KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — “Is this the right place?” my girlfriend asked.

“I don’t know. My dad said to look for a bunch of car workshops, and I assume these are the workshops we’re looking for.” I replied, painfully aware that this end of Segambut is practically made up exclusively of car workshops.

Ever since my father’s office moved to Jalan Ipoh a few months ago, he’s become our household’s de facto guide for the best food around Jalan Ipoh and Segambut.

We were following up on a tip from him about a dai chow that reportedly serves shark lips — a delicacy seldom seen even in Chinese speciality seafood restaurants.

Eventually, after following directions from the little mass surveillance device in my pocket, we reached a triangle-shaped clearing hemmed in by three tall, imposing rows of car workshops.

Ah. So that’s why he called it the Bermuda Triangle.

Shady trees flank each side; an electrical substation sits at one edge, and a shack bears a sign reading “Kedai Kopi Soon Kee”, wearing all four decades of its age.

At the centre, a bit of open space doubles as Soon Kee’s makeshift parking lot.

My father had described the proprietress as “a character”.

Nothing could have prepared us for what, or who, we were about to experience.

I’ve met my share of colourful matrons: a particularly memorable one was a boisterous Chinese lady who ran a garish Italian osteria with her husband — a meek, soft-spoken chef, constantly on the receiving end of her ranting.

It was always delivered in fluent Italian, but at a volume that could only be described as Hokkien.

Not long after we sat down, Soon Kee’s si tau po walked over, her frizzy hair dyed a mix of shocking blue and Barney purple.

She began rattling off the signature dishes in a gravelly tone — shark lips (sa yu seun, RM80), slipper lobster (ha po, RM70), fried stuffed beancurd (zao fu chuk, RM24) — all while munching on a piece of fruit.

Midway through, a bit of fruit flew out and landed on her apron.

Stone-faced and without missing a beat, she wiped it off with a tissue and continued recommending dishes, including pork rib curry (RM40) and tofu in wat dan sauce (RM28) — the latter came with a wager: if we didn’t like it, it was on the house, but if we did, we’d pay double.

She was right, of course, but never made us pay up. I couldn’t help but admire the salesmanship.

If you’ve never had shark lips, the name makes them sound more intimate than they actually are.

They’re taken from the portion near the tail, dense with gelatin that, cooked well, turns into a luscious jelly rich with collagen.

Soon Kee steams it briefly in a thick, mildly savoury sauce, topped with fried garlic and ginger. It’s a lovely textural experience, particularly with rice, and crucially, free of any lingering ammonia scent.

And the ha po — crunchy, battered pieces enveloping firm, meaty bits of slipper lobster — are addictive in their own lightly fried onion-and-scallion right.

The fried stuffed beancurd, a signature at Soon Kee, comes in two forms: a fried roll of beancurd skin stuffed with fish paste, and cream puff-sized fried wontons filled with fish paste, which snap crunchily in the mouth without shattering into a million pieces.

Regrettably, the pork rib curry was watery and bland — I wish she’d wagered on that one instead.

But the tofu in wat dan sauce was unexpectedly brilliant: smooth pieces of fried egg tofu bobbed around in one of the most flavourful egg gravies I’ve ever tried, imbued with the power of a shedload of onions.

As we ate, the si tau po gave me stick for not pouring tea for my parents — fully deserved — and, to our great amusement, came back to revel in being right about the tofu, in a jumble of Hokkien, Mandarin and Cantonese, all spoken at a million miles an hour.

But that’s Segambut for you — really, most of Kuala Lumpur for you — unglamorous on the surface, filled with places you’d drive past a hundred times without a second look, until someone tells you otherwise.

Soon Kee won’t win over anyone put off by the setting, and it doesn’t try to.

The si tau po isn’t there to charm you into liking it.

She already knows you will.

Kedai Makanan Soon Kee

Jalan 2/57D,

Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily, 11.30am-3pm, 6-9.15pm. Only open for dinner on Sundays. Two days off a month.

Tel: 012-292 8993

• This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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• Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more shark lips and colourful characters.