Sek Yuen Restaurant (适苑酒家)

I don’t normally blog about food but decided to blog about this one coz I find it rather unique.  Sek Yuen Restaurant in Jalan Pudu has been in existence since 1948, and believe it or not, they are still operating in its original building!  The restaurant was supposedly the place to be for wedding banquets of yesteryears.

The original building - photo from here

 

They added another shop just next door, which comes with air-conditioning, and we were there at the “newer” shop on Boxing Day.  The interior of the restaurant exudes that old time 70s feel, with old tiles and red table cloths with multiple holes J and the cooks still cook on wood fire instead of gas.

The "newer" air-conditioned restaurant. The white building next to it is the original restaurant building - photo from here 

Interior of the restaurant

Since there were only four of us (2 adults + 2 children), we only ordered the Cantonese fried noodles (广府鸳鸯), Char Siew & Fish Paste Sang Meen (叉烧鱼滑生面), Stir Fry Kung Po Fish Head and Sharks Fin (imitation of course) Omelette (桂花翅) served with crunchy lettuce.  The omelette is to be wrapped in the lettuce (like the Peranakan joo hoo char) and savoured with a dash of black vinegar.  They have many other signature dishes like the Four Seasons Platter (四式冷拼) that is normally served at Chinese wedding dinners, Pei Pa Duck (琵琶鸭) and Eight Treasure Duck (八宝鸭), some of which needs to be ordered in advance.

 

Service by the middle-aged and elderly staff was extremely prompt and efficient.  Our tea was repeatedly refilled when there’s half-cup left without any prompting.  And they kept offering fork and spoon to the girls, and repeatedly asked if they were fine with the chopsticks – extremely good service by today’s standards.

If this isn't that far away for us, we would definitely visit more often.