218 replies to this topic

[ecr]

I wonder if this should be a new topic ... on an upcoming trip to KL, I'm hoping --- in addition to doing my best to sample as many recommendations in this thread as possible --- to satisfy a couple of longstanding non-Malaysian cravings as well. Any suggestions for spots serving delicious

Middle Eastern (Lebanese or otherwise) and/or
Sichuan

cusine in KL?

[Shiewie]

Hi ecr

There is a sprinkling of Middle-Eastern restaurants in KL mainly in the Jalan Bukit Bintang / Jalan Sultan Ismail area. They're all fairly new and have appeared in the last 3 years catering to the influx of Middle-Eastern tourists in KL.

- Alhambra on Jalan Setiapuspa in Medan Damansara
Moroccan food - I like their couscous with 7 vegetables and chicken tagine. Mains are around RM30-ish to RM40-ish. This is in the suburbs and may be a bit difficult to get to unless you drive there or take a cab.

- Al Sabeel in the Jalan Telawi area in Bangsar
Didn't like the food here - thought it was very mediocre. The hummous was a bit bland and the sambosak pastry hard. Here's a link to a review in the restaurant. However, the place looked dark the last couple of times I passed it and it may have since closed.

- Middle Eastern food promotion at Cafe Serena Brasserie at Nikko Hotel on Jalan Ampang
Went to the middle-eastern food promo there last year where they brought in a trio of Iranian chefs and loved it. Most memorable were their lamb koftas, a rice dish with sour cherries and Om Ali. There is an Iranian food promotion on again at Nikko Hotel at the moment until the 28th of Aug.

- Sahara Tent in Hotel Fortuna on Jalan Berangan (off Jalan Sultan Ismail, it's the first left from the intersection with Jalan Bukit Bintang)
Haven't been there are good reviews on it in The Star's dining out section (but it's difficult to rely on food reviews in Malaysian newspapers as they are all overwhelmingly positive), Fried Chillies website and the kopitiam forum on the Fried Chillies site.

- Restaurant at the Islamic Arts Museum - in the Lake Gardens area, behind the National Mosque
Have heard really good things about it from some of my colleagues who have been but have yet to get round to trying it. Here's a review of it on the Fried Chillies site.

- Tarbush on Jalan Bukit Bintang (another outlet in Ampang)
A friend who works in the area sees hoards of Middle-Eastern tourists there but the comments in the Kopitiam forum on the Fried Chillies site are not positive.

Think there are a couple more along Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail but I haven't been there in quite a while.

[ecr]

Thanks, Shiewie --- an incredibly detailed and useful reply, as always! Ugh, I am missing the Nikko promotion by one day.

What about Sichuan food?

And c'mon now ... let's here about more finds in Saigon (the fish noodles are great, thanks for that!)!

[Shiewie]

I haven't been to a Sichuan / Szechuan restaurant in a long time.

Most Chinese restaurants in hotels in KL serve some Sichuan / Szechuan dishes though it's mainly the Cantonese dishes that prevail (Spring Garden in Crown Princess on Jalan Tun Razak does Cantonese, Szechuan and Hunanese, Tang Palace in Dynasty Hotel on Jalan Ipoh does Cantonese and Szechuan, Li Yen at the Ritz Carlton on Jalan Imbi does Cantonese and Szechuan and Ming Palace at the Corus Hotel on Jalan Ampang does Szechuan, Cantonese and Shanghainese. All of them are halal (kosher)). I've dined at 3 out of the 4 places mentioned and have always thought that they were more Cantonese.

There is also the Meisan Szechuan Restaurant at the Quality Hotel City Centre on Jalan Raja Laut (what used to be the Holiday Inn City Centre) - I haven't tried it though.

There is also a little Szechuan Restaurant (think it's called just that too) on a side road off Jalan Sultan Ismail that has been around for ages (in the shops behind the Regent Hotel, near its carpark exit. The road is the first right off Jalan Sultan Ismail if you're coming from the direction of Jalan Bukit Bintang). I remember going there as a six year old! However I'm not sure whether it's still around and if it is, whether the food is still good. A friend said that she still saw it there when she last passed that lane. You've piqued my curiousity though and now I'll have to revisit it soon.

Ok, ok will get round to posting about the Saigon eateries though I mainly followed your recommendations and those in the AWSJ article. Would you like AWSJ Eat segment on KL? I can PM that to you.

[Shiewie]

Yes, have extracted and posted it in this thread whenever the relevant restaurant comes up. Anyway, will PM it to you.

If you're interested in a fancy Chinese meal while in KL, I just heard from a foodie friend that the former chef of Li Yen the Chinese restaurant in Ritz Carlton, has just opened his own place, Chef Choy on Jalan Ampang, opposite the Corus Hotel. She raves on about his cooking but warns that it will be pricey.

Also, if you'd like a touch of East Malaysia during your KL munchathon, I just read in a local daily that the Makan-Makan Restaurant at the The Coronade Hotel on Jalan Walter Grenier (behind the Lot 10 Shopping Complex) is having a Sabah Food Festival till 5th Sept. It's RM30+ for the buffet lunch (weekdays only) or dinner.

[Pan]

I didn't try any of the Persian or Arab restaurants in KL because I was too busy having Malaysian food. Truth be told, I prefer Malaysian food to the Arab food I've had (an unfair comparison because I haven't been to any Arab countries yet), and while I happily eat Arab food in New York, I'd be a lot more likely to check out Persian in Malaysia, given a long enough stay. From what I know about Persian food, it's a highly sophisticated cuisine that uses wonderful flavors like pomegranate syrup, and it's not too easy to find that cuisine in New York. I'd also love to visit Isfahan one of these days. My flight to Malaysia flew over Iran, and the country was ruggedly beautiful from the air.

I engaged in a degree of debauchery during my last couple of days in PJ/KL. I went to Restoran Oversea in the Amcorp Shopping Center in PJ for dinner, and said I wanted to eat rice with fish, plus a vegetable dish. I said I wanted steamed fish, but left the choice of fish up to them. The vegetables were thin asparagus in sambal belacan, and they were perfectly cooked. I forget what the fish was - some river fish - but it was also perfect of its type. It was very expensive by Malaysian standards, as I expected it would be. The fish was RM 55 and the meal as a whole cost RM 72 - outlandishly expensive, but from my viewpoint, I had economized for almost the entire trip, and it was less than $20 for top-quality food that really couldn't have been better of its type (i.e., one could have other dishes, but not better-quality dishes of the exact same type, I think).

The next day, I went to the Concorde Hotel and had dim sum lunch at Xin. This time, I pigged out, getting 8 plates. Chicken feet came with a delicious red sauce and had none of the cod liver oil taste common in U.S. chickens. Fish cakes with meat underneath were clearly Malaysian in style, coming with a lovely yellow curry sauce including some galangal and plenty of hot pepper. Vegetable shiu mai were far superior to versions I've had in New York. Roast pork sandwiches (in sesame buns) were a revelation - sweet and savory, with red bean paste, I think. Red pork buns (pao) were similarly far superior to New York versions, and elicited a smile of recognition from me, as I used to go to the Imperial Court (or was it Dragon Court?) in the Hotel Merlin, which the Concorde used to be called. Etc. And they have live music: A young woman who played erhu and Chinese harp. She's quite skilled at both but a real virtuoso on the harp. The meal came to RM 55.

My last taste of Malaysian cooking was the satay I brought onto the plane, which came from Restoran South Pacific in PJ - 10 skewers for RM 7, a much more normal price for food in Malaysia - and was a nice way to say goodbye to Malaysia, for now.

[Shiewie]

The steamed fish at Oversea Restaurant - was it a Patin? It's a river fish with fatty belly bits. RM72 for one person is a quite a lot for dinner for one by Malaysian standards but Patin can be pricey. How was it steamed?

I'm glad you enjoyed your dim sum at Xin at Concorde. It's a pity that Maukitten and I couldn't meet you for lunch but there isn't enough time to make it to town from PJ and back during lunch time. Now only if my office were still next door to the Concorde - I really miss the dim sum lunches there.

Do tell us more about the food in Kota Baru, Ipoh and the home cooking at Kg Merchang.

[Pan]

Shiewie, I'm not sure what the name of the fish was. I was served what seemed to be part of the belly and the attached tail, so I think the fish was a fair degree larger than what I got (which was plenty). It had white flesh with a bit of fat (not that much) and its skin was black checkered with brown or gray. The best thing about it was how perfectly fresh it was. It was presented to me with a flame under it still lightly cooking it. It was already cooked and tender with just a bit of pleasant chewiness, yet it didn't get overcooked before I finished eating.

In Ipoh, I bought two samosas in the India Town that were just fantastic! Here's a description I gave in an email to friends:

I headed into India Town and bought two samosas that were just amazing.
When I buy samosas in New York, they're kind of dry and have a little potato filling. These were filled to
the brim with onions and then also had some potatoes in them, and they were so tasty!


In the New Town, I visited a Chinese seafood restaurant. I can't find the name of the place or its exact location, but I recall that it was sort of behind the New Cathay Hotel, where there's an Internet place. If you're facing in the direction of the Old Town on Jalan C.M. Yusuf, turn right after the New Cathay Hotel and walk a couple of blocks. It proclaims in big letters that it has seafood, so if you're on the right street, you really can't miss it. The place was Cantonese, and I ordered steamed fish much as I did at Oversea, with Kangkung Belacan. It was also a very good and somewhat though not outlandishly expensive meal (the fish was trout, and it cost some RM 29 or something, such that the whole meal was about RM 34). I spoke some with the waiter, who's the son of the owner, and he told me that he goes to a kampung every day to buy fresh fish.

I finally ran into the big Tauge Ayam street on my last night in Ipoh. Having unfortunately previously eaten, I could only order some chicken to be packed away for the next morning's trip to KL. The chicken itself was nothing special after a night in the refrigerator, but the red sauce was great. It had live chili, ginger, and various other things in it.

I ate very well in Kota Bharu. I was there for four nights and went to the Pasar Malam every night. During the day, I went to the Pasar Besar, whatever its exact name was. This is from an email I wrote to friends:

My last lunch in Kota Bharu was Nasi Ulam. Nasi is the word for cooked rice, and Ulam is a Malay salad of raw vegetables, cultivated or/and wild, and it can be eaten with various sambals (sauces). I had mine with chili sauce. For lauk (hard to translate - something to have with the rice), I got fried catfish, and a little sayur
(mixed vegetables cooked in coconut milk with fresh red chilis) was also dumped on my plate. Even though I
was still having some intestinal irritation (which is mostly gone now), I simply couldn't pass up a chance
to taste the young leaves of the cashew tree before I left the East Coast. The cashew leaves that restaurant
in the central market (which is a few blocks from the Night Market, in a building as opposed to operating
under tents in a square) lacked the freshness of the leaves I used to pick directly off the tree, but their
wonderful, indescribable fragrance was intact, and the other leaves that were on the plate were also
excellent. When the waiter noticed I still had plenty of rice after finishing the fish and sayur, he offered
to add more lauk, and I asked for more sayur, a dish which for me is also a nostalgic remembrance of old
days in the village. The whole thing, with sugared iced tea, may have cost RM 6 or so, if that (and that
would be less than $2).

P.S. about the intestinal irritation: It disappeared completely while I was in Ipoh.

Food in Kg. Merchang ranges from chicken or fish fried with a delicious blend of spices to fish cooked in a red chili sauce, chicken curry, etc., etc. (many good vegetable dishes, too, including a type of salad featuring cucumbers, onions, and small slices of red chili with a sweet/sour blend of water, sugar, and vinegar). There's much more influence of Thai food than there used to be. Pad prik (spelled Paprik, etc.) is available in local stores and all up and down the coast. When I was in the Pasar Malam in Kota Bharu, I finally tried a Malaysian rendition of Tom Yam soup. It was delicious but the beef (kerbau?) and chicken in it were unduly tough to my taste.

The fruits in Terengganu were fantastic. I used to hate durian, but no longer, and a friend and old classmate of mine has a red durian tree, whose fruit was the greatest. But I still prefer rambutan. Rambutan available all over Terengganu is wonderful, whereas the rambutan I bought in KL was tasteless and caused me to wonder what the big deal was and why I remembered rambutan as a great fruit. It is indeed a great fruit, but the further it goes from the trees where it was picked, the more taste it loses. I loved the bananas, too. I wasn't able to find my previous favorite - pisang kelat keling - but some kelat (tart) varieties were available in the Pasar Besar in both Kuala Terengganu and Marang. I also enjoyed Jambu Air (a crunchy, watery type of guava that has a tart, lemony flavor).

One odd thing about modern Malaysia is that you can get most things you want at Mydin's in Kuala Terengganu, but Ziploc bags seem to be unavailable, at least in those parts, so anyone who thinks they may need some is well advised to bring them from home.

[Shiewie]

Rambutan available all over Terengganu is wonderful, whereas the rambutan I bought in KL was tasteless and caused me to wonder what the big deal was and why I remembered rambutan as a great fruit. It is indeed a great fruit, but the further it goes from the trees where it was picked, the more taste it loses.

It is hard to find the elusive perfect rambutan in KL - sweet, juicy, crunchy and where the woody skin doesn't come off the seed when you bit into the flesh of the fruit. The rambutans sold in KL vary from stall to stall, it all depends where they brought it in from and like you say it loses quite a bit of its taste once it's trucked to KL.

I loved the bananas, too. I wasn't able to find my previous favorite - pisang kelat keling - but some kelat (tart) varieties were available in the Pasar Besar in both Kuala Terengganu and Marang. I also enjoyed Jambu Air (a crunchy, watery type of guava that has a tart, lemony flavor).

I don't think I've tried a pisang kelat keling... . Did you have any duku or duku langsat when you were in Terengganu?

One odd thing about modern Malaysia is that you can get most things you want at Mydin's in Kuala Terengganu, but Ziploc bags seem to be unavailable, at least in those parts, so anyone who thinks they may need some is well advised to bring them from home.

We can get Ziploc bags in KL (or at least in certain supermarkets) but they're all by Glad and are imported. The locally made bags are without the ziploc feature - it's usually just tied with a rubber band or a string of knotted raffia to seal it.

[SG-]

Shiewie, I'm not sure what the name of the fish was. I was served what seemed to be part of the belly and the attached tail, so I think the fish was a fair degree larger than what I got (which was plenty). It had white flesh with a bit of fat (not that much) and its skin was black checkered with brown or gray. The best thing about it was how perfectly fresh it was. It was presented to me with a flame under it still lightly cooking it. It was already cooked and tender with just a bit of pleasant chewiness, yet it didn't get overcooked before I finished eating.m home.

based on the price it could be this fish the marble goby? flesh is soooo silky and smooth almost like tofu...

http://filaman.uni-k...76&what=species

[Shiewie]

Marble Goby is known as Soon Hock in Malaysia. The price per kg (approx. 2.2 lbs) varies between RM80 to RM200 depending on the type of place. I guess it would fit since a one person serving is RM55.

[ecr]

Darn it -- originally planned 3 days in KL, then changed it to 4, and now thanks to these recent posts it is apparent that I need at least 7!

Shiewie, thanks for the heads up on E Malaysian at the Coronade, but might you give me an idea of what E Malaysian cuisine encompasses --- ie. what Sabah dish/dishes should I be looking to eat if we hit this food festival (I'm thinking we will)?

Chef Choy --- how pricey? Relative to Malaysia or ....?

[Pan]

based on the price it could be this fish the marble goby? flesh is soooo silky and smooth almost like tofu...

http://filaman.uni-k...76&what=species

That looks right. I didn't think it was like tofu, but it was a great fish.

[Shiewie]

Shiewie, thanks for the heads up on E Malaysian at the Coronade, but might you give me an idea of what E Malaysian cuisine encompasses --- ie. what Sabah dish/dishes should I be looking to eat if we hit this food festival (I'm thinking we will)?

From the article, the Sabahan food at the food festival covers the specialties of the various indigenous communities in Sabah. They sound sort of like a variation of the Malay food we get in the Peninsular. The chef who is cooking at the festival is from the Nexus Karambunai Resort, a beach resort near Kota Kinabalu. I haven't got the article with me at the moment and it isn't on The Star's website as it's part of the Klang Valley regional pullout. Sorry I can't give you a better idea as I haven't been to East Malaysia myself.

Chef Choy --- how pricey? Relative to Malaysia or ....?

Chef Choy - pricey relative to Malaysia and and in my estimate, RM250 (USD66) per person should cover it (without wine) ...but with Chinese food, the price can vary quite a bit depending on whether exotic stuff is ordered. Can't confirm it with my foodie friend at the moment as she's off in Sydney on a 4-day eating trip.

[Wena]

hi shiewie, wassup?

mudbug pointed me to this particular thread in eGullet.com. i still kinda get lost in this massive eGullet forem. head is spinning still.

so, i'm just going to jump rite in like 'out of the pan into the fire'. didn't read all the threads as started to get dizzy after the 1st page. gosh! u're a really into food! hehehe... am now wondering if you're expecting... hee hee

Anyway, speaking of the Sabah Food Fest, here is a link in the Sarawak daily today. Say that it mentioned the Sabah Food Fest Promotion so thought better put it here.

one of the projects in the works for mum-mum is a flash interactive map of food spots in malaysia. yeah, ambitious huh? well, we'll see what happens a few months down the road. if and when i can figure out how to use flash. will definitely need to contact you for reference on eating spots in west malaysia.

anyway, will see how it goes.

[Pan]

I'm posting one more report on a Malaysian place. A family I know who live in Ampang took me to Mei Keng Fatt Seafood Restaurant at No. 1, Lorong Awan 6, Kuala Ampang, Selangor. They said the place used to be better, but I thought the food was excellent. We got the following:

Udang galah that were absolutely fresh and cooked in a tasty barbecue sauce that was sort of a caramel glaze

Ostrich cooked with what they were calling croutons, which was really interesting because I hadn't had ostrich before and it does _not_ taste like chicken but is more like red meat. The dish was good.

Asparagus with sambal belacan.

I think that was it, and it was more than we could finish. The quantity of udang galah was so great that there was just no way for us to finish it. There were three adults and a 5-year-old child.

I don't know what the meal cost because I was never allowed to look at the bill. I'm building up debts to people for the time when they come to New York.

[Wena]

I'm posting one more report on a Malaysian place. A family I know who live in Ampang took me to Mei Keng Fatt Seafood Restaurant at No. 1, Lorong Awan 6, Kuala Ampang, Selangor. They said the place used to be better, but I thought the food was excellent. We got the following:

Udang galah that were absolutely fresh and cooked in a tasty barbecue sauce that was sort of a caramel glaze

Ostrich cooked with what they were calling croutons, which was really interesting because I hadn't had ostrich before and it does _not_ taste like chicken but is more like red meat. The dish was good.

Asparagus with sambal belacan.

I think that was it, and it was more than we could finish. The quantity of udang galah was so great that there was just no way for us to finish it. There were three adults and a 5-year-old child.

I don't know what the meal cost because I was never allowed to look at the bill. I'm building up debts to people for the time when they come to New York. 

pan, very exotic. the ostrich meat i mean. u're definitely going to put on more weight by the time your trip is over. hee hee...

udang galah is great! pricey though. the only place that it was dirt cheap that i can recall was Sabah. seafood there was pretty cheap everywhere!

as for other exotic food, well, i'm sure i'm going to offend a number of the animal activist out there. living in east malaysia, one does hear of various places that cooks meat like bat, turtles, mousedeer, snake, etc. tasted mousedeer once upon a long time ago. tasted like chicken and cooked with ginger. teeny weeny bones though.

[Shiewie]

Hi wena

I'd be glad to contribute eating spots in West Malaysia. You might also want to check out some Malaysian food websites - friedchillies.com and foodvenue.com.

[ecr]

I used to think that Bangkok was *the* premier food city in Asia but a few days in KL changed my mind (but don't make me choose). I only regret we didn't have more time, or that we couldn't fit in more meals in a single day, bec I feel that we left a lot of territory unexplored. But thanks to the posts in this thread and the AWSJ article mentioned by Shiewie we had mostly hits and only one half-miss. I hope some of you can enlighten me as to the names of some of the dishes we had.

Dim sum at Xin was a highlight (but next time I won't go for lunch on a national holiday *without* a reservation ) ... esp the fried carrot cake (rich, yes, but super greasy, no) and the pork cheong fun. The latter was new to me ... the skin is thicker and chewier than the rice noodle rolls at dim sum shops in Hong Kong, and I loved the small pile of (I'm guessing) minced dried shrimp, ground pork, and chilies on the side of the dish. I'm sorry they were out of fresh scallops by the time we were seated. Char siew bao was just as it should be (but so rarely is) .... all about the pork with sauce as an accent, not the star of the show. Prawn soup dumpling skillfully cooked to that point where the crustacean is cooked but still a little crunchy, and so fresh-tasting.

After dropping our bags at the hotel at 9pm we ran out for our first meal of nasi kerabu and tuna curry at Songkhla Hawker, and a truly delicious dish of rice rolls cut with scissors, topped with bean sprouts and coriander, doused with a coconut-based sauce (I think). What is the name of this dish, and where else can it be found? And some of what in the low light looked like chicken curry but turned out to be chicken in an intensely (but not un-deliciously) sweet, sticky dark sauce .... black soy and ginger?

Taiwanese place on Jalan Imbi (AWSJ article) was supposed to be small plates but even the "small" sizes were large. No matter ... started with a dish of room temp crisp-fried dofu cubes tossed in a sweet-chili sauces with bean sprouts (they just brought it to the table with the menus and asked if we wanted it). Sweet potato congee was just OK, I prefer Cantonese-style thick to Shanghai style thin jook. The only item hand-written in on the menu , pork shreds with dry pressed tofu and a mixed veg with lily bud were both delicious, esp the latter as mixed veg can be so pedestrian. Only problem is we had planned to backtrack up the street to a shop for rice rolls cut with scissors into a plate and topped with what looked like chili sauce and bean sprouts ... but were too full.

Sat night we were headed to Old China Cafe in Chinatown for Nonya (AWSJ article) but were waylayed by the delectable smells rising from the smoking wok set up next to the WowWow Rock Club (where we rang in National Day later that night) on the same street. We could not resist the soy-laden stir-fried noodles ... a little Mandarin came in handy here and we had Fujian noodle (the thick ones) and another called ??? (thinner, and with a smokier flavor) and a heaping plate of qingcai (shredded cabbage and something else) loaded with garlic chunks as big as the tip of my little finger and cooked till soft but still slightly crispy.

Another highlight --- sambal grilled fish at Portugese Grilled Fish (why "Portugese"?) stall at the end of the main hawker street off of J Petaling. I wasn't excited about the stingray (ikan bakar?) but I think it's bec we got mostly tail ... not much meat. The mixed seafood, OTOH, was fabulous --- tender squid rings, clams (or another kind of shellfish), a couple prawn, and that lovely fiery sambal, with extra chilies. My big regret of that evening is that we didn't also get the claypot chicken proffered at the stall next to Portugese fish. 3 university students at the next table shared a pot and the smell (we were waiting for our fish) nearly drove me mad ... oh those glistening chunks of Chinese sausage and the crackly soy-soaked rice that stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. We were stuffed after seafood but we should have gone for it anyway.....

Which leads me to ask (for the next trip) --- does this place offer the best claypot chicken in KL? Or should one seek this dish out somewhere else?

Yet another highlight --- Yung Taufu at Hoong Hoong /Foong Foong in Ampang. Absolutely packed at Monday noon but so worth the wait. I've never had this dish before and it was memorable, esp (for me) the eggplant, chili, and steamed white tofu. The soup dumplings were special as well, the wrapper just thick enough and the filling studded with, I think, pieces of water chestnut?

A half-miss --- our last dinner at the Sahara Tent in front of Fortuna Hotel bec we planned poorly and all the Nonya places we wanted to go to were closed on Mondays. Baba ganouj --- excellent, very smoky. But soggy fatoush with deep-fried (why not grilled, or baked, or toasted, or just day-old?) bread, limp lettuce, and nary a trace of sumac or lemon juice. OK foul, though a bit mushy bec made with a bean other than fava ... and again, no lemon juice zing (but the quality of the olive oil was quite good). Grilled fish perfectly done but some of the tomato paste spread didn't get a hit of fire (the fire-charred part was lovely with a squeeze of lemon over the tomato) and so stayed raw. OK bread. Perfectly delectable, slightly spicy pickles, and a generously sized bowl of them too --- chilies, cucumber, carrot, and cauliflower. If I lived in KL I would probably go back for the pickles and baba, and to explore the lamb dishes. I think this place may have possibility, but with a menu like a minefield.

Last morning: nasi lemak at Wang Dangi Nasi Lemak --- perfect. Next trip we won't be so lazy sleeping in every morning and missing out on nasi. Followed by Indian sweets at Jai Hind (AWSJ article), yummy soft milk cake. Rolling back to the hotel to pack, couldn't pass up roti chanai at a completely packed-out no-name shop on J. Masjid India (can't miss it 'cause of the crowd). Would have liked to sample other roti at this place but my stomach said "No Way." I wonder if the donuts sitting on the long tables are very greasy or not ... they looked yummy.

A great trip but --- we never got in a Nonya meal, never had any seafood other than the sambal grill, no Indian meal, and missed out on so much more. No matter .... a return is definately in order bec KL is a food lover's paradise (but the posters to this thread already know that)!

[Shiewie]

Glad you had such a good time!

Dim sum at Xin was a highlight (but next time I won't go for lunch on a national holiday *without* a reservation  ) ... esp the fried carrot cake (rich, yes, but super greasy, no) and the pork cheong fun. The latter was new to me ... the skin is thicker and chewier than the rice noodle rolls at dim sum shops in Hong Kong, and I loved the small pile of (I'm guessing) minced dried shrimp, ground pork, and chilies on the side of the dish. I'm sorry they were out of fresh scallops by the time we were seated. Char siew bao was just as it should be (but so rarely is) .... all about the pork with sauce as an accent, not the star of the show. Prawn soup dumpling skillfully cooked to that point where the crustacean is cooked but still a little crunchy, and so fresh-tasting.

Oops - forgot to tell you about reservations . It can get quite crazy at Xin even on weekdays if the stockmarket is good - we used to be able to tell whether it was a good day at the stockmarket by the number of people lunching at Xin.

I love the dim sum at Xin. A couple of my favourites are the har cheong fun (I prefer the thinner rice noodles though) and the juk thung fan - rice with pork/chicken and slated fish steamed in a segment of bamboo.

After dropping our bags at the hotel at 9pm we ran out for our first meal of nasi kerabu and tuna curry at Songkhla Hawker, and a truly delicious dish of rice rolls cut with scissors, topped with bean sprouts and coriander, doused with a coconut-based sauce (I think).

Rice rolls dish is called Laksam, a sort of East Coast version of laksa. You can get it at places serving Kelantanese and Terengganu food.

And some of what in the low light looked like chicken curry but turned out to be chicken in an intensely (but not un-deliciously) sweet, sticky dark sauce .... black soy and ginger?

Hmm...my guess would be Ayam Masak Kicap, a Malay version of the Chinese soy sauce chicken.

...rice rolls cut with scissors into a plate and topped with what looked like chili sauce and bean sprouts ... but were too full. 

Sounds like chee cheong fun to me if it's cut with scissors onto a plate but the bean sprouts doesn't sound quite right. Where was this shop - opposite a 7-11?

Sat night we were headed to Old China Cafe in Chinatown for Nonya (AWSJ article) but were waylayed by the delectable smells rising from the smoking wok set up next to the WowWow Rock Club (where we rang in National Day later that night) on the same street. We could not resist the soy-laden stir-fried noodles ... a little Mandarin came in handy here and we had Fujian noodle (the thick ones) and another called ??? (thinner, and with a smokier flavor) and a heaping plate of qingcai (shredded cabbage and something else) loaded with garlic chunks as big as the tip of my little finger and cooked till soft but still slightly crispy.

I love KL style Hokkien noodles (the fat ones cooked with lard in thick soy sauce with prok crackling, pork, chicken, shrimp, squid and cabbage or choy sum and eaten with sambal or minced raw garlic with thick soy sauce) but haven't tried it at the WowWow Rock Club. The thinner noodle might be yee meen but am not sure.

Another highlight --- sambal grilled fish at Portugese Grilled Fish (why "Portugese"?) stall at the end of the main hawker street off of J Petaling. I wasn't excited about the stingray (ikan bakar?) but I think it's bec we got mostly tail ... not much meat. The mixed seafood, OTOH, was fabulous --- tender squid rings, clams (or another kind of shellfish), a couple prawn, and that lovely fiery sambal, with extra chilies.

I don't know why it's called Portugese either...perhaps the spicy sambal is adapted from the Portugese who have settled here. There is usually not much meat in stingray but it's popular fish for ikan bakar for it's smoothness and texture.

My big regret of that evening is that we didn't also get the claypot chicken proffered at the stall next to Portugese fish. 3 university students at the next table shared a pot and the smell (we were waiting for our fish) nearly drove me mad ... oh those glistening chunks of Chinese sausage and the crackly soy-soaked rice that stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. We were stuffed after seafood but we should have gone for it anyway.....

Which leads me to ask (for the next trip) --- does this place offer the best claypot chicken in KL? Or should one seek this dish out somewhere else?

I haven't tried the claypot chicken rice at this stall. We usually get ours from one in PJ as it's close by to where I live. There's also another one in the another suburb in PJ that serves new-fangled claypot rice with various meats besides chicken and chinese sausage.

My colleagues tell me that there's a pretty good one in Pudu, near the wet market that is good which also serves a peppery pig intestine soup. Will tag along and try this one on their next trip there.

Yet another highlight --- Yung Taufu at Hoong Hoong /Foong Foong in Ampang. Absolutely packed at Monday noon but so worth the wait. I've never had this dish before and it was memorable, esp (for me) the eggplant, chili, and steamed white tofu. The soup dumplings were special as well, the wrapper just thick enough and the filling studded with, I think, pieces of water chestnut?

Yong Taufu is a Hakka specialty and I think Hoong-Hoong is one of the best around. The soup dumplings are called sui kow with a filling of pork, water chestnuts, carrots, cilantro and dried shitake mushrooms. Some friends say that it's a local interpretation of jiaozi.

A half-miss --- our last dinner at the Sahara Tent in front of Fortuna Hotel bec we planned poorly and all the Nonya places we wanted to go to were closed on Mondays. Baba ganouj --- excellent, very smoky. But soggy fatoush with deep-fried (why not grilled, or baked, or toasted, or just day-old?) bread, limp lettuce, and nary a trace of sumac or lemon juice. OK foul, though a bit mushy bec made with a bean other than fava ... and again, no lemon juice zing (but the quality of the olive oil was quite good). Grilled fish perfectly done but some of the tomato paste spread didn't get a hit of fire (the fire-charred part was lovely with a squeeze of lemon over the tomato) and so stayed raw. OK bread.  Perfectly delectable, slightly spicy pickles, and a generously sized bowl of them too --- chilies, cucumber, carrot, and cauliflower.  If I lived in KL I would probably go back for the pickles and baba, and to explore the lamb dishes. I think this place may have possibility, but with a menu like a minefield.

Oh dear, I had planned to go here for lunch with mum on Monday but was a bit late to drive into town so ended up elsewhere instead. Will try it to see whether the other items are better. BTW, the Alhambra has closed .

Last morning: nasi lemak at Wang Dangi Nasi Lemak --- perfect. Next trip we won't be so lazy sleeping in every morning and missing out on nasi. Followed by Indian sweets at Jai Hind (AWSJ article), yummy soft milk cake. Rolling back to the hotel to pack, couldn't pass up roti chanai at a completely packed-out no-name shop on J. Masjid India (can't miss it 'cause of the crowd). Would have liked to sample other roti at this place but my stomach said "No Way." I wonder if the donuts sitting on the long tables are very greasy or not ... they looked yummy.

Ah...this is the stall I used to look at longingly while driving to work. Managed to try it once - heavenly smells of santan wafting from the deep wooden bin of nasi. Did the donuts look like normal donuts or did they look coated with melted sugar - am asking coz there is a local Malay kuih called Kuih Keria that is made with sweet potatoes that looks like a donut.

.... a return is definately in order bec KL is a food lover's paradise (but the posters to this thread already know that)!

Do return and when you do, you're welcome to contact me and we can meet up for more makan!

Edited by Shiewie, 02 September 2003 - 11:55 PM.

[ecr]

I know that there is some Penang talk buried in the very long Malaysian food thread, but thought I'd reintroduce the topic with its own heading in the hopes of more leads! I'm happily headed back to Malaysia in Dec, a couple days in Penang and am hoping to score some memorable meals and snacks. Also thinking of taking a car from KL to Penang ---- anywhere to stop on the way for lunch or (multiple) snack(s)?
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[maukitten]

Lucky you! Penang's one of my fave places; it's my parents' home town, so have lots of good memories of meals there!

For a meal along the way - many people recommend a place called "Chiang Kee" in Nibong Tebal, off the North-South Highway, about 45 mins from Penang island. Will get some directions for you asap from friends in the know. The pomfret there is supposed to be the signature dish.

As to Penang food, it's cheap and plentiful, but I think the best food is hawker food. My absolute fave dish is"char koay teow" which is rice noodles fried with chillies, some prawns, cockles, bean sprouts and chives. I love the one in Kimberly Street (at night) outside the large hawker centre there, prepared by a guy called "Ah Beng". It's out of this world, but strangely enough, goes straight to my hips.

Will compile a more comprehensive list after getting more recommendations from family and friends.

[gidon]

For sampling hawker food, you might want to buy Penang Food Thrills, 125 Famous Hawker Stalls Voted as the Best in Penang. It should be available in any decent Malaysian bookstore. It has an excellent map of Georgetown and is indexed by hawker speciality. Because hawker stalls can look alike, it even contains pictures of the owner/chef! It's supposed to be 100% objective and even ysed by locals. If only one could sample them all...

Good thrills,

Gidon

[JC]

Penang hawker specialties are (off the top of my head):

1. Char Koay Teow
2. Assam Laksa
3. Prawn Mee
4. Lobak
5. Oyster Omelette
6. Nasi kandar

The trick is in finding the best places to eat them!

For Assam Laksa and Char Koay Teow, I can think of the Joo Hoo Cafe on Penang Road. The stall outside also serves good cendol.

For Oyster Omelette the corner coffee shop at the end of Lorong Kimberley is also very good.

[ecr]

Thanks to all respondents! I've been unable to access the egullet forums for the past couple wks but as of today at least, I'm back.
So --- what is lobak?
Maukitten, if you have any more friend/family recommendations I'm all ears (or eyes).

[wgallois]

Thanks for all the tips and flavour contributed by all those who have written on this thread. Your comments really whetted my appetite before travelling to KL, and provided lots of good leads when I got there. I took only sketchy notes whilst visiting KL, so my comments are rather general.

KL is surely one of the world's great food cities, as many others have noted, not only because of the huge variety of foods on offer, and the generally very high quality of dishes, but also because eating out is relatively democratic in that the best food is often found at relatively-cheap hawker stalls This was really brought home to me at the SS2 night market in PJ which has a large number of hawker stalls interspersed between the vegetable, clothes and DVD sellers. On one lap of the square I managed to sample some great Taiwanese pizza, some deep-fried mushrooms, lots of great juices and stand goggle-eyed in front of the amazing stalls selling meat and fish on skewers, ready to be boiled and then dipped in sauces. I could well imagine that you could go each week, slowly move around the square and have a sensational, and different, meal each week.

I was also very impressed by the attitude towards vegetarians. There were of course lots of Indian vegetarian places, but there were also a fair number of Chinese vegetarian restaurants and places willing to create vegetarian versions of meat dishes using tofu and bean-curd. This meant that I got to try curry laksa, which I was very happy about. I am not at all 'well-eaten' in SE Asian food so there were lots of other happy firsts for me including Taiwanese bubble tea, cendol (sp?), ice cakang (sp?), jackfruit, kimchi, Penang curry, and 'real' Singapore noodles (but veggified!).

Hope to go back soon and will definitely make more specific use of all the suggestions of egulleteers.

[Shiewie]

I'm glad you found the discussion on this thread useful and enjoyed your trip to KL....though I must admit that vegetarian places were only mentioned very briefly here. Do post here when you plan to come to KL again and we'll try to come up with a more comprehensive guide to vegetarian eateries.

[jokhm]

I recently announced my drawn out travel plans in the Adventures in eating forum here: thread

It's possible that it merited being posted here, but I thought that this would be too specific, and instead I would prefer to post topics/questions related to a certain area prior to or during my stay. Since the tentative plan begins with Singapore for a week, and then Malaysia for a month, I'd like to get some feedback starting there.

I've been taking notes on some of the Malaysia/Singapore threads.. from people like ecr and Shewie, but I'm quite sure that I'm still missing a lot and getting too distracted by some of the dishes described.

So, taking into account the fact that I will be in these places for one week and then one month, staying on a super cheap budget, are there any other things that I should write down/be aware of/make sure to see etc...?

Looking forward to hearing about all this from everyone..!!


Joel

Trip site..

Edited by jokhm, 11 December 2003 - 09:41 AM.

[Pan]

Where do you plan on going in Malaysia, Joel?

By the way, a month is a good amount of time to spend in Malaysia, or at least I thought so (I did spend 10 days in a village I used to live in, though, as my trip last summer was partly personal).

[Shiewie]

Hi Joel

tonkichi would be the best person to give you suggestions for Singapore. Also have a look at Makansutra for food places in Singapore.

As asked by Pan, where do you plan on going in Malaysia? Just Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah and Sarawak as well? Unfortunately, January is not such a good time to visit the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (Terengganu and Kelantan) as it would be the tail end of the monsoon season and a lot of the island resorts and national parks may still be closed.

Chinese New Year falls on 22nd Jan next year so Malaysianised Chinese New Year foods and celebrations should be something to look out for. There's also Hari Raya Haji (a Muslim festival to honour those who've completed their pilgrimage to Mecca) on 2nd Feb where cows and goats are sacrificed as food offerings to the poor.

Ask away on Malaysia and I'll try to answer the best I can.