Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

And we're back to the coverage of Brad and my trip back in June/July to Asia! We're up to country number 4, Malaysia! 

Although we spent 5 days in KL, we didn't really do much! We were lucky enough to get some vouchers through my work to stay at the G Tower Hotel, which is a very swanky 5 star hotel, minutes away from the KLCC shopping mall, which is also where the famous KL Twin Towers reside. Win!

Our time in KL was mostly split up between eating, shopping (to Brad's dismay) and seeing family, although often eating and seeing family were combined together (naturally).

We got into KL pretty late, so my dad, who was also in town on business, picked us up from our hotel at around 10pm for supper. I wish I could tell you where he took us, but we went local and got some noodles and pigs uterus. As you do. It's pretty tasty yo.

I was so pleased to be close to KLCC, as it then meant that I was close to the Little Penang Kafe in KLCC! There's a couple of outlets, but this is the one I'm most familiar with. 

Sure, I could get cheaper hawker food elsewhere, but Little Penang Kafe has always given me consistently good and authentic food in a comfortable environment. 

My dad, who's incredibly picky about his fried kuay tow, loves the FKT at Little Penang Kafe. Excuse the picture, started tucking in and then realised I forgot to take a photo! 

On the menu they say to give a 20 minute wait time, but when we ordered it, it came out super quickly! But still piping hot, with wok breath and the most important thing…cockles. COCKLES. This is why I don't eat FKT back in Melbourne, as I don't think I know of anywhere that would include cockles. They're always (or should always be) thrown in towards the end and only lightly seared, so that they're still juicy and potentially a bit bloody. They give a salty, taste of the ocean juiciness to the noodles, which I just adore. 

I almost always get pie tee as well, it's one of my favourite Nyona nibbles. It's also almost never seen outside of Malaysia, as it actually takes a lot of work to make the shells, which are light and crisp and don't go overly soggy even with filling inside. Make sure to top with a bit of chilli before popping it down the hatch!

My last must have from Little Penang Kafe? The cendol. It is probably one of the most authentic and tastiest cendol's you will get in KL within the city, in a sit down restaurant. It essentially consists of shaved ice, pandan noodles (those green wiggly looking things), coconut milk, palm sugar and toppings, typically red bean, which is all I like with it usually. Don't be put off by the green, it's incredibly refreshing.

If you do want the best cendol in town though, you'll need someone who has a car and knows how to get around, cause you'll want to pop out to SS2, Section 17 in Petaling Jaya. Sold from a truck on the side of the road under a big tree, it's very popular with the locals as it's super tasty, always cold and stupidly cheap. I think a regular serve was like 3 ringitt and the large size (which is suitably larger) is 30 cents more. Really? 

If you want more help finding the location, check out this blog. :)

Dad took us out another night to get claypot rice from a street stall. Love this stuff. Incredibly comforting, I adore the salty chinese sausage (or lap cheong) in particular. We drank beer, as dad said it was best not to trust the water when it's actually a moving stall…fine by me really…!

We tried milo roti at a place called 'The Teh Tarik' place in the new Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya. And as odd as the concept sounds, it was totally tasty, a bit of savoury, bit of oil, bit of...milo. Yum! I actually really liked the concept of the place, it's a slightly cool and trendy kopitiam essentially, but keeping the menu fairly simple with just roti's, teas and coffee for the most part. 

When we went to go spend an evening with my family, my dad naturally had to stop and pick up the king of the fruits…or just…durians. 

No, it's not my favourite fruit, I actually don't eat it at all as I just can't stand the smell, but I was still ordered to help pack it as dad bought it. The smell didn't leave my fingers and the ring I was wearing at the time for days!

Brad had his first taste of durian this trip, what better way to try it than with the stinkiest ones from Malaysia? He is now one of the only people I know who won't say he loves it or hates it and is actually on the fence about the whole thing. My boyfriend is a strange person. He definitely was not anticipating the rather aggressive burping that ensued after though. Readers, should you choose to try this fruit, you have been warned!

Just a casual home meal for 10 people. Yup.

 

We also tried some award winning beer my dad had brought back from Japan on his most recent visit there. Good stuff.

At our hotel in the G Tower, on level 28, The Club is located, where breakfast is served (smart casual dress code, even for breakfast!), there is also the Bridge Bar, which is accessible only to members of The Club and hotel guests. It's a swanky little space, with a great view, suspended between the two towers, 28 levels above ground. Some of the floor is totally see through, so you look down…and…it's a bit scary. More drinks!

In between all the eating we did manage to squeeze in a little bit of culture, and took ourselves off to the Islamic Art Museum. 

It's an absolutely gorgeous building, filled with history and plenty of beautiful artefacts to look at. There are mini models of the significant mosques around the world, along with the history and it's importance, information about the history of Islam in different parts of the world and lots and lots of Koran's. 

Check out this tiny tiny tiny one! Who thought you could even write that small? 

I also popped by to KL more recently with my family in October and discovered the joys of Pasembur style rojak, which is a lot more savoury, hotter and more filling than the fruit rojak I am generally more used to. Instead of fruit, you get fried dough fritters, bean curds, potatoes, boiled eggs, crunchy prawn fritters, cuttlefish and cucumber in a thick spicy peanut sauce. Best place for it? 

SS15 in Subang Jaya, where even at 2pm there were 20 minute queues. A regular we met in the line said on the weekend the lines go much longer! In Malaysia, if you see a queue for a hawker stall or stand, join it. JOIN IT. Don't even ask what it's for. You know it'll be good. 

Be sure to check out the other stalls next to the rojak one if you ever visit, the nasi lemak with fried chicken was one of the best as well! 

My dad's friend also took us out to eat shark snout, someway away from Petaling Jaya. To me, it was like eating beef tendon that tasted like shark fin soup….

Kuala Lumpur is a great little spot to get a feel for Malaysian food and culture in, but still have lots of creature comforts. I absolutely adore shopping in KL. However after 5 days in KL our next stop was Penang...the food mecca of Malaysia...

G Tower Hotel

199 Jalan Tun Razak  50400 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Little Penang Kafe

Suria Klcc Jalan Ampang, Parkson Suria KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Teh Tarik Place

Lot 2F-25, Level 2, Paradigm Mall
No.1, Jalan Kelana SS7/26A
Kelana Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jay

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Islamic Arts Museum

Jalan Lembah Perdana, 50480 Kuala Lumpur  50480, Malaysia

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A quick runaround Kuala Lumpur

Recently (meaning in September....ahem), I had a bit of a crazy 2 week trip, in which I visited 4 countries, spent about 30 hours on planes and only spent about 2 nights in each country I was at.

The trip was a bit for work, a bit for play and some house keeping errands as well. So basically, I landed in Kuala Lumpur, spent a few nights there, then went to Vietnam for a networking event, back to KL for a few nights to recoup energy, over to Hong Kong to get my HK ID reissued, over to Bangkok for a meeting with some friends and then finally back to KL, before I made my way back to Melbourne.

Yeah. I'm tired reading through all that too. I don't think I ever slept so much as I did when I got back!

So I normally do like to blog about each restaurant I go to individually, but as I really did not do a lot of exciting eating out, as it was constantly raining all the time and I was working for most of it, here's just a quick summary of the first three days I had in KL...

Whilst I don't often go for Malaysian food when I'm in Melbourne, drop me off in Malaysia and it's all I want. May as well have it where it (should be) really good and really cheap! I personally find Malaysian food to be one of the heavier Asian cuisines, lots of fried noodles, fried rice, curries and so forth (by the end of two weeks I was hunting down salads...), but it is also surprisingly diverse. There's the men who man the Chinese Malaysian hawker stores, the Indian nasi kandar, and a bit of who else knows what.

This trip in KL, I stayed at Prince Hotel, which is literally a 5 minute walk away from the super luxe mall, Pavilion, which also means, heaps of food. Hoorah! Mall culture in Asia is so bizarre to me sometimes, can you imagine going to a mall specifically for dinner? May as well throw in some shopping while you're at it I guess...

One of the first things I wanted when I got to KL was a Nasi Lemak. My favourite (literally translated), fat rice.

The last time I had been to the Pavilion food court, I was quite unimpressed by the nasi lemak, so decided to see if I could try somewhere else. My dad had never ever liked Madam Kwan, but there she was and since I had never been, I figured I could not be a judge unless I tried it.

Teh tarik is also one of my favourite drinks to have when I'm back in Malaysia. It is known as 'pulled tea' and made of black tea and condensed milk, so you have the nice tea flavour, that has a sweetness to it, without being too milky. Typically served hot, but I was in the mood to have mine cold...

The nasi lemak at Madam Kwan was (by Malaysian standards) a little expensive, somewhere between 15 to 20 ringett. I found the curry chicken a little bit dry and oddly sweet, although it was tasty. The sambal lacked a little kick to it as well, but as it was my first nasi lemak in a very long time, I wasn't really complaining too much. Although a little expensive by Malaysian standards, I thought it was fairly okay.

Sushi trains in Malaysia bewilder me. They always have the oddest things on the menu. Isn't collagen that suff you inject in your face?!

My brother and I actually discovered our love for sushi and all things Japanese flavoured by eating at a sushi train somewhere in Kuala Lumpur and smashing down 20 plates between the two of us.

I know, why I am having sushi in Malaysia? Because it's a sushi train, and I love the novelty, and it's much cheaper than in Australia. May as well indulge right?

On my own I only had 3 or 4 plates, but the standard has dropped a lot from the last time I was here, this goes for both the sushi trains in Pavilion. The rice was always a bit hard and chewy, meaning they don't do much turn around of their plates and everything was covered in mayonaise for the most part.

On day 2, I decided to go down to the Lot 10 food court for lunch, as per some recommendations.

Whilst I was hoping for something that was more hawker-style, I found Lot 10's food court had a lot of Chinese stalls, and not so many Malaysian stalls unfortunately. Although there was a massive variety of Chinese cuisine, from hot pots, to soup noodles to roast duck. The place was also quite nicely decked out, although a touch hot due to the fact it was quite crowded and all the stalls really close to each other!

I did manage to find one store though, where they sold what they called 'Penang Style Zu Cheng Fan', but to me, just looked like my favourite chee cheong fun. Chee cheong fun is essentially a rice noodle roll and the Penang style uses a shrimp paste which is quite dark and sweet. They also usually mix in a bit of chilli with it and at this stall, a sprinkle of fried shallots and sesame seeds. Mmhmmm. I love this dish. It's typically served at kopitiams for breakfast, but having been spoilt on Western styled, usually lighter breakfasts, I can only fathom having this at least for lunch!

It was really good and incredibly satisfying, carbohydrates mmhmmm! And of course I had to have some awesome teh tarik...

Day three, I kept it simple and went for some nasi kandar in the food court, which was actually pretty decent. At nasi kandar's the will usually have a selection of different curries, vegetables and proteins, usually in bain marie's, to choose from which is then served to you with rice. A healthy serving of rice, some chicken curry, some lamb curry and some veggies on the side. Can't go too wrong.

I was also craving some cendol, which is probably my favourite Malaysian dessert (I like it more than ice kachang, gasp!), but the offering at the Pavilion food court, which I forgot to mention is called the 'Food Republic' was quite dismal. The pandan tasted all burnt for some reason! I won't elaborate more on what it is as I have a much better example saved up for a later date....