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Malaysia Restaurants


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A friend, Ed, who lives in Cheras, supplied the following information. He even snapped pix of the resto exteriors. If you would like the pix, pls PM me your email address.

Hau Kee Seafood Restaurant - Tmn Cheras (03 05.976' N, 101 44.498' E)

Ketam Restaurant - Tmn Seri Bahtera (03 06.020' N, 101 44.210' E)

MPV restaurant is at the same row as the Ketam Restaurant. These 3 places are just within 1/2 a km radius from each other.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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SARI INDAH of Jakarta just opened at The Alamanda, Putrajaya.

Great food, surprisingly reasonable price, real cozy ambience and great service.

They've only been opened for about 2 weeks and we've been there about half a dozen times.  :biggrin:

I take back that recommendation. The food now *sucks* except maybe for the rendang. I think they might gulung tikar (close shop) soon. Surprisingly, the cafe inside the bowling alley serves good food with reasonable prices.

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Hi harryB

Rebung as suggested by Tepee is good. Have been there several more times since I went with Tepee and the tempoyak is still as yummy.

Bijian that JC suggested is more upmarket, one of the few nice Malay restaurants. I too have ehard nice reviews but have yet to go. Another fancy place is in Feast Village at Starhill, but have yet to try those either. Stan's at One Bangsar is ok...

Pinang Masak at the Bukit Tunku apartments is good - Negeri Sembilan and Minang type food - I really like the ikan salai masak lemak (smoked fish cooked with turmeric, lime and asam).

If you're in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail there's Restoran Puteri (there are 2, one just at the turn off to Taman Tun fropm Penchala Link and the other in the main square of shops) and Santai (in the main square of shops).

If you're game for food at hawker stalls, try the ikan bakar at Tanglin near the bird park - it's grilled over charcoal and supposed to better than the ones behind the palace at Jalan Bellamy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Shiewie... and the rest of the gang... Kung Hei Fatt Choy!!

Now hey hey, Puteri is interesting as I drive past the Penchala Link one most days when I'm in KL... can you go into some detail as I've thought a lot about going in to try, but never dared... There are times I get serious cravings for ayam kampung goreng and a good sambal... Do they do those???

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Hey PCL

Kung Hei Fatt Choy to you too!

Only been to Restoran Puteri once - we went to a buffet spread at lunch just after Raya. There was no ayam goreng kampung the day we went.

Food was generally good but I'm biased towards Rebung buffet coz of the tempoyak (fermented durian) with sayur ubi (tapioca leaves) at Rebung - give me that, bergedil and sambal and I'll happily scoff down a mountain of rice :raz:.

Here's a blog entry on Restoran Puteri on marimakan.org. There's a mention on friedchillies that the dinner buffet is at RM45.

Another couple of places that you may want to check out if you're driving past Penchala Link are:

- Nasi Sumatera at Mutiara Damansara (at the shops near the police station in the housing area opposite Tesco) - they do a mixture of Minang and Kelantanese food. There is ayam goreng kampung but what I really like is the grilled fish with a light sambal and sup daging - ask the staff there for recommendations.

- Nasi Lemak Tanjung Puteri at the other end of Penchala Link in Sri Hartamas (the older part, at the hawker stalls on the right as you head towards the Petronas petrol station). See masak-masak for a review. I think they usually have ayam goreng tthere.

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Many thanks, as usual!!

Anyone else with ayam kampung goreng recommendations?

Over in KK, it's like... wow, pretty easy to get, but only at Malay stalls, which are outnumbered by Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun stalls, and surprise surprise, only 3 or 4 mamak places a'la Devi's Corner in the whole city!!!

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was so busy showing a friend around Bangkok that I'm only doing my research on KL AFTER I arrive. So here I am with super-slow internet and this is the list I compiled from this thread:

* Madam Kwan

* Mamak roti and satay stalls

* Songkhla hawker in Chow Kit

* Nasi Lemak Tanglin

* Nasi lemak stand near HSBC near Central Market

* Curry laksa hawkers at Madras Lane

* Hokkien mee at Ah Hwa

* Cilantro

* Poori stall in Lucky Gardens

* Dosa place along Lebuh Ampang

* Wang Dangi Nasi Lemak

* Kelanton Delights

* Mee Kai Kee

* Rebung

* Bijan

These are the places that most interested me. Would love to hear anyone's opinions on which are great, good, fair or worse, which have no longer exist, etc.

Also, I'm in KL until Saturday early morning and on my own. So if anyone wants to meet up, just PM me. I'm trying to check email a couple times a day now. I met with JC and Shiewie (and two others that I don't know if they are eGers, sorry) for some really tasty nasi lemak with beef rendang, squid in sambal, quail eggs in sambal, a crispy tempeh mixture, and paku belacan. Yum. The food was great as was the company. Thanks!

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btw, I didn't see it mentioned, but I picked up what looks to be a great book today. I didn't see any of the others mentioned. There was one other, but I didn't like how it was organized. This was had great maps, too:

The Star Guide to Malaysia: Street Food.

Got it at Kinokuniya for 38 RM right after eating some nasi bojari and acar at Madam Kwan's. Picked up a cookbook and guide to Penang's steet food, too, which was insanesly cheap at something like 24 RM. There were a couple others that were more expensive that I'll probably haul back with me once I have my credit card or more cash. Oh, and I found me some Roti Boy, the Krispy Kreme of SE Asia.

The weather here has been such a relief after Bangkok where it was over 35 every day.

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  • 1 month later...
Food was generally good but I'm biased towards Rebung buffet coz of the tempoyak (fermented durian) with sayur ubi (tapioca leaves) at Rebung - give me that, bergedil and sambal and I'll happily scoff down a mountain of rice  :raz:.

:blink: u love tempoyak? :wacko:

I run away from it! :laugh: (I also run away from cencaluk and budu)

Sigh. I have yet to try Rebung. Any chance you will be organizing a makan there soon?

Have you tried Bakerzin? I had their flourless chocolate cake for the first time and it was really yummy. But waaay to expensive-lah (coz they use Varlhona chocolate products, right?). One in a while, can-lah.

I went to Pinang Masak recently and frankly I was a bit disappointed with it's Lontong after reading many fabulous reviews on it. The kuihs there are delicious though.

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And let us not forget about the food court at Souk(near the Putrajaya Mosque)

Lots of variety and the view overlooking the lake is simply breathtaking...

:hmmm: Many of the shops there have gulung tikar. No more La Cucur, Rain Noodles, Aladdin Briyani, San Francisco, Kelantan Delights ... even the ice kacang stall is no longer there.

On one side now there is Nando and Nasi Ayam, and the other wing only the mamak stall and the claypot mee. And then the Dairy Queen kiosk and the fruit stall. That's all. And oh the newspaper stand.

Such a pity.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another vote for Rebung!!! Mum thinks its better than Puteri in TTDI, more kick. Great selection prices are reasonable. Hmmm didn't see any satay though when I went this past weekend... missed out on satay this trip back.

On a separate note, revisited Dragon-I in One Utama for their XLB, excellent, confirmed better than Din Tai Fung's version here in LA!!! Skin is soft and broth is very tasty.

Edited by SG- (log)
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  • 1 year later...

Peter Green is beating me! I've decided to start, even though I swamped with work, because I'm very competitive!

Malaysia Day 1

This was by far the least planned portion of our trip, and that will be reflected in many of the food choices we made (you'll see soon enough). We were originally scheduled to fly to KL from Singapore, and when I realized how close they were, I was very disappointed with myself for not taking a bus instead. Luckily, Jetstar had a change in flight schedules, so they let us cancel our flights and we took a "luxury bus" instead. And so, we left Singapore for KL on December 30, at 9am.

Our "luxury bus" tickets included a meal. It sucked. It was a vegetarian meal, but it still sucked. I can barely remember what anything was, because I've tried to block it out of my memory. From top left, clockwise: Some kind of sweet thing, vegetarian empanada (filled with lentils, I think), another sweet thing that tasted as though it were full of chemicals, and finally some kind of vegetarian gyoza-like dumpling. It was all icky, and I ate half a gyoza-like dumpling and a bite of the chemical thing. My mother didn't even finish her food, and she can eat anything!

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The only good thing about our meal was that they offered us coffee, tea, or Milo!! Milo!!! I love Milo!! But I hadn't had any in years. Decades, even. Mmmmm, it was good!

Aside from immigration, we had one stop at a yucky rest stop. Well, the toilets were yucky, but there were food stalls!

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I wanted some fruit to help wash out that yucky chemical taste from the bus meal, but we didn't have any Malaysian money! Like I said, this was the least planned portion of our trip. . .

We arrived in KL at 2:30-ish, and we checked in to Maya Hotel. It was quite close to the Petronus Towers and the big mall--Suria? We needed money before doing anything else, so we walked to the Towers to get some. My mother, unfortunately, only had traveller's cheques which had to be changed at another location, elsewhere in the mall. It took us another 30 minutes or so before she was done, and by this time it was around 4:30 or 5. We were both starving (not having eaten since breakfast, unless you count the chemicals from our "luxury bus" lunch). She needed to eat, fast, so we ended up at. . .

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That's right, we went to KFC. She was starting to get the shakes, so we didn't even have time to go up the escalator to the food court.

Thing is, it was actually pretty good. The chicken was moist and flavourful (we got the spicy version) and the skin was really crispy, and my mother said the rice and mashed potatoes were OK. I ate the bun, and it was just like the buns we used to get at KFC in Canada. I loved those buns.

And that was the end of our day 1. Disappointing, wasn't it?

Edited by prasantrin (log)
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Hi Rona,

The bus drivers / companies have their personal favourite "stops", where the drivers will get a free meal, kickbacks from the operators of the stops or perhaps even the chance to pick up extra "cash-paying" passengers if the bus isn't full. Case in point is Yew Tee in Johor State, which charges Singapore prices, though the toilets there are so clean they would make a Singaporean blush (well, almost).

As for the filthy toilets, if the toilet guy has a captive clientele, he is hardly likely to be motivated enough to clean it! We stopped at one near Slim River this Chinese New Year, where mildew and mould were growing so thickly they were taking on a life of their own; I swear I saw the tap smiling at me.

Malaysian KFC is spectacular, though their burgers and sides could do with some work.

Edited by Julian Teoh (log)
Julian's Eating - Tales of Food and Drink
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Rona, I find travelers' checks a pain nowadays. ATM cards are much more convenient. The problem arises when you have an ATM debit card. The last time I was in Malaysia, someone counterfeited a copy of my card and used it to pay for a trip to Southern Thailand about 6 months after I got home. I had no money in my bank account for a week, until the money was reimbursed.

Did you ask the stall owners if they would accept Singapore dollars?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Julian--the restrooms were bad, but they weren't nearly as bad as your experience! Or as bad as the toilets on the Singapore immigration side upon our return. Those were really shameful!

Pan--we never use our debit or credit cards to get cash. I can't because in Japan, you need to apply for a special account/card to use them overseas to get cash, and it's just too much of a pain in the butt. Plus I just prefer to use cash. I actually told my mother not to bother with travellers cheques, but she wanted to do things her way, and that's how we ended up at KFC (which I enjoyed, but I sort of felt it was a waste of a meal).

PCL--I'll get there eventually! I've got grades due tomorrow, and I still haven't finished my marking, so I'm doing a big rush on that tonight. Then I'll be free for at least a week, so I can finish my entire trip! I hope! (Or at least I hope to finish before PG finishes his London trip :biggrin:). I have to warn you, though, it doesn't get much better until Day 4! :sad:

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  I have to warn you, though, it doesn't get much better until Day 4! :sad:

:raz: I hope we are Day 4....

You bet your bootie you are! (I hope that means what I think it does!)

Hopefully I'll be able to get started tomorrow night, but if not, I think I'll get there by Friday!

I forgot about lunch on Day 2. That was good, too, but not as good as Day 4. I'm still thinking about the chicken wings and the sauce from the crab! There's a little preview! (My pictures didn't turn out so well, though. They're a bit blurry from my one handed picture-taking!)

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Oooh...can't wait! If it weren't such a busy period and a working day, it would have been a whole day affair. Next time, next time... Meanwhile da bootie needs some workout after the non-stop festivities' excesses.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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(Rona streaks into the lead....Peter is hampered by limited internet availability   :sad: )

Ooooh!!! Rather than give Peter a helping hand, I must take advantage of his misfortune!

Day 2--lunch

We didn't know what we wanted to do on December 31st since, as I mentioned, we had pretty much nothing except for one dinner planned for the KL-leg of our trip. Piglet had mentioned Sage at the Gardens Residences, and Julian dined there shortly before we did, but when I mapped it, it seemed quite far from where we were staying. But wouldn’t you know it, there was a shuttle bus from various hotels to the Gardens! What luck!

We arrived promptly for our reservations at one, and were seated in a very spacious dining room. It was very Japanese to my eyes—clean and uncluttered, but comfortable.

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They have a partially open kitchen. I think there were at least three people in the open part, and who knows how many in the back.

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When we arrived, there was only one other couple in the room. One more couple arrived shortly after we did, and one group of four arrived shortly after them. It was a big room for so few people. This led to a larger amount of attention from the waitstaff (I think there were three or four) than we prefer, but I suppose too much attention is better than not enough. We were told that they had just begun serving lunch at the beginning of December, and although they were doing well at dinnertime, lunchtime was less than busy.

I liked that the water bottle matched the gerbera daisies on the table. :smile:

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You can order à la carte, or choose one of their set menus which merely allows you to choose courses from the a la carte menu for a slightly better price. We had the Sage.

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While I like having choices, I almost felt there were too many choices on the menu. For set menus, I prefer having more limited options. I like ordering and just being served whatever they want to make me but only because I’m hopeless at making decisions (as is my mother). And since there were so many staff members for so few patrons, I felt the added pressure of having our server standing next to my table waiting for me to decide. We sent them away after it was clear we needed more time, but I could still see them hovering. Or perhaps rather than “hovering”, I should say “waiting anxiously to assist us”?

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Once we had placed our order, we were given the same salty fried garlic-laden bread Julian had. I’m not sure why they gave us little dishes of balsamic vinegar and olive oil in which to dip the bread, since you couldn’t taste the olive oil or the balsamic through all the garlic. But we liked it. We liked it so much, that when they asked if we wanted more, my mother said, “Yes! Of course!” I balked, since I knew we’d have trouble eating the rest of our meal if we filled up on bread, but I managed to eat my share of the second serving, too.

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My mother started with the Carpaccio of Wagyu with Sesame Vinaigrette and Asparagus. Both she and I enjoyed this (carpaccio with sesame—I’m doing that at home!)

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I had originally ordered the same Feuillete of Anago with Foie Gras and Duxelles that Julian had, but when I ordered my main, I was told it, too, would contain foie, so I might want to order something else for my appetizer. I had the Casareccia Pasta with Lamb Shank and Edamame instead. When it was set in front of me, I was a mite bit disappointed. It looked rather blah, I thought. It was actually quite tasty, however. The lamb was tender, and the pasta was perfectly cooked.

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Sometime during this period, we finished the fried garlic bread, and we were offered some sesame bread (or was it seed bread?) fresh from the oven. I started to say no, but my mother butt in with an enthusiastic, “OK!” The server said he would just bring us a couple of slices to try, but when he returned to the table, he had also included the heel! I love the heel! He said he gave to us because it was the best part, and he was right. The sesame bread was a much better pairing with the food, and I wish they had prepared it earlier.

For her main, my mother had Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallop with Civet of Crayfish. I don’t know how it tasted, because despite my hints (“Wow! Look at that scallop! I wonder what it tastes like!”) I did not get even a smidgen of it. I think that meant she really enjoyed it, because otherwise she would have shared some of it (my mother usually shares her food unless it’s something she really really likes).

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And I had Confit of Muscovy Duck Leg with Sautéed Scallions. Like Julian said, there was no mention on the menu of the inclusion of foie in this dish, but I was fortunate (I guess) to have a hovering server anxious for me to have a great experience, so she mentioned it. Or perhaps they had heard complaints about people being foied out from over-ordering dishes with foie? Regardless, I thought the dish was well done. The duck was moist, and the foie, though a little limp and a bit stringy, was fine. My only complaint was that the dish was, for my taste buds, a bit too salty. Actually, I found most of the food at Sage to be a tad heavy on the salt, but my mother did not share that opinion.

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Almond Blanc Manges [sic] with Mango Sorbet and Passion Fruit. My mother’s dessert. I don’t really remember it, but I liked the almond tuile. What little I was allowed of it, anyway.

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And onsen tamago! No, it’s still the blanc mange, but it does look like onsen tamago, doesn’t it?

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Ricotta Soufflé served with Espresso Sorbet. Mmmmmmm. I want to make this. It was the perfect dessert for me—light and only the slightest bit sweet. I remember trying to scrape the caramelised bits that stuck to the edges of the dish.

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Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Sage. I think the service needs some fine tuning, but nothing happened that would prevent my return in the future. And coming from Japan, the meal was an excellent value, I thought. I would be interested in hearing how Sage develops once Cilantro re-opens. We were told that many of the staff (both FOH and BOH) were from Cilantro and would be returning there upon its re-opening, which means the most experienced staff members will likely be leaving. I'm sure by that time, everyone should be well-trained enough to carry on, but one never knows!

Edited by prasantrin (log)
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That food looks good. What does "civet" mean, in the context of a fish, rather than a cat? :wink:

Your guess is as good as mine! Lucy Vanel wrote on her blog:

What's in a Civet? Well, basically, it's a braise, with lots of bulbs from the onion family.

and Wiki says:

ragout of hare, rabbit or wild mammal, with red wine and onions, bound with the animal’s blood.

My mother said it just seemed like ordinary shrimp to her. I wouldn't know because, as I mentioned, I didn't get any of it! Even though I hinted! :angry:

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