新明记 Sun Ming Kee Restaurant — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

So glad that the establishment has kept to their standards after all these years. And it remains bustling with people for good reasons.

I found their roast duck to be their best item out of all their roast selections. Succulent and flavourful. No gamey flavours at all. Perfectly seasoned even without any gravy added. Although we didn't get such a marbled part of the pork for the char siew, it's still delicious and a must try item on their menu. Roast pork (siew yoke) is definitely crispy (and nonetheless, a really well executed version) but just pales slightly in comparison to the earlier two. Roast sausages (siew cheong) are a rare find these days but you can find them here. I won't say it's the best version of siew cheong that I've tasted but it's a great place to ease cravings if there are no other options near you with siew cheong.

Double-boiled soups are popular here too. Very very good control of fire. Definitely clocked in enough hours. Each pot is filled with ample of ingredients. Flavour of ingredients are very pronounced in the soup. However, it's definitely very salty so be warned. My favourite is always their lotus root soup but they have a pretty long list of soups to pick from.

At Sun Ming Kee, roast meats are only part of the menu. Aside from soups, yong tau fu options and braised dishes are also available for you to pair with your meal.

Biggest problem about this place would be the traffic and finding a parking. Surrounding residential areas are barricaded off on one side while a very busy main road (that almost looks like a highway?) exists on the other side limiting available spaces to park. But they do open past lunch hours so there's always an option to come at off peak hours.

A few things have changed since pre-pandemic days. They are now an order-and-pay-at-counter restaurant. You will also need to self-service by getting your utensils and condiments yourself. E-wallet is now available as a payment option. Dine-in and takeaway in 2024 have been updated with one merged queue and counter. You won't get service at the table anymore (which might be an experience you would miss at old establishments like these). This has significantly improved the flow and made Sun Ming Kee more organised and even faster than before.

Price is slightly high. But considering how well they have kept their quality, it's worth making occasional trips to Sun Ming Kee.

Edit: Saturday late noons have quick service and quick moving queue. Without being requested, they offered exceptionally good parts for the char siew, siew yoke and roast duck during the late noon. Char siew and siew yoke appears to be even better than I last remembered it with char siew melting in the mouth, siew yoke crispy, not dry and not overly salted. There is no additional soy sauce drizzled over the cut meats (just sitting in a small bit of its own...

I have visited this famous restaurant once and I remembered leaving with an underwhelming food experience. Despite that, I decided to give the food here another try. Firstly let's acknowledge the parking problems here. I came early so I did not have to undergo such stress before my meal but if you arrive at noon or lunch hours, you'd best be prepared. I was also not greeted with a long queue of customers as I walked towards the shop. This time around I got a good mix of every roasted meat they offer except for the chicken. The well known dish here is none other than their roasted duck and I ordered the lower half portion. The duck meat was relatively moist and some parts of the skin retained some light crispiness. I didn't feel that there was anyrhing uniquely special in its taste but I think what set it apart from the others was the duck essence gravy which was intensely savoury and sweet. It will be best paired with some rice to tone down on the saltiness. The roasted sausage tasted okay to me. The meat filling was a little dry as their recipe here did not incorporate noticeable fatty components. The siew yoke on the other hand was not too bad. I got a good batch with crackling skin and a good ratio of pork fat and meat. The dish that impressed me the most was their char siew which was reminiscent to the famous poh lei/ glass char siew. The exterior was beautifully coated with that smoky sweet marination and it was nicely roasted to a charry caramelised state. The batch I received had a light amount of fat which was fine as it did not taste chewy or overly dry. The chilli sauce provided that little zesty tang with some gingery taste to spice up your dishes. Overall, I'd say this revisit turned out better than my last one and although I didn't think that their roasted duck was the best or uniquely special, the general food quality and taste here were decent enough to...

I went there for lunch with a friend. Wanted to dine in and we ordered a quarter duck plus their char siew. The counter guy told us to wait outside until there is another person who orders a quarter duck before allowing us to complete our order and allow us to sit inside. So we waited about 15 minutes outside before we went back in to ask again.

Then we asked how long we have to wait? He told us if everyone keeps ordering half duck you will have to keep waiting. As if forcing us to take half a duck or no seats for us.

Sitting outside for 15-20 minutes still no sign of us getting a seat. We looked their chef preparing all the cuts by quarters, I dont see a problem for them giving our orders a go. There are like 5-6 empty tables coz we came just after peak hours at 2pm. So we decided to leave and not wait any longer.

The food is good, I have had it before but dont expect a good dining experience if you are eating there as a 1-2 pax. They are arrogant enough to not wanna do your business as they are aiming for bigger pax per tables. They used to be better last time, now they are just arrogant restaurant operators. Yeah the restaurant is yours and your rules on how you wanna sell your ducks, but I can always give my business elsewhere to friendlier...