When it comes to good food in Kuala Lumpur, Shin Kee Beef Noodles is practically an institution. Tucked in an old colonial-style building in Chinatown, the establishment has been run by the Koon family for over 80 years. That’s basically older than Malaysia as a country. And for something to have been around for that long, you best believe they’ve got a recipe to their success.
The kitchen is at the restaurant’s entrance, so you can watch the chef in action as he boils and tosses the noodles, ladles pieces of beef and soup into each bowl, or tops off the dry noodles with a smattering of savoury minced meat.
The restaurant space is cramped, so expect table sharing when it gets busy. There is also a small room at the back which is non-air conditioned, so it can get pretty warm. This is a strictly eat-and-go kinda place.
The lady boss comes to your table to take your orders, and you pay once food arrives. Diners get a choice of three types of noodles – bihun, yellow mee or kueyteow – in either soup or dry form. We opted for the dry. N had beef soup, while I had the beef + meatballs. You can also get tripe. The ‘small’ (which was not very small at all) costs RM9: a fair price in the heart of KL.
Verdict: A solid bowl of beef noodles, and I can see why people have been flocking to the place for decades. It’s hearty, it’s comforting, and it’s substantial. Most impressive were the beef balls, which were so springy you can practically use them as ping pong balls – not a trace of tendon or whatnot left. The noodles were al dente and slathered in the savoury meat sauce.
Shin Kee fans might crucify me, but in my humble opinion, the best bowl of beef noodles still goes to another iconic decades-old beef noodle spot – Soong Kee. I simply prefer their version of meat sauce and the thinner noodles. N, however, said he liked Shin Kee better, so it’s all a matter of preference.
Better yet, try both!
SHIN KEE BEEF NOODLES
7a, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Telephone: 012 673 7318
Opening hours: 10.30am – 7pm (closed Wednesdays)
Eris Goes To 
Which kind of noodles did you have? I might pop down there tomorrow and give them a try 🙂
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Just the regular yellow noodles. Theyre pretty good !
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That’s what I thought they where. ‘kueytiaw’ is Thai for noodles and they are the generic thin whiteish ones, so I took an educated guess but thought I’d ask you just in case.
Do you remember the name of the place? Or was it just a random walk in place near the main market?
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The shop is called Shin Kee; its a small place just a bit further down from Chinatown’s entrance, facing the main road.
We also call it kueytiaw in Chinese, basically thin flat noodles 🙂
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Oh I misunderstood; I thought Shin Kee was the name of the noodles, like the Chinese name or something. In Thai they have multiple names for the types of noodles they have and I thought it a similar thing in Mandarin or something.
Good to know. I’ll give them a try and let you know if I win or not. I’ll try not to break my other toe on the way though…
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Haha ! Hope you enjoy the noodles. And hope your toe gets better soon ! 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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I was actually thinking of going back to the restaurant for lunch on Friday if you wanted to meet up there? It would be nice to meet a fellow blogger from this site
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Hey ! That sounds great but I wont be able to get out for lunch for so long.. the place is pretty far from my office haha. But hope u get to try it today!
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Just seen this reply. Good job really as I would have left you at the place by yourself! It’s not a problem. Hope you have a good day at work 🙂
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