
Bukit Bintang Member of Parliament Fong Kui Lun (centre) was the launch event’s guest of honour
Kuala Lumpur’s historic Chinatown has enjoyed a great revival since a once-dilapidated and grimy back lane was transformed seven years ago. Called Kwai Chai Hong or “little demon alley”, the project, which features F&B establishments surrounding a colourful courtyard with several artistic spots for photo opportunities, became the catalyst for the area’s overall rebirth.
One year later, cultural hub RexKL took shape, followed by several innovative and interesting initiatives, including the transformation of what was known as the Lee Rubber Company building (and headquarters of the kempeitai or Japanese secret police during the dark days of WWII) into the chic and sleek Art Deco-inspired Else Hotel and the veritable mushrooming of world-class bars and cafés, each embodying the city’s history and heritage in their own distinct way.
For those who have embraced innovation, it is equally important to acknowledge those who remain steadfast in their roots and traditions, whose narrative has remained unchanged since the time of their founding fathers. Case in point, Seong Ying Chai, a 90-year-old bakery whose mooncakes and Han culture pastries are still baked according to age-old family recipes at its original premises in an alley off Jalan Sultan.
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This Lunar New Year, however, Seong Ying Chai has taken on the mantle of being co-organiser of the Jom Celebrate Reunion Dinner, Chinatown KL 2025, jointly initiated by Persatuan Rakan Budaya dan Pelancong Kuala Lumpur & Selangor, and supported by Bukit Bintang Member of Parliament Fong Kui Lun. Bringing together 18 of the district’s renowned restaurants, bakeries and street food vendors to create a unique menu that fuses culinary heritage with the age-old tradition of gathering as a family to commemorate important festivals. (The dinner on Chinese New Year eve or tuan yuan fan is particularly sacrosanct, with family members encouraged to make the journey home no matter where in the world they may be.) This special reunion feast will be held at Seong Ying Chai’s main premises — transformed into a rustic dining room for the occasion — accommodating just four tables of 10, from Jan 25 to Feb 16 nightly, except Jan 29 to 31.
“The [Jom Celebrate] Reunion Dinner is a great way for us to work together to proudly present the best that Chinatown KL has to offer,” says Leonard Lee, a third-generation member and present manager of Seong Ying Chai. “Many of us come from multigenerational food business families and we want to share our love of Chinese New Year delicacies with food-loving people, Malaysians and visitors alike.”
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Priced at RM1,388 per table, the menu kicks off with the iconic Yee Sang by Westlake Restaurant — a must-have for the season as tossing the salad raucously together as a family is de rigueur for ensuring a good year ahead. Sai Kee, the no-frills stall that has been around for over 60 years and famous for its classic sweet and sour pork, and brinjal with prawns, will serve the soup. Starring fish paste, salted egg and Malabar spinach, this dish was specifically chosen as the first two ingredients are culinary symbols of silver and gold — a prerequisite for the prosperity-obsessed Chinese.
Poultry makes two appearances on the dinner table, with Hainanese-style steamed kampung chicken (premium Ma Cao or Napier chicken is used) by Kam Kee and Sze Ngan Chye’s signature salted duck, an institution since the 1950s. No auspicious meal is complete without fish, yu in Chinese, as it signifies abundance and this dish falls to the expertise of Han Kee, a local restaurant with close to two decades of experience of churning out hearty, home-style cooking.
Hong Ngek, a legendary canteen among KL-ites, is tasked with the heavy meat dish of pork trotters, made fabulously festive with the addition of fatt choy or sea moss, another symbolic ingredient that, phonetically, is Cantonese for “get rich”. Vegetables — in this case, a simple but expertly executed stir fry of capsicum, asparagus, water chestnuts, cashews and snow peas — courtesy of the vegan Voila Meat-Free Restaurant along Jalan Panggung while the carbohydrates feature Malaysia’s Muhibbah spirit done two ways — first, the always-impressive Lap Mei Fan (waxed meat claypot rice) from Kiew Yee Baru and second, vegetarian Kottu Roti, by neighbourhood Sri Lankan curry house The Lankan.
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Dessert is also a double act, featuring air mata kucing from Petaling Street’s famous stall, served with chunks of almond tofu pudding by Seong Ying Chai. As it is a Chinese-style banquet, naturally expect the tea to be well above par and Jom Celebrate Reunion Dinner’s beverage for the evening is offered in both hot and cold variations. The former is Liu Bao aged tea by Kean Guan, a tea merchant with 80 years of history in Petaling Street. The rich and earthy brew from China’s Guangxi province was hailed as a “life-saving” tea among the tin mining community who believed it aids digestion as well as dispels heat and eliminates dampness from the body — important precepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Meanwhile, the special cold brewed tea is by Montea, a local label established in 2006.
Every table will be gifted with a traditional eight-treasure box containing symbolic treats. Whether enjoyed as a pre-dinner snack or taken home afterwards to occupy pride of place on the living room table, the selection of goodies, naturally, reads like a roster of Chinatown’s best names. It includes lion’s head gong zai bing (Seong Ying Chai), meat jerky (TK Lim), sponge rusks (Washington Cake House), dried persimmons (Chai Huat Hin), black sesame puffs (Machi Popo) and mini walnut cookies (Fung Wong).
Reservations must be made at least three days in advance. Call (011) 1179 9082 or (016) 3810 810.