Hing Kee Bakuteh RHB Branch 甲洞大街 兴记肉骨茶 RHB BANK 分行 — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

I was a bit skeptical initially about places that are included in the Michelin guide 😂 But Hing Kee really has some surprisingly delicious items. I am just not sure if bakuteh is their best item.

Their bakuteh is not bad. In fact, it is above average. It's closer to typical KL style bakuteh with a thin broth (versus Klang style which us extremely thick by comparison) but differs in the heaviness of the herbal taste. In fact, I think their herbal blend is a bit different. Their soup is also more fresh herb tasting, coriander to be specific. It is an overall good soup if you factor out everything else you know about bakuteh 🤣

I think they shine in the quality of meat used. Especially if you order their three layer meat. Specifically need to say three layer and not half lean half fat 🤣 The texture is outstanding and the sweetness of the meat is very good. Tender does not justify the texture enough. There is this bouncy bite to it. This gives me fair enough reason to believe why the soup taste is as it is. It helps the meat taste to take center stage. One thing I do like is that they do not add any of those beancurd sheets or vegetables into the soup. So aside from the coriander and mild herbal taste, it's all unadulterated meat flavour. Dry bakuteh is averagely good.

Though Hing Kee is a bakuteh shop, I actually think their other dishes are the bomb. Maybe even more bomb than the bakuteh 🤣 I LOVE the tofu puffs. I think it is the best I have had at ANY bakuteh shops. When ordering rice, you MUST get the scallion oil rice. I think they put kicap manis or cukup rasa with it. It is damn flavourful. When you pair it with the pork, it is out of this world. Asam vege is done quite well too.

The one that I think Hing Kee does best is actually their yellow wine ginger chicken. It's different from regular rice wine chicken. They actually have large amounts of mince ginger inside. It's almost like a mince ginger steam chicken dish cross with a typical yellow wine chicken. The terrible part is actually the obvious fact that Hing Kee is not using the good quality chicken which people normally use for yellow wine chicken (those nice kampung chicken or such). But the flavour is just so intense and punchy from the soup that you're left unable to resist 😂 It's terrible because I was a long time fan of Sungai Buloh's renowned Chong San's rice wine chicken. I would still visit Chong San in Kepong for that dish. But Hing Kee has caused me to cheat on them 😂 Both of them do the dish well in diversely different ways.

A notable mention would be their pepper stomach soup, it is good. I prefer the RHB branch because I think they do it a little better than the other branch down the road. This branch doesn't have that gamey taste to the stomach.

The shop is frequently filled with fruit sellers and sometimes there is also this lady who sells sponge cake. The fruits AND the cake sold...

I’ve been to this restaurant many times in the past, but Sunday (27/07) was my first visit since it was included in the Michelin Bib Gourmand list. Sadly, I was shocked by how much the service had declined—it was honestly one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a long time.

We were "served" by an older lady who was extremely unfriendly from the very beginning. When we placed our initial food order, she looked visibly annoyed and spoke to us in a cold, impatient tone. The whole process felt stressful, like we were bothering her just by being there.

After placing our food order, I politely told her we would wait for a friend to arrive before ordering tea, as he usually brings his own tea leaves. Once our friend arrived, I carefully told her what tea we wanted, but she gave no response—only a harsh, intimidating glare. I wasn’t even sure if she heard me, and honestly, I was too anxious to ask again.

After waiting a long time with no tea, I nervously checked with her again. She suddenly started blaming us, repeating aggressively, “Didn’t you say you’d order later?!” We were completely taken aback and too exhausted to argue. After a few more complaints from her, she walked away, and we just tried to finish our meal as quickly as possible so we could leave.

While I understand the Bib Gourmand focuses on value-for-money food and not necessarily service, the combination of okay food and such hostile treatment made the whole experience miserable. In my opinion, this place is completely undeserving of the Michelin mention. If you’ve never been—don’t feel like you’re...

First visit of this Michelin star malaysian Chinese flavour “Ba Ku Teh 肉骨茶” in Kepong,

The place was packed and quite chaotic the moment we stepped in. Fortunately, the staff were attentive and quickly approached us to assign a table.

We ordered one dry and one soup version of bak kut teh, along with vegetable, bean curd, and my favorite—fried dough stick.

After waiting for over 20 minutes, we noticed that our food had been mistakenly served to an unoccupied table. Upon clarification, the staff realized they had delivered our order to the wrong place. Surprisingly, their initial response was to bring that same set of food to us. I immediately declined, having seen how many people had walked past the table—it just felt unhygienic. Thankfully, they agreed to return the food to the kitchen and promised to prepare a fresh set.

Within about 7 minutes, they returned with hot, freshly cooked food. The manager personally came over to apologize and assured us that everything was newly made. I chose to trust that—and hopefully, I wasn't wrong.

The food itself was excellent. The broth was flavorful without being overly herbal. It was well-seasoned and had a beautiful soy-braised color. The meat was incredibly tender—so soft it practically fell apart, even for someone with a weak bite. The dry bak kut teh was caramelized in a rich dark sauce with a mild umami kick, pairing wonderfully with the fragrant shallot oil rice.

Overall, it was an enjoyable meal. The dishes do leave you quite thirsty afterward, but it's a solid spot for a...