Restoran Sem Kim

Restoran Sem Kim

No. 75 1/2 Mile Jalan Ipoh

51200 Kuala Lumpur

+60340427996

(Coordinates: 3° 10' 10.00", 101° 41' 45.50")

Today was a strange day. We were destined to spend this particular Friday evening driving aimlessly around Kuala Lumpur for the better part of an hour before fate would allow us our dinner.

Cat usually prepares dinner during the weekdays but a busted kitchen faucet put paid our plans for a nice home cooked meal. We then made hasty plans to eat out and a casual browse through Malaysian Most Wanted – Foodie’s app on my Android phone yielded an interesting prospect in Jalan Gombak.

We punched in the coordinates to Restoran Ban Kee and off we went. After turning off at the main road along the 5th Mile Jalan Gombak our GPS navigator took us through a narrow and mazy slip road which eventually led to a dead end in a quiet Malay village. (After further research online, we eventually found out that the restaurant was located just across the road from where we turned off, sheesh!)

Deflated, we headed towards Sentul in search of an alternate place to have dinner. Nothing inspired us so we ended up along Jalan Ipoh and was heading back to our apartment when we chanced upon this restaurant. As luck would have it, Restoran Sem Kim’s BKT is pretty popular and it's been a while since we've had BKT.

the signage says it all

Cat and Brendan seated

I bet this uncle is as old as the shop

This restaurant is pretty ancient but with its own old-world charm. Walking into this place I am transported back in time to when I used to sip hot Milo in a saucer. We proceeded to order a three-person serving of BKT and three Cokes.

the side dishes

can you see his braces?

marvellous black flavourful herb-filled broth!

let's dig in

We quite enjoyed the BKT broth and the serving (and its accompanying side dishes) were generous, and agreed that it deserved its popularity among KL folk. The damage? RM48 including drinks (BKT and side dishes alone cost RM42). Yes, its borderline “everyday food for the everyday person” but BKT nowadays doesn't come cheap and we would recommend you pay this restaurant a visit at least once if only for the flavourful broth.