Malaysia Restaurants

[Shiewie]

I'm more familiar with the Singapore version (brown, curry-ish, gravy, right?). I'll have to explore the world of assam laksa.

The Singapore version of the laksa is known as Curry Mee in Penang and as Curry / Kari Laksa in the rest of Malaysia. The gravy of the Penang-style Curry Mee is slightly thinner (less cocunut milk). Besides those two, there are quite a few other variations of laksa in Malaysia - Laksa Lemak / Siamese Laksa, Laksa Johor, Laksa Kedah etc - have a look at the laksa thread. Have a good time exploring the world of laksa!

[Shiewie]

Recommended Eateries in Kuala Lumpur

Chinese Restaurants

Upmarket

1) Dynasty at the Renaissance / New World Hotel on the junction of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Sultan Ismail

2) Golden Phoenix at the Equatorial Hotel, KL on Jalan Sultan Ismail

(Food at th Dynasty and Golden Phoenix is good but service can be a bit poor at times. The food at all the Equatorial dining outlets are generally quite good.)

3) Xin at the Concorde (what was previously the Merlin Hotel) on Jalan Sultan Ismail

4) Li Yen the Ritz-Carlton on Jalan Imbi

It seems that the chef who was there when the restaurant won its awards is no longer there so am not sure what the food is like now

5) Lai Cheng Yuen at the Regent on Jalan Bukit Bintang

6) Ming Palace at the Corus Hotel (previously known as Ming Court) on Jalan Ampang - halal

7) Shanghai at The Marriot on Jalan Bukit Bintang - expensive

Mid-Range

1) Tai Thong on Jalan Barat, off Jalan Imbi (Tai Thong and Overseas are a chain of Chinese restaurants scattered all over the Klang Valley - I like the original outlets at Jalan Barat (off Jalan Imbi) and Jalan Imbi best)

2) Overseas on Jalan Imbi

3) Hakka Restaurant on Jalan Kia Peng

4) Marco Polo at Wisma Lim Foo Yong on Jalan Raja Chulan - generally good but didn't quite like a couple dishes when I went there last

5) Classic Restaurant on Jalan Pudu Lama (next to the Tong Shin Hospital, opposite the Puduraya bus terminal) - have always liked the food here but haven't been since they refurbished it

6) Magic Wok in Damansara Jaya - this is in one of the suburbs in Petaling Jaya

7) Ho Poh Village - Hakka food - the address in the FriedChillies site is not current - the new address is

30 Jalan Sri Hartamas 8

Taman Sri Hartamas

Tel: 6203 1400

This is also in the suburbs, mid-way between KL and PJ. The Lui Cha Fan featured in the FriedChillies review is a specialty. However the taste gets some getting used too. I prefer the other Hakka specialties like "Mui Choy Kau Yook" (Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables), "Woo Tau Kau Yook" (Pork with Yam).

8) Greenview - this is also in the suburbs in Petaling Jaya. Famed for it's crabs and "Sang Har Meen" (deep-fried crunchy noodles with freshwater prawns in an eggy sauce). I also like the "Fatt Pud" (yam basket) there.

It was one of the restaurants featured in John Krich's list of places to eat in KL featured in The Asian Wall Street Journal last Nov:

Greenview

This renowned seafood outlet has the right ambience for Chinese food: Merrily noisy and offering little visual stimulation beyond the procession of treats that seem to be forever borne in the direction of the next family-encircled table. The emphasis here is on speedy delivery of crabs and whole sea creatures plainly dressed but perfectly timed.

It's a formula that has worked for Greenview for the past nine years. There's not much reason to change the quantity of garlic on the tiger shrimps, hoisted from their shells with just the right degree of aromatic resistance.

There are dozens of places in K.L. with crab in their name, but Greenview doesn't need to underline the point. The restaurant simply offers Indonesian or Australian varieties (the latter seemed slightly larger and tastier), cooked up in as many ways as the crabbiest diner could want. The "butter crab" is actually in a cream sauce enlivened with a slight kick of, believe it or not, Horlick's malt powder. And the eccentricity of some of Greenview's dishes is also evident in the crabs dipped in the yeasty English Marmite spread, dropped in curry leaves, doused in black pepper, or coated with egg yolk or the even fishier belacan paste. When I complained that the "sweet and sour" variety had been served with its chili kick purposely removed, Greenview's chagrined manager rose to the challenge by bringing out a free aromatic crab, blackened with charred peppers, green onions and more belacan. A perfect face-saving retort. Greenview also serves an excellent rendition of whole steamed patin, a fresh-water fish with a slightly strong and muddy taste almost resembling trout. Excellent accompaniments include tofu mixed with egg whites, which is properly custardy, and the leafy kang kong vegetables, stir-fried to a charred taste.

+ Consistently well-done seafood and all the fixin's done right.

- No written menu; fear of serving spice to Westerners.

Greenview

No. 6 and 8, Jalan 19/3, Petaling Jaya.

(Near what locals call the Rothman's Roundabout. From the Federal Highway, take the exit at the EFP (KWSP) building, turn right into Jalan Universiti. Several miles ahead, you will reach the roundabout. Across from the roundabout is the Lisa De Inn Hotel -- and Greenview is in the row of shops opposite.)

Tel: 60-3-7958-1076.

Open: daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Prices: all the shellfish you can eat for $14 per person. Accepts major credit cards.

9) Fatty Crab at 2 Jalan SS24/13, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya.

They have a very limited menu (pei tan/ century eggs with slices of preserved ginger, grilled chicken wings, crabs done two ways - in either a sweet and sour sauce with slices of toast to dip into the sauce or steamed with egg white and a dash of Chinese rice wine, steamed prawns, steamed fish and fried rice) but there are queues waiting for a table here on weekends.

9) Purple Cane Restaurant at the Chinese Assembly Hall

Quite interesting as everything is cooked with tea / tea leaves in it.

Cheap / Hawker Chinese places next!

[Pan]

Shiewie, you are a treasure! I will definitely carry this with me to Malaysia as a printout, and if I forget, there are always internet cafes!

I would tend to avoid any place that would be reluctant to serve the real stuff with the proper amounts of chili for me, so that is a minus. I deal with too much of that in New York; when I'm in Malaysia, I want the food bursting with flavor, like I remember.

Just two questions:

(1) Please give me an approximate range (RM are fine) that represents Upmarket and Mid-Range.

(2) What are options for public transportation from KL to PJ nowadays? Is there any light rail, or is that only within KL?

Oh, also, I'll be in KL for a few days on either end of my trip. If you'd like to meet me, please PM. I have no idea which hotel I'll be staying in, at this point.

[Shiewie]

Hi Pan

You are most welcome. Just contact me if you need directions, references to places eat/shop or want to go and eat when you are in KL - I'll pm you my contact details. I have greedy friends who'd be quite happy to go 'makan'.

Loads of chilli would not be a problem at most places - just tell them beforehand that you want it with the full works.

(1) Price Range

Cheap - Under RM20 per person (some of the places I'll include in this range may cross into the mid-range ones depending on what is ordered).

Mid Range - Approx. RM20 to RM50 per person for a table of 4 or more (food and tea, without other drinks)

Upmarket - Above RM50 per person

(2) Public Transportation in KL

There is a LRT running from PJ to KL and onto Ampang - the Putra Line (sigh - KL has 2 different LRT lines built and run by 2 different companies and they do not share the same stations. The only sort of interchange is at Masjid Jamek - one has to get out of one station and walk to the next in order to change lines.) Think it's approximately RM3 - RM4 for a trip from KL to PJ.

The LRT is a much better option than busses - not sure whether they even have a schedule here! Think it's about RM1 - RM1.50 for a trip from KL to PJ - haven't taken a bus in quite a while.

Taxis here are still fairly cheap compared to most other places.

[Shiewie]

Recommended Eateries in Kuala Lumpur (continued from earlier post)

Chinese Eateries

Cheap

The hawker-style places are probably the hardest section to cover, as they are so many all over the different parts of KL. The ones mentioned here are a sampling of the variety of hawker food in the Klang Valley - the list was getting kind of long so I thought I'd better stop!

Pan - do post if there's a particular type of Chinese hawker-style food that you'd like recommendations for and I haven't listed it here.

1) Soo Kee on Jalan Ampang (next to the flyover, near the turn-off to the zoo)

Excellent Char Siew (the dark kind with caramellised bits) and "Kon Chow Har Loke" (prawns fried in dark soya sauce). It's open for lunch and dinner. The prices here may cross over to mid-range depending on what’s ordered.

2) Soo Kee on Jalan Khoo Teik Ee (off Jalan Imbi)

Good fried noodles – “Sang Har Meen” (fried noodles with freshwater prawns in an eggy sauce), "Wat Tan Ngau Hor" (stir-fried flat noodles with beef, ginger and spring onions in an eggy sauce) and "Nam Yue Pai Kuat" (deep-fried pork ribs marinated with preserved tofu). Open for dinner only (I think). The prices here may cross over to mid-range depending on what’s ordered.

3) Steamed Fish at Jalan Tiga off Jalan Chan Sow Lin

Not sure what the name is but it's got really good "wan yue" (grass carp) steamed with crunchy fried garlic, ginger and chillies. The grass carp steamed with "tau cheong" (bean paste) is good too. The "yong tau foo" (literally translated as stuffed tofu, a traditional Hakka specialty where a mixture of fish paste, pork and salted fish stuffed into various kinds of tofu, bitter gourd, aubergines, ladies fingers, chillies) there is mediocre compared to the ones at Ampang New Village - (Open for lunch only, Mon - Sat)

See excerpt from review in the AWSJ last November

Place Under The Big Tree

I've never been a big fan of fish head, nor of eating within sniffing range of a row of auto repair and body shops. But this unlicensed outdoor Hakka restaurant -- which has no name but sits under a magnificent bit of tropical foliage in the front yard of an abandoned, ramshackle Malay-style mansion -- turned my head.

The house specialty at this sprawling establishment isn't merely the head, but the entire top half of a beautifully steamed giant freshwater grass carp. So there's plenty of fine tender meat and soft underbelly flesh without having to poke into the cheeks or eyeballs or gills (areas my Chinese-Malaysian co-devourers probed more invasively). Heads are cooked to your liking: drowned in brown-bean paste, which is a bit gloppy; or so-called "red braised," with hints of anise and curry; or, better yet, piled with nearly burnt garlic bits and ginger in light oil.

In line with the cooks' Hakka origins, Big Tree also provides big flavor in the form of outstanding baked pork ribs doused in five spice on a bed of steamed potatoes, and soft slabs of pork belly served with chunks of yam. Even the freshly flipped egg foo yung, laced with baby shrimp, looked like the ultimate overseas Chinese omelet. Only the tofu topped with dried shrimp verged on the ordinary.

It's perfunctory service -- plates are slapped down and there are no menus. But, after you're done with the fish head, you don't have to go far to get an oil change.

+ Luscious, earthy Hakka faves.

- Smell of rubber, auto paint fumes.

Place Under the Big Tree

In the front yard of the dilapidated house opposite No. 6, Jalan Tiga (Khaseng Corp. building), Sungai Besi.

(Take the Jalan Tun Razak south, heading for the K.L.-Seremban Highway to Jalan Sungai Besi. Go past the Malaysian Tobacco Co., and between Jalan Istana and Jalan Sungai Besi turn left into Jalan Tiga.)

No telephone.

Open: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sundays.

Prices: two humongous fish heads and plenty more for $8.

No credit cards accepted.

4) Yoke Woo Hin on Jalan Petaling (Chinatown)

Been around for ages - lots of old-timers still gather here to meet their friends for tea and dim sum in the mornings and is pretty packed for lunch too. (Open for breakfast and lunch. Not sure about dinner.)

5) Seng Nam Coffee Shop at the junction of Lebuh Ampang and Lebuh Pasar Besar (in the area between Chinatown and Little India)

One of the old kopi-tiam (local coffee-shops) that's good for a breakfast of toasted kopi-tiam-style bread with kaya / butter and sugar, soft-boiled eggs and local coffee. The chicken rice and fried mee-hoon (rice vermicelli) sold for lunch is also excellent. (Open for breakfast and lunch. Likely to be closed on Sunday.)

6) Soon Kee Beef Noodles at the junction of Jalan Bandar and Jalan Silang (in the area between Chinatown and Little India)

A variety of noodles (a choice of wanton mee noodles, rice-vermicelli, flat rice noodles or “loh-shue fun” (literally translated as mouse-tail noodles!)) topped with minced beef and pork and served with a beef-ball soup (as in meat-balls). (It’s open for lunch and dinner)

7) Ngau Kee Beef Noodles, Tingkat Tong Shin (the area behind Jalan Bukit Bintang)

A stall on the road-side (near the Ching Hai coffee-shop) that’s open only at night serving beef noodles similar to that served at Soon Kee.

8) Beef Noodles at Lai Fong coffee-shop (next to the pedestrian bridge to Jalan Petaling)

A different style of beef-noodles that’s cooked with “ham choy” (salted vegetables). The wanton noodles and the chicken and char siew rice at the shop next door is pretty good too. There are other stalls serving other types of hawker food at the coffee-shop. (Open for breakfast and lunch)

9) Low Yau Kee Porridge on Jalan Tun HS Lee near the junction of Jalan Bandar and Jalan Silang (in the area between Chinatown and Little India)

Fish, chicken or pork/pig intestine/tripe porridge (congee) and poached chicken. Another of those places that has been around for ever. (Only open in the evenings)

10) Hawker stalls at the Madras Lane market off Jalan Petaling (Chinatown)

Very good curry laksa - the hawker stalls here are quite territorial about where customers sit - if you sit at a certain section, you have to order from those stalls! (Breakfast and lunch)

11) Nam Heong Chicken Rice on Jalan Sultan (Chinatown)

This has since become part of a chain so may not be as good anymore. (Lunch. Not sure about dinner. The outlets in the suburbs are open for dinner.)

12) Ipoh Hor Fun at Soo Kee on Cecil Street (Cecil Street is the old name, can’t remember the new one, it’s the lane that links Jalan Petaling to Jalan Sultan in Chinatown). There’s a spin-off in PJ. Ipoh Hor Fun is a noodle dish of flat rice noodles served in a chicken and prawn stock with chicken shreds, prawns, bean sprouts and chives. Prawn wantons and poached chicken are available as side orders (Open for lunch only)

13) Sambal steamed seafood stall on the sidewalk at the junction of Jalan Petaling and Cecil Street (Chinatown). Extremely spicy. Be prepared to wait for a table and your food. It’s open for dinner only. It’s next to a stall which sells “air mata kuching” during the day – it’s a drink of “luo han guo” (googled it and the English term for luo han guo Arhat Fruit), winter melon and dried longans - a "cooling" drink that good for sore throats.

14) Ching Hai Coffee Shop at Tingkat Tong Shin (parallel to Jalan Bukit Bintang)

Good Ipoh hor fun hawker stall. The char siew at the chicken rice stall here is also most yummy. The chicken / char siew rice stall also sells some Hakka dishes – “Mui Choy Kau Yook” (Pork with Preserved Vegetables), Woo Tau Kau Yook (Pork with Yam).

15) Meng Kee, Tingkat Tong Shin (parallel to Jalan Bukit Bintang)

Char Siew and Chicken Rice in the front-yard of one of the pre-WWII terrace houses along the street. There’s also a shop that sells pretty good char kuay teow on the other end of Tingkat Tong Shin (evenings only)

16) Eateries along Jalan Alor (parallel Jalan Bukit Bintang)

Food at the most stalls along Jalan Alor are pretty good. Some are open for lunch, more are open for dinner. There a stall at the junction of Jalan Alor and Jalan Hicks that sells very good yu-tiao and other Chinese fried dough snacks – opens around 3pm.

17) Hakka Yong Tau Foo in Ampang New Village

A traditional Hakka specialty where a mixture of fish paste, pork and salted fish stuffed into various kinds of tofu, bitter gourd, aubergines, ladies fingers, chillies. I normally go to Hoong-Hoong (it’s called Fong-Fong in the Fried Chillies reivew, anyway, it’s the shop furthest to the right if your’re facing the 3 shops) (Open for lunch only)

18) Woo Lan on Jalan Scott in Brickefields

Good steamed fish head in a ginger sauce, guiness-stout pork ribs, fried tofu, honey chicken with ginger, tomyam prawns in a coconut

19) Roast duck at Sunrise in Section 21, PJ

The best roast duck in town.

20) O&S Coffee-Shop in Paramount Gardens, PJ

A popular coffee-shop with a wide variety of good hawker food – Penang prawn mee, char kuay teow, Penang chee cheong fun with prawn paste / chicken curry, curry laksa, yong tau foo and Chinese egg tarts (Tong Kee confectionery).

21) Hokkien Mee (KL style) – Ah Hwa at the coffee-shop near the Shell gas station on Jalan 223 in PJ

Hokkien Mee (KL style) is dish of wide wheat noodles (shaped somewhat like udon) fried in a dark soya sauce with lard, pork crackling, pork, shrimp, squid and cabbage and served with sambal or raw garlic in dark soya sauce. Besides Hokkien mee, there are other stalls selling “tauhu bakar” (grilled tofu puffs with bean sprouts, cucumber and a peanut sauce), “oh chien” (oyster omelettes), ikan bakar (grilled stingray in a sambal sauce).

[Shiewie]

And I haven't even finished going through the categories you listed!

Malaysians love to eat and good places to eat are spread through word of mouth. All the places that I have mentioned are generally quite well-known amongst the KL-lites.

Eating out is also very cheap in Malaysia - RM1 (USD1 = RM3.80) will buy you a nasi lemak / roti chanai for breakfast. Noodles / rice for lunch at a hawker place is about RM3 to RM4 (and these are KL prices, probably cheaper in small towns). It's no wonder that many Malaysians hardly cook (this is evident from the Fried Chillies site where it's all about where to eat and nothing on cooking).

Malaysians are also willing to drive far and wide for a good meal. Some drive for a couple of hours, for example to Ipoh, for a meal and drive back to KL after that.

We used to have an informal "makan" club at work where we'd take turns to find and organise outings to new places to eat every couple of weeks...and eventually set up a Makan Guide. Unfortunately, it's been comatose for a while as some are now on diets, working elsewhere, have new babies to look after or have turned semi-vegetarian. Sigh - the Fried Chillies site has also beaten us to it.

[Pan]

And I haven't even finished going through the categories you listed!

Yeah, I know! Our favorite thing to eat in KT used to be Cili Udang Galah. You probably remember that the udang galah (huge prawns) in those days were the size of small lobsters. I've heard that such big shrimps haven't existed in Malaysian waters for many years now. But if there's any place you know of that has something like that, please tell me. I can't remember the name of the place we used to go to. It was supposedly the 2nd-best Chinese restaurant in KT, but we liked it better than the "best" because the owner was friendlier and the place was unpretentious and consistently excellent. It was on what I guess was the south (away-from-the-river) side of the main street in the part of KT Chinatown closest to the port and Istana (several blocks from the hotel we used to stay at, which was on the divided boulevard), but I forget the name of the street. I hope that the woman and her husband are alive and healthy, and I figure they would now be in their late 50s or early 60s or so (it was a husband-and-wife team, with the wife as proprietress/hostess/waitress and the husband as chef). We liked the red pork there, too.

Ipoh was always known for its good food, so I can understand going there and back for a good meal.

I have to say, the only way I could write about this large a number of places in New York is if I wrote about places I've eaten at, places I've never eaten at but which are well-respected and expensive, and places trusted friends I contacted told me about. Even then, I don't think it would be this extensive. It's starting to look to me like the eGullet Restaurant Guide that Fat Guy talked about at a certain point. (That idea seems dormant, for the most part. Maybe it's worth bringing up again.)

[maukitten]

It's been a while since I've been to Kota Bharu but I still remember the wonderful meals I had at Restoran SYAM (594 Jalan Hospital, Kota Bharu. Tel : 09-748-4713). The cooking style is predominantly Malay with strong Thai influence.

Try the food at the night food stalls at the carpark near the central market. Feast on nasi kerabu (blue-stained rice with fresh local herbs), ayam percik (Kelantanese grilled chicken), som tam (Thai papaya salad) and nasi dagang (unpolished glutinuous rice with tuna curry).

Someone once told me that the nasi kerabu vendors cast a magic spell ("jampi") over the fish sauce ("budu")that goes with the rice to ensure that their customers keep coming back. I don't know whether it is true or not, but I do find myself craving nasi kerabu at the oddest times.

Oh, and I hate to say this, but if your digestive system is not acclimatised yet, don't leave home without the imodium!

[tonkichi]

6) Soon Kee Beef Noodles at the junction of Jalan Bandar and Jalan Silang  (in the area between Chinatown and Little India)

A variety of noodles (a choice of wanton mee noodles, rice-vermicelli, flat rice noodles or “loh-shue fun” (literally translated as mouse-tail noodles!)) topped with minced beef and pork and served with a beef-ball soup (as in meat-balls). (It’s open for lunch and dinner)

The last time I was there, my bowl of loh-shue fan had the bottom half of a very dead lizard. I was really freaked out, initially I thought, what a strange piece of beef tripe!. On top of that, after they were done watching me scream and hyperventillate, the other patrons in the coffee shop continued to eat their noodles with total indifference!

[Shiewie]

The last time I was there, my bowl of loh-shue fan had the bottom half of a very dead lizard. I was really freaked out, initially I thought, what a strange piece of beef tripe!. On top of that, after they were done watching me scream and hyperventillate, the other patrons in the coffee shop continued to eat their noodles with total indifference!

They've renovated the shop recently so hopefully there''ll no longer be any dead lizards dropping from the ceiling into bowls of noodles!

[Shiewie]

Our favorite thing to eat in KT used to be Cili Udang Galah. You probably remember that the udang galah (huge prawns) in those days were the size of small lobsters. I've heard that such big shrimps haven't existed in Malaysian waters for many years now.  But if there's any place you know of that has something like that, please tell me.

I thought they now farm udang galah (tiger prawns) in Malaysia and hence udang galah should be available (don't know whether they're the size of small lobsters though). However, I've heard that the better seafood that's caught off the Terengganu coast is not sold locally, so much so that some restauranteurs there actually come to KL to buy fish! Such irony!

I haven't had any udang galah recently though as I'm not a big fan of huge prawns as I find the meat a bit tough - prefer them medium-sized, steamed with a dash of rice wine and ginger. A memorable udang galah dish I've had in the past was at this eatery called Tokyo in a suburb near the Selayang wholesale market that that we went to as part of our makan club sometime back. It's not in chilli though - it was grilled with hints of Chinese herbs and had caramellised sugar bits. I've only been there once as the other dishes that we had there were fairly average.

Anyway, will ask around and see if anyone knows a place with good Cili Udang Galah.

I have to say, the only way I could write about this large a number of places in New York is if I wrote about places I've eaten at, places I've never eaten at but which are well-respected and expensive, and places trusted friends I contacted told me about. Even then, I don't think it would be this extensive.

Oh dear! Guess this means Malaysians eat a lot and very often. Hmmm - this might explain the slimming centres that are popping up all over the place.

[Shiewie]

Recommended Eateries in Kuala Lumpur

Dim Sum Specialists

1) Xin at Concorde

- what was previously the KL Merlin and they use trolleys here

2) Shang Palace at the Shangri-La KL

3) Li Yen at the Ritz Carlton

4) Dynasty at Renaissance / New World

5) Celestial Court at Sheraton Imperial - halal

6) Lai Poh Heen at Mandarin Oriental - halal

7) Ming Palace at Corus Hotel - halal

8) Tai Thong restaurants - some have trolleys

9) Overseas Restaurant - Central Market

Haven't been in quite a while but they used to have trolleys

10) Shanghai at JW Marriot for Shanghainese-style dim-sum

[Pan]

Do any of you have any views as to which guidebook (or, for that matter, web site) would have the most coverage of economical hotels in Malaysia? I looked at Lonely Planet's paper guide and was very dissatisfied; they seem to have really concentrated on Thailand and given Malaysia short shrift, yet I haven't found a more complete guide yet.

[Shiewie]

Hi Pan

Try these websites for hotels in Malaysia:

http://www.asia-hotels.com/hl/Greater_Kual...ur-Malaysia.asp - bit more helpful than the others as there's a

customer review section

http://www.asiatravel.com/malaysia.html

http://www.asiatravelmart.com

http://www.marimari.com/hotel/malaysia/main.html

http://www.visitormalaysia.com/accommodati...tion/index.html

http://www.malaysia-one.com/

http://www.terengganu.gov.my/vty97/calendar.htm

http://www.kelantan.gov.my/accomodation_bi.htm

I'm likely to be away (in the East Coast) from July 31 to August 3 - call when you get here as plans may change. Should be in town around August 25.

[Shiewie]

Recommended Eateries in Kuala Lumpur

My recommendations are a bit thin for this category...I've only been to the first 3 in the list below.

South Indian Vegetarian

1) Annalakshmi - Ground Floor, Mid Valley Mega Mall (the entrance is outside the mall)

This is probably the most well-known Indian vegetarian restaurant in KL. It's run by volunteers from the Temple of Fine Arts and the proceeds are used to support a free clinic for the poor. There's an a la carte selection as well as a daily buffet for lunch and dinner. The last time I went (sometime last year), they had removed the prices from the menu. Instead, diners make a donation.

2) Karuna's - Grand Paradise Hotel on Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Brickfields

Been here once and it's quite interesting - besides the usual Indian vegetarian dishes, here they use Chinese vegetarian soya products as meat/fish substitutes in non-vegetarian Indian food.

3) Poori and appam stall in Lucky Garden, Bangsar

The poori stall opens in the evenings - the dhall curry is excellent.

4) Madras New Woodlands on Jalan Telawi 5, Bangsar

5) Govinda's on Jalan Bunus Enam, Masjid India

Vegetarian restaurant run by the Hare Krishnas

6) Vegetarian places along Lebuh Ampang

There are several Indian vegetarian places along Lebuh Ampang and the Masjid India area (referred to as the Little India of Kuala Lumpur). A friend says there is a hole-in-the-wall place here that has excellent dosai (generally spelt as thosai in Malaysia) but it's kind of grubby so they usually "bungkus" (take-away) their food.

Besides the South Indian vegetarian eateries, there are also non-vegetarian South Indian places - I'd term these as the banana leaf / fish head curry places - banana leaves are used instead of plates for diners having rice - a little mountain of rice is piled onto the banana leaf, drizzled with chicken or fish curry and served together with the standard condiments of some vegetables, sambar and papadams. Diners choose from a selection of dishes to go with the rice, amongst them fish head curry. Various Indian breads are also available at these places. Would you like any recommendations for these?

[BlueSky]

Hello everybody:

I am new here. New to the board, and new to cooking...

But eating has always been my life-long passion. After all, I am a Chinese born in Thailand. And both Chinese and Thais LOVE to eat.

So I guess that somewhat qualifies me to join this board.

Anyone have info on the Malay-majority part of Thailand? I've been hearing conflicting things about how safe it is to visit (and will it be interesting?).

Hi Pan:

I noted you have expanded your travel plan from the"Southern part of Thailand" to "various parts.... Laos and Cambodia"

Anyway, the Malay-majority part of Thailand are concentrated on the five border cities: Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Satoon, and Songkhla. The only place I think you can afford to miss is probably Satoon. (OK, I don't really know Satoon-- that's why...)

I recommend visiting Betong, the border point for Yala, as it is quite a unique place, even for Thai. I would say it is much more Chinese than Malay, though. The Chinese food there is supposed to be one of the best in Thailand. The town's specialty is Stir- fried Watercress. (Puck Naam) I am sure you can find a good Halal place there.

As the road from Betong to the rest of Thailand can be an adventure in itself, you can opt to go back into Malaysia and enter Thailand again at Sungai Kolok, in Narathiwat, and go to Pattani from there. It is reasonably safe if you are careful and use good sense. If you travel alone, be very careful, especially when you cannot speak the language. I would stick to the city and market place, unless you have a certified guide. If you are traveling with a few other people, you might want to consider hiring a driver-guide in Thailand. Converting back into US dollars, it is really reasonable. I once hire a minivan for about $70 per day, all-inclusive. He ate with us, of course, but that also guarantees a good eating place everywhere we go. He could also go in and out of Malaysia, spoke some English, good Malay, and perfect Thai. That took a lot of guesswork out but we can still do whatever we want to do and stay as long as we like.

But if you plan to travel alone, that's fine too. Just be careful not to venture out alone in the dark, or where there are no other people around. The economy hasn't been the best lately, so crime rates have increased a bit.

And here are some recommendations on eating place:

If stopping in Narathiwat, go to the morning market and buy your breakfast there. Yes, it's certainly not the cleanest place in the world, but I never had any problem with the food there when I visit. Pick your breakfast from the variety of Malay and Southern Thai food there. My favorites are

- Poo-Loh: Sweet Sticky rice cooked with brown syrup with grated fresh coconut and fried fish

- Kaaw-Yum: (Literally, mixed salad rice) Blue riced (as someone mentioned earlier) with about 10 kinds of fresh thinly julienned-cut or sliced vegetables & herbs, crumbled pomelo, toasted coconut flakes, dried shredded fish or shrimp. The best part is the dressing - Budu --sweet and salty syrupy fish sauce. Yummy and nutritious. Muesli and Cereals would not even compare.

Another popular breakfast is Chicken noodle soup at the Ritz Hotel. (Not to be confused with Ritz-Carlton. This Ritz is an old guesthouse. hee hee.) Smooth thin noodles in clear aromatic soup. You just can't find it anywhere else. Again, I am not sure whether it is halal, but I have seen some Islamic locals buying them. So it should be OK.

Pattani is another interesting place. I don't remember the name of the restaurants, but everything I had there was good. You might want to stop at the PSU (Prince of Songkhla University), known to the locals as "More Or". The Pattani campus housed the institute of Islamic study, and there should be interesting things to see.

I grew up in Songkhla. My hometown is called Hat Yai, which is the favorite place for Malaysians and Singaporeans. One of the reasons is its variety and quality of food. One of the best known street food is fried chicken. Nothing like the southern fried, or any of the fast-food chains we know. The chicken is marinated, but not battered. The skin is crisp and very brown. This is eaten with sticky rice, crispy fried shallots, and sweet/spicy syrupy sauce. OK... not healthy.... but worth every calorie and cholesterol point. And it is definitely halal. Locals call them Gai-Todd-Islam. (Gai Todd = fried chicken)

OK. I'd better go. This is making me homesick... and hungry. Have a great trip.

[Shiewie]

Hi BlueSky

Welcome to the board! Thanks for the fascinating post.

The Kaaw-Yum you mentioned is very similar to the Nasi Kerabu / Nasi Ulam we get in Malaysia. A difference (but very nice one) is the addition of pomelo in the rice salad - perhaps I'll add some the next time I have Nasi Kerabu.

I've tried a fried chicken with sweet chilli sauce and sticky rice from a street stall in Phuket - it was most addictive. Would this be similar to the ones in Hat Yai?

[BlueSky]

Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, the Gai Todd in Phuket would be the same. And yes, it is kind of addictive.

The world was a lot nicer place when I was young. You could practically eat anything without having to think about how it would affect your health or waistline. :-)

Next time I go home, I'll cross over to KL and try some of the recommendations.

[Pan]

Hi Pan:

I noted you have expanded your travel plan from the"Southern part of Thailand" to "various parts.... Laos and Cambodia" 

That was possible if I were travelling with my brother, but I decided I simply don't have time to travel so far afield from Malaysia on this trip, so it will be strictly Malaysia plus (most likely) southern Thailand.

Thank you for your wonderful post, but one followup question: I'm a New Yorker and regularly walk around Manhattan and take the subway at all hours of the day and night. I also walked all over the place in Paris in the wee hours last summer. Do you think it would be more dangerous for me to be up and about after dark in the parts of southern Thailand you were talking about?

[Pan]

Does anyone have some recommendations for the East Coast from Kuantan on north (especially K. Terengganu, Jerteh/Besut, Kota Baru)? Is Kuantan worth visiting nowadays, from a standpoint of either food or general ambiance?

[Wimpy]

Hi guys-

I have to make a day trip to Ipoh (via Penang) next week (am based in Spore). Will have time for lunch in Ipoh and dinner in Penang. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[BlueSky]

[Pan]

Thank you very much, BlueSky. Your advice certainly sounds reasonable to me. And no, my physical features won't blend in. I'm a Mat Salleh. (That's a Malay nickname for white people.) But my Jewish nose may make me look similar to an Arab, for good or ill.

[Pan]

Hi, everyone. I'm posting from an internet center on Jalan Bukit Bintang in KL.

I'm staying in Petaling Jaya, but my first post will be about a place in KL's Chinatown, because I think it shows something about Malaysian Chinese cuisine.

I took the LRT tonight to the stop nearest KL's Chinatown (Pasar Seni), walked around what turned out to be the sleepier part of the neighborhood, and decided to eat at a very basic restaurant called Restoran West Lake on Jalan Sultan, a major street in Chinatown. West Lake is lit exclusively with white fluorescent lights, and all the settings are plastic (bowl, chopsticks, spoon, plate). No napkins are provided. First, I was asked if I wanted to eat rice or noodles. "Rice," I said. I requested chili crab from the menu, but the waitress said they were out of it (I did show up kind of late, I guess, at least for that part of the street - 8:40). So I asked what they did have. They had chicken and vegetables, mainly, as I remember. I ordered what turned out to be something they called "Thai Chicken." It was as hot-peppery as the hottest Buffalo Wings at Atomic Wings in New York, but much tastier, and I liked it more and more the longer I ate it. So why do I say that something called "Thai Chicken" shows something about Malaysian Chinese cuisine? Because there's no way you could get something that hot-peppery at anything except perhaps a Sichuan place in New York, and it's certainly the case that I've never had a similar chicken dish in any Chinese restaurant in New York. Nor did it really taste Thai. This is _Malaysian_ food, and damn good, too.

Edited August 1, 2003 by Pan (log)

[SG-]

look for a ice dried longan beverage stand around the mid point section of the nite market on Petaling street for a refreshing beverage, great break from the heat and humidity. Also look out for stalls selling spicy roasted caramalized squid, excellent snacks.