We’d never heard of Kam’s Roast until we saw posts about it opening in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, all over Facebook. It seemed like we were the only ones(!), judging from the number of fans here in KL who were agog with excitement. Each social media post had luscious pictures of various roast meats. With just the images to go on, it went onto our list of must-try-places (and as quickly as possible please).
Kam’s Roast hails from Hong Kong. It’s called Kam’s Roast Goose there. The place has had 1 star in the Hong Kong Macau MICHELIN guide for five years running, since 2015. Here in KL, Kam’s Roast does not include goose on the menu but has roast duck instead, which was fine by us!
Early lunch
We are early lunch folks, so we headed to Kam’s Roast when it opened at 11am. Honestly, I wanted to order one of every roast meat on the menu. I had to reign myself in though, as we were only three in number and one was a child. We ended up with half a roast duck and a combination of roast pork and soya chicken from the roast section. We also tried the marinated cuttlefish and Chinese mushroom, together with a bowl of soup of the day. The soup reminded me of an ABC soup, a Malaysian vegetable soup. So much for reigning myself in – ha!
With all that meat, we had to have a green item on our table of course – only if just to make me feel better about our choices! Hence, we also ordered the poached Hong Kong choy sum.
Our food arrived very quickly after we put our orders in, as is the norm with any chicken rice shop/stall all over Malaysia. This is always appreciated – especially if you have a hungry child with you!
Perfect roast
Whilst all the items were what you would expect to get from any Chinese ‘fast food shop’, the stand outs were the marinated cuttlefish and roast pork. We’ve never had cuttlefish such as these – the meat was just the right amount of chewiness. It was not too tough and not too soft. The roast pork had the right balance of meat and fats. We’re definitely not fans of super lean nor super fatty roast pork. Whenever one of us popped a slice of roast pork into our mouths, you could hear the crunching of the rind – bliss!
Thumbs up for the duck
The star of the meal was definitely the roast duck. They know it too, as they presented it last, out of all the dishes. It’s slightly ‘theatrical’, as the gravy is poured over the duck at your table. We however, asked for the gravy to be in a separate bowl as our son doesn’t like ‘wet’ food (eye rolls here). But boy, were we glad about our decision. The duck meat was succulent and the skin was crispy as crispy gets! My husband and I did try the gravy, but we agreed that we preferred the meat on its own – gravy-less. We love roast duck and we’ve had plenty of roast ducks around KL. The roast duck at Kam’s Roast however definitely wins hands down.
Worth the Michelin star?
Service was attentive, warm and friendly. Perhaps a little too attentive as a server stationed herself, as close as social distancing allowed, to our table throughout our meal. Although that might have been because we sat next to one of the restaurant’s service area. So do choose another table if you’d rather not have someone watch you eat.
The pricing for the roast duck at Kam’s Roast is decidedly higher than other restaurants that serve the same fare. It’s about double the amount of our go-to places for roast duck. One does wonder if the 1 Star MICHELIN comes into play here? With that said, it’s undeniably worth a try. We’ll absolutely be back for more visits – but on special occasions!
For their exact location and opening hours, have a look here.
