KL’s iconic Soong Kee beef noodles spot on Jalan Tun HS Lee turned 71-years-old this year, and is still packing in the crowds.
Soong Kee was started by Hakka hawker-chef, Mr Siew Koy Soong, in 1945, just as Kuala Lumpur was emerging from the ashes of World War II and a brutal 3-year occupation by the Japanese imperial army. He hawked his noodles from a street-side beef noodle stall along Cross Street (which was renamed Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin in 2003).
The older Mr Siew was assisted by his two sons, Siew Wei Hoe and Siew Wei Hann, in his later years. Younger son, Wei Hann (currently 60 years old), subsequently took over the running of the beef noodle stall in the 1980s. In the meantime, his older brother, Wei Hoe (now 62), decided to expand the family business and opened Soong Kee’s first branch in SS2.
Wei Hoe’s daughter, Siew Lee Min, joined the family business when she ran another new Soong Kee branch in Bandar Sunway, which opened in 2017.
Soong Kee’s signature wheat noodles are topped with a delicious, dark-coloured mince of beef and pork, flavoured with fermented soybean paste, fish sauce and the restaurant’s secret blend of about 10 herbs & spices. On the side is a bowl of clear, intense beef broth filled with beef balls, tender beef slices and beef innards & tripe.
The house-blend chilli sauce is also a must-not-miss - indispensable in adding a sharp stab of heat to the food.
The old man, Mr Siew Koy Soong, passed on in 2012 at the age of 85. But his eponymously-named restaurant - Soong Kee, which meant Soong’s Place - is now a chain which is run by the 2nd- and 3rd-generation of the founding Siew family.
For me, it’s always Soong Kee above all else in KL when it comes to beef noodles.
Address
Soong Kee Beef Noodles
86, Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, 56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2078 1484
Opening hours: 11am - 10.30pm (Mon-Sat). Closed on Sundays & public holidays.
