermented soybean miso paste and five spice. The local duck meat lacks the essential "melt-in-your-mouth" fatty layer of Michelin-starred Kam's roasts at HK's Wanchai, but maintains some moisture above the local dry versions. A nicer but pricier roast can be found at Village Roast Duck at Bangsar Village KL that brought back from Four Seasons Bayswater the roasting art carefully curated in London by migrant chefs fleeing China's takeover of HK. But a roast is only as good as its produce, the French reminds us. Unless, old uncle uses the Cherryvale duck, his efforts are wasted on the local poorly bred cousins. Still a roast duck rice meal at RM8.00 is a steal, if you can beat the families queuing up for their whole duck (RM80) worth of happiness.. Post-pandemic the old man's wife has taken over pricing and fleecing unsuspecting customers. She tried charging RM10 extra for 6 tiny slices of roast pork to my duck leg portion(RM25) claiming inflation. C'mon that is ridiculous even by KL standards! The duck seemed drier now after the banter. The old bag continues to interfere with the order flows, giving priority to diners who jump the queue. The kopitiam daughter has got into the same act charging RM2.20 for drinks and delegated the old man to wiping tables. Times are harder for old folks post pandemic. More delicious is from the new stall operated by octagenarian Wong specialising from terrapin and frog soups (RM17.00). A mastery of 3 decades of cooking from Kimberley Street enclave now operating next to the famous Hokkien prawn mee stall in...

Just ate here and was good, not the best duck I ever had.

Arrived at 11:45 for 12:30 open and was easily able to get a seat inside, order an iced milk tea and relax. The drink guy is different from the duck guy, so you need to buy a few drinks if waiting a long time for food. 1 is probably fine, but I was there a while so got iced lemon as well as i sat under the fans.

I ended up getting #2 because a lady that came after me approached the set up/prep girl, so I did as well, and later she gave me a number as the line started to form around 12:15.

Half duck and 2x rice was good. Guy showed up on moped with ducks about 12:40 and the girl unloaded and the guy started processing so don't come at noon hungry, but do come at noon or before if you want a seat in the shade with a drink instead of standing in the blazing sun outside.

My favorite part?? Once the older gentleman started serving pork and duck, a local lady came in and patted his shoulder, said hello and sat down. She definitely planned to skip the line out in the hot sun. At #2 i was served before her, and the 25+ minutes I was eating, she did not get served and was getting agitated. A man joined her and sat on his phone, no duck. She went up a second time as I was finishing eating, and sat back down empty handed while everyone else stood sweating out in the sun in an orderly line.

I tried to type "thank you for not letting that lady skip the line" in Google translate to Malay and tip the prep cook 20RM as I like it when things are fair and it should be rewarded. Of course it confused the hell out of her and I did not want to hold up the process so walked away with her confused why she has an extra 20RM...

The stall owner is unpretentious, and doesn't even put a sign signaling that it's a Michelin stall 😂. It's open surprisingly late at 12.30. But he is punctual. His helper is usually there earlier, about noon. So if you arrive early, order early from the helper so that you don't get stuck behind a Q that will invariably form at 12.30.

PSA: be warned When you order, there's a huge difference between 2 individual plates of duck rice and a shared plate of duck (and assortment) for two. More than double the price to be exact. So please order correctly. The amount is grossly different and the shared plate is much much more in quantity. Be aware of what you want and don't blame them for the price difference. The price expected when you see the generous amount. They are not trying to overcharge you.

As far as the duck goes, yes, it's delicious, yes it's worth the trip and yes it's worth the Michelin mention. The skin is superbly marinated and cooked. The meat is tender, juicy, and chewy. The incredible taste is made better by the lack of the gamey duck aroma that you associate with duck meat.

The siobak is equally yummy with a perfect crackling crunch of skin and juicy meat. However, I didn't quite enjoy char siew as much. Maybe it's the fact that the other two meats were so good that it overshadowed the fairly average char siew.

Be warned that he is usually open only till 3, that's when his meat usually runs out, so you should make it a point to come earlier. As far as the coffee shop goes however, it seems due for a small upgrade. It's a little old and some tables are a little rickety. It does give you the experience of eating in an old Chinese nostalgic coffee...