Kuala Lumpur Food Trail

16 - 18 May 2015

Kuala Lumpur has been a layover stop for me on my way back to Sibu from Papua New Guinea for a few times now. During those layovers, I have not really been searching hard for popular eateries.

Before the last trip back to Sibu, I decided to search the Net to find the most famous eateries located in Chinatown, Jalan Alor near Bukit Bintang, Chow Kit area, Brickfields and Pasar Baru Bukit Bintang (better known as Imbi Market).

However, while in Kuala Lumpur from 16 – 18 May 2015, I only seek out some of the popular food stalls. When I stumbled upon stalls where food looked tempting and delicious, I would stop for a bite. I did not try popular food from famous food stalls that did not look appealing to me like Wantan Noodle at Kedai Koon Kee and Yong Tau Foo at Madras Lane in Chinatown. Neither did I stop at popular eateries where I had been before like Hon Kee Famous Porridge and Shin Kee Beef Noodle.

Kuala Lumpur Chinatown is famous for its hawkers selling imitation goods. Early in the morning, before they start their day, the street is quiet and this is the time when food hawkers appear on the streets. When the goods hawkers start opening their stalls, the food operators start winding down theirs.

This roasted pork stand was one of the morning stalls. Its crispy skin looked too tempting. I took a look, walked away, and came back again. I could not ignore it. My mouth was watering already.

Food   : Roasted pork (early morning only)

Street  : Petaling Street, Chinatown (Entrance to Madras Lane)

GPS     : N3° 08.628' E101° 41.853'

The roasted pork vendor

Roasted pork - verdict: 7/10

I just love fried food. As long as they are fried, I have to try them. This morning stall sells just two types of fried food and I had to try both the fried prawn fritters and the fried carrot (or more accurately, daikon) cake.

Food    : Fried prawn fritter and fried carrot (daikon) cake (morning only)

Street   : Jalan Hang Lekir, Chinatown

GPS     : N3° 08.665' E101° 41.888'

Prawn fritter - verdict: 6/10

Carrot cake - verdict: 6/10

Then, there was this roasted duck stall, Sze Ngan Chye. Again, this is a morning stall. It was famous, appearing in a few blogs on Chinatown food. I wanted to buy MYR10 worth of the duck. Sorry! The smallest portion it would sell was half a duck. That would be too much for me, unless I was going to give up other stuff. It was too bad. Maybe next time!

Name   : Sze Ngan Chye (early morning only)

Food    : Roasted duck

Street   : Petaling Street, Chinatown

I sought out the Hokkien Noodle, which I first came across in Port Moresby. Yes, Port Moresby. It was good. I was sure the original version in Kuala Lumpur must be better. Kim Lian Kee Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur Chinatown is reputed to be the birth place of Hokkien Noodle.

Name   : Restoran Kim Lian Kee (whole day and night)

Food    : Hokkien Noodle

Street   : Corner of Jalan Petaling/ Jalan Hang Lekir, Chinatown

GPS    : N3° 08.660' E101° 41.852'

Hokkien Noodle - verdict: 7/10

Another equally famous and popular Hokkien Noodle stall was in an alley, near Lai Foong. This was a night stall. It has more ingredients and pork rind/ skin, making it better overall in taste and value.

Food    : Hokkien Noodle (night only)

Street   : Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock

GPS     : N3° 08.722' E101° 41.830'

Hokkien Noodle - verdict: 8/10

There are two food courts in Chinatown. One of them is Tang City Foodcourt. Though this place was never recommended in blogs that I read, I had Penang style Char Kuay Tiau (stir-fried flat rice noodle) at a stall there. It was very good.

Name   : Tang City Foodcourt (all day and night)

Food    : Various types of hawker food

Street   : Jalan Hang Lekir, Chinatown

GPS     : N3° 08.674' E101° 41.888'

Penang Char Kuay Tiau (stir-fried flat rice noodle) - verdict: 8/10 

Name   : Hon Kee Famous Porridge (early morning only)

Food    : Rice porridge (with various ingredients)

Street   : Jalan Hang Lekir, Chinatown

GPS     : N3° 08.662' E101° 41.875' 

Name   : Kedai Koon Kee (morning only)

Food    : Wantan Noodle

Street   : Jalan Hang Lekir, Chinatown

GPS     : N3° 08.660' E101° 41.880' 

Name   : Restoran Yook Woo Hin (has it close down?)

Food    : Dim Sum

Street   : Petaling Street, Chinatown

GPS     : N3° 08.563' E101° 41.873' 

I went in search of the food market mentioned by a friend, which he said was somewhere along Lorong Walter Grenier. According to him, it was a hidden gem. Not many people knew of this place. I found it but there were only Muslim stalls opened that morning, selling identical breakfast. I decided to skip the place.

Food    : Various Muslim food

Street   : Lorong Walter Grenier

GPS     : N3° 08.710' E101° 42.776'

I then went to look for Pasar Baru Bukit Bintang, better known as Imbi Market but it was closed. I only learnt of this place recently, through a TVB8 show. The food stalls were however closed that Monday.

Name   : Pasar Baru Bukit Bintang

GPS     : N3° 08.607' E101° 42.991'

 Having not found anything to eat, I decided to drop by at SB Corner, a Muslim food court to have Roti Canai, Teh Tarik ('pulled' tea) and some Indian fried fritters take-away.

Name   : SB Corner

Food    : Roti Canai and Indian fried fritters

GPS     : N3° 08.781' E101° 42.868' 

Roti Canai - verdict: 6/10 

Indian fried fritters - verdict: 4 - 5/10

After having my Roti Canai, I walked over to Jalan Alor to explore for food there. It was a nice discovery when I found a Dim Sum stall. Unfortunately, it did not have the full range of Dim Sum such as Siew Mai and Har Gau. It has Ais Kacang too. 

Food    : Dim Sum (limited choices)

Street   : Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang area

GPS     : N3° 08.723' E101° 42.501' 

Dim Sum - verdict: 7/10 

Ais Kacang - verdict: 6/10