Restoran Kim Lian Kee (金莲记福建面美食馆) is one of the most popular eateries at Petaling Street (Jalan Petaling) in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The daytime location is an open-air stall at Petaling Street itself. But at night, Kim Lian Kee operates from a red building across the street.
This indoor dining place has air-conditioning, which provides some degree of comfort in exchange for higher prices. The nighttime place is open till 5:00am in order to cater the late-night crowd. As the pioneer in central Malaysia’s style of Hokkien mee (福建面) (not to be confused with Penang’s Hokkien Mee), Kim Lian Kee enjoys a steady stream of customers even till the wee hours of the morning.
It would be a sin not to order a plate of Kim Lian Kee’s Hokkien Style (福建面炭烧, RM17.00) – a sin which I do not intend to commit this evening. Yellow noodles are stir-fried with thick, dark sauce that is made from soy sauce and oyster sauce. Other ingredients used in this dish are pork slices, shrimp, squid and cabbage.
Unfortunately, the quality of this dish falls short of my expectation. “Fiery aroma” (镬气) is virtually absent in this dish. This is drastically different from what I have tasted before. I suspect that this outlet uses cooking gas instead of charcoal for cooking. Not that cooking gas doesn’t work, but I think it is difficult to replicate the toastiness from a charcoal-fired stove. Moving forward, if this is the quality that we are going to get from Kim Lian Kee, I think this pioneer shop has been outshone by Sentul Ah Yap.
Cantonese Style (广府鸳鸯, RM8.50) has never been Kim Lian Kee’s forte, but I ordered a small plate anyway. There are two types of noodles involved: hor fun (河粉) and rice vermicelli (米粉). The latter is deep-fried until it becomes crispy. Meanwhile, the thick gravy is made from egg white and corn starch. Pork slices, shrimp, squid and choy sum (菜心) are also used in this dish. Overall, I think this dish is just average and does not really stand out compared to those at other hawker stalls.
Address: 49, Jalan Petaling, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Contact: 03-2032-4984
Business hours: 7:00pm-5:00am, closed on Wednesdays