I’m off to KL for another family wedding. I’ll be there next month for about 8 days. Family is near Bukit Bintang so I’ll either be staying with them or in a nearby hotel. Any must eats around that area? We’re planning on doing some shopping before the wedding around KLCC and Brickfields so will hit up whatever cafes/eateries my cousins take us too, but I’ll have some down time between wedding events to go around the immediate area and check out other places too.
No recs for Indian food please – we’re indian, having an indian wedding. I’ll be ODed on indian food about 4 days into my trip!
(BTW, HO pointed out to me that this thread is similar to a post asking for good Mexican food in Philadelphia. Um, no, it’s not!)
Hi boogiebaby - are you looking for street hawker stalls or proper restaurants?
The stretch of Bukit Bintang Rd between Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Raja Chulan is dominated by mall eateries - if you hit Lot 10’s Hutong foodcourt - the Penang “char koay teow” stall is very good. The Soong Kee stall there is a branch of the famous one in Jalan Tun HS Lee (in the old part of downtown KL) but its standards are not so consistent.
In the mornings, I like to explore the Imbi Market hawker stalls - lots of good options there from Nasi Lemak (Chinese version, which includes pork curry) to “yong tau fu”.
The swanky Pavilion mall has some interesting eateries: Nanyang Authentic has some good Ipoh-style Cantonese and Hakka dishes. Al-Halabi on Level 7 of the Pavilion has good Syrian cuisine.
If you want Chinese - Oversea on Jalan Imbi is the best Cantonese restaurant in KL, IMO. Try its “char-siew” (BBQ pork) and “siew yoke” (crisp-skinned roast pork).
For coffeeshop eats, Win Heng Seng, also on Jalan Imbi, has a good collection of hawker stalls - its pork noodles is very popular.
Thanks, Peter. I usually prefer coffee shop/stall/casual places. You gave me a good list to work from. I’m sure I’ll be shopping at Pavilion too, among other places!
I’ve been living in KL the past 5 years already, so I’m beginning to “behave like a local” now and couldn’t think of anything specific off-hand to recommend to you (unlike Penang, which I’m only starting to delve in-depth the past 3 months and so have dozens of recs off the top of my head that I can give to you) - so, do let me know if you’re looking for any specific dish in KL - I’m sure to know where to find it, if it’s available in the city/Klang Valley area.
Thanks! My mom’s sister and her family have lived in KL for 25+ years or so. They have their usual favorites that they take us to, obviously, but I wanted some places I could go to on my own when they are too busy to go out with us.
Just came back from a 2 week trip to Malaysia (I’ll hopefuly put a post or two together over the next few days) and visited the Imbi market again after enjoying it on our first trip.
The first time we tried the chee cheong fun, crispy popiah, and the egg tarts from the bakery there.
This time, the close proximity to CNY meant a lot of the stalls in this section of the market were closed, although we had the chee cheong fun again. This time it was less busy and the guy running the stall had more of a chance to chat to us and explain what some of the battered items we didn’t recognise were, like lotus root.
There were way more places to eat than I realised last time, just inside the wet market, and I took a lucky dip and had a really nice Sarawak style laksa from one of the stalls just outside the covered area, a few rows of stalls from the section with the crispy popiah. I think this is only available on a Sunday, they had a rotating option each day.
Thanks Lex. I’ve been to the Imbi market stalls a couple trips ago, and enjoyed the food I had. I love chee chong fun, so it’s nice to know they do a good version there.
Do you or @klyeoh know if there’s a good version of Ipoh taugeh in the area? I’m not going to get time to go to Ipoh this visit, so it would be great to get a decent version to tide me over until next trip!
If my mind serves me correctly, there’s Pau Kee, which is on the slip road round the corner from the popular Win Heng Seng coffeeshop at Jalan Imbi. It serves Ipoh-style “kai see hor fun”, and should have Ipoh-style “taugeh”:
Restaurant Pau Kee
10, Jalan Utara, off Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
A tastier one can be found at San Peng in Pudu - you’ll need a 10-minute taxi ride from Bukit Bintang to get there:
San Peng “Kai See Hor Fun”(鸡丝河粉).
Jalan San Peng
Pudu
55200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +6012-290 7050/ +6012-311 8292
I’ll be ODed on indian food about 4 days into my trip!
