Soon Fatt Beijing Roast Duck @ Pudu

After a slightly underwhelming roasted meat experience at Chen Chen Roast Goose & Duck (though I have to say the roast duck was respectable), my husband wanted to bring me to another roadside stall in the same area that's also famous for roast duck.

And that was how we ended up at Soon Fatt Beijing Roast Duck @ Pudu one Sunday morning.  He had actually tried this place once but that was quite some time ago before they moved to this location.

As usual, we thought of getting a mixed platter of roast duck, siu yuk (roasted pork) and char siew (BBQ pork) all at once in order to be able to sample a variety of meats.  This cost a total of RM31 with rice and Chinese tea (for two).

First, the roast duck.  We got duck breast (as we requested) but also some very bony parts with a very thin layer of meat on top.  I guess that's the price we pay (pun intended) when we did not order a quarter or half a duck, you don't get the best cuts.  The duck skin was only just slightly crispy and the breast meat turned out a tad dry and not sufficiently tender for me...probably due to the meat being cut too thickly (that morning the stall was manned by a foreign worker).

As for the siu yuk, the skin was adequately crunchy but the seasoning on the meat fell flat and tasted rather bland.  One can certainly get much better siu yuk at any average chicken rice stalls.  Besides their signature Beijing roast duck, pipa roast duck and sesame pipa roast duck are also available with prices starting from RM20 (for a quarter duck) to RM75 (for a whole duck).  Individual plates/portions are priced from a low of RM6.50 (for just chicken rice) to RM19.50 (for all three meats of roast duck leg, crystal honey BBQ char siew & roast pork).

The Crystal Honey BBQ Char Siew or po li (glass) char siew (as it is called here) is so-called to denote the near translucent look of its char siew.  The fats on the char siew has this glass/crystal see-through effect I reckon.  As far as I'm concerned, this is just a fancy name to make us perceive that this is premium char siew.  It was neither premium in taste nor melt in the mouth like those I've eaten elsewhere.

I did enjoy the taste of the rice though.....glistening and with the right colour which comes with a good dose of chicken stock flavour.

The chilli dip was ok, not fantastically good or bad that I need to single out for special mention or criticism. Hmmm, I don't remember getting any plum sauce for the duck. ;P

But probably the most surprising was the fact that we weren't served any complimentary soup.  Now what roasted meat stall doesn't serve soup? >_<  Not sure if we didn't get any or there was none.  We didn't ask coz we noticed the table next to us was also not served any.  It's such a waste not to provide soup especially when they have in their possession some of the best residue ingredients (leftover chicken/duck bones and off cuts) to make a great tasting soup.  I guess that went into the making of their sour spicy mustard green dish (choy kiok or chai buey) instead.

My Personal Opinion

I believe the place is popular for their roast duck seeing that there were customers who took-away whole ducks....just that it didn't quite impress us.  This would, most probably, be our one and only visit.  If I happen to be in this area, I'd still pick Chen Chen's roast duck over this, at least that one has a nice, tasty soup (with free refills some more) which I can enjoy + a refreshing sweet and tangy plum sauce.

Should you find yourself here (or in Kuchai Lama where they have another outlet selling only roast ducks), you can always give it a try to see if it can impress you.....the roast duck is still the better option compared to the crystal char siew or siu yuk.

Soon Fatt Beijing Roast Duck

151 Lorong Yap Hin

Pudu

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 011-5625 5395