Everybody has their favourite local stall or restaurant for food. Today, I share mine with you! The top 10 dishes I would take you to eat if you ever visit us.. are,
1. Bakuteh (BKT) or Bak Kut Teh is top on our list of must eats in Kuala Lumpur.
The name literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and, at its simplest, consists of fatty pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, wolfberries, cloves, dong guai, fennel seeds and garlic) for as long as possible , i.e. days if possible. However, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum (vegetables), and pieces tofu puffs. We personally have the highest regard for BKT at ‘Restaurant Yik See Ho’. This place is situated in the vicinity of the Pudu Wet Market and is a hot favourite amongst KL-lites. Some may beg to differ or have their own favourites but for now, we bring all our friends here.
Where else can you see the butchers hacking away at the pig carcass (corner alleyway), in preparation for tomorrows rations, from where you sit and eat along the 5 foot way. Grim? Gross? Well, this is BKT, Pudu style!
2.Fried Hokkien mee (Chinese style- fried yellow noodles) has a cult following in Kuala Lumpur. It is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish-cake and cabbage as the main ingredients and cubes of crispy fried pork lard as garnishing (that would be the square cubes that you see on top of the noodle). Some might say that the pork lard, is the main ingredient. This dish is eaten before a huge night out, after a huge night out, for dinner, for supper .. heck , at all hours of the day really. If you have not eaten Hokkien Mee, you have not visited Malaysia, proper!
3. Banana Leaf Rice. Here in our multiracial community, we have exposure to all sorts of cuisine. Chinese, Indian, Malay.. you name it, we have it. Some of these ethnic cooking styles might be more spicy than others, but I have to say that all are equally interesting in their own way. One of the great south Indian cuisines we have the privilege of eating on a daily basis should we chose is, of course, Chettinad cuisine. This is the famous Indian rice dish, eaten on a banana leaf. Pick your side dishes of vegetables, fried fish, lamb, dry mutton or chicken rendang and to the rice, pour a generous measure of either chicken curry, fish curry, dhal(lentils) or all three. Dig in. Heaven on earth!
4. Next up is the Sang Har Kwey Teow. This is fresh river prawns cooked cantonese style in a thick eggy broth and finished off with either flat or egg noodles. The orange roe in the head of the prawn just seeps and infuses into the eggy liquid sauce of the noodles and makes the taste phenomenal. The amazing way that the tautness of the prawn flesh blends into the springiness of the flat noodles is like these two components were just made for each other.
5. After the Sang Har Mee, we will definitely drag you to eat, the Sentul Satay. Close analogues would be the Yakitori from Japan, the Shish Kebab from Turkey, the Sosatie from South Africa.. oh, and my most recent discovery was the Chuan from China! Meats on sticks over a BBQ – basic yet effective. Tapping into that childhood ‘fun’ way of eating your food. For satay, the “must have” ingredient which gives the dish its characteristic yellow colour derived from tumeric. Serve it up with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or peanut gravy, slivers of onions and cucumbers, and ketupat (rice cakes).. and you have a balanced meal of carbo, protein, fats, and vegetables but tastes delightfully sinful.. not unlike junk food!
6. If you are a rice lover, this is another amazing local dish that you cannot miss. Nasi Kandar is a popular northern Malaysian dish, which originates from Penang. It is a meal of steamed rice which can be plain or mildly flavored, and served with a variety of curries and side dishes.The rice is accompanied by side dishes such as fried chicken, gizzards, curried mutton, cubed beef, fish roe, fried prawns or fried squid. The vegetable dish would usually be brinjal (aubergine), okra/bendi (lady fingers) or bitter gourd. A mixture of curry sauces is poured on the rice. Always ask for the sauces to be mixed , i.e. fish + chicken + dhal .. let it soak through your rice and just die from the awesome aroma and taste. This is called nasi ‘banjir’ (flooded rice) and imparts a multifaceted taste to the rice. Many eat the sauced soaked rice with their bare fingers and the aroma actually stays with you long after you have washed your hands. This is part of the appeal of eating Nasi Kandar!
7. Charsiew (BBQ Pork) is another great dish.. Charsiew literally means ‘burn with a fork’ where long gorgeous fatty strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire. The meat, typically a shoulder cut is seasoned with a mixture of honey, five-spice powder, fermented tofu , dark soy sauce and possibly hoisin sauce. The melting sugar plus the seasoning will turn the exterior layer of the meat dark red, not dissimilar to American barbecues. A sugar coat is sometimes used in the place of honey to give char siu its characteristic shiny glaze. Here in KL, you can get amazing charsiew with a texture so soft and succulent in the centre, sweet and caramalized on the outside, it would make a grown man weep.
8. Close your eyes. Now open them! See the live and kicking river prawns know that a fantastic dinner is just around the corner.
Lung Seng Tanjung Tualang, Perak (North Malaysia) – everybody needs to make this ‘holy’ pilgrimage to the mecca of Fresh River Prawns and all things crustacean at least once in their life-time. As a matter of fact, KL city folk don’t mind the 2 hour drive to Tanjung Tualang in Perak just to satisfy their yearning for delicious freshwater prawns. They don’t come fresher than this (swimming outside in tanks) and the cooks actually drop them into ice water for five minutes to stun them before they prepare them for cooking. This retains the springy texture and flavour in the meat. Butter River Prawns.. Mouth-watering!
9. Northern Indian food is also spectacular in KL. We would definitely take you to eat, Palak Paneer is my all time favourite northern indian dish because it combines fresh spinach and goat’s cheese in a creamy curry and is really rich but oh, so delicious. Anyway, this is as close as you will get to a vegetable dish in a Northern Indian restaurant. Palak Paneer goes great with anything.. From chapatis, puris, parathas to bhaturas.. it’s all good. The texture of the cheese really gets under my skin. Those rich and chewy square chunks of curd, with that generous slathering of spinach is almost too astronomically good for words.
10. Nasi Lemak is a must! The name itself ” rice in cream” is derived from the cooking process where regular white rice is literally soaked in coconut cream and then steamed to give a gorgeous, aroma of coconut-perfumed white rice that is then wrapped in banana leaf or served on a plate and eaten with the other side dishes mentioned above. Sometimes a knotted pandan leaf, or ginger or a stalk of lemongrass is thrown it to make the rice all the more fragrant.
the Malaysian nasi lemak has hot spicy sauce (sambal), hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and roasted peanuts at its core and to this you may add sambal cuttlefish, fried chicken, cockle, stir fried water convolvulus (kangkong), pickled vegetables (achar) or beef rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices). Sinful and bad for the heart but incredibly delicious.. If you eat this once in a while, it’s not so bad!
11. OK, I lied…! Siew Yoke or Chinese Roast Pork is the final dish that completes the ensemble of TEN + 1, that we will take you to eat should you come to KL. I don’t really need to explain why. I will let the succulent pork and crispy pork crackling photo speak for itself. Have this with a huge mug of beer and know that this is as good as it gets!
We have traveled to many international destinations, found good tasting dishes with some really exotic ingredients BUT we have never found a country with such diverse choice of food as Malaysia and of a quality that closely resembles its ethnic origins and more importantly, the afford-ability.
Come to KL and we will take you for the meal/s of a lifetime!
To my fellow Malaysian friends, which would your top 10 (+1) be ..?
Books on Malaysian Cuisine:
Oh no I must start my diet now before coming home!
forget the diet.. come eat! LOL
Wait for me!!! I definitely will visit Malaysia again, hopefully soon! Top on my list is the BKT
yea, u keep saying that but WHEN are you coming? me and Cumi dying to feed u
haha
You are doing this on purpose eh? Am on dial up mobile here, and see this!
Am so drooling with pure and utter jealousy.
LOL, i guess you need to come to KL then!
oh my god! I’m hungry! can’t wait to fly back to msia!
LOL, hey thanks for your comments and thank u for stopping by!
By the way it’s a nice blog. FYI I discovered it through twitter.
excellent!
Those pics are just “mean”. Shouldn’t look at it when one’s hungry. And I know, I just know, I’ll pig out on those. I’d probably stay in the whole night, but I’ll make room in my tummy for ALL of these. ;-D
hello Paris Movie Walks! thank u for visiting my blog! LOL, and thank u for the compliment.. i will feed u if you come to KL.. will u feed me if i go to Paris i wonder:P haha
terrific list! just as a matter of personal preference, i’d skip palak paneer and suckling pig in favour of char kuey teow and roti canai, but i guess it’s impossible to compile a list of 10 that would please everyone. heck, even a list of 20 wouldn’t be enough to include all our local favourites!
ROFL.. i knew i missed out a LOT but i could not stick everything in.. sigh
hehe
omg freakin god…the food recommendations are spot on! I seriously crave nasi kandar now, didn’t know it was a Penang creation though!
It’s great innit? LOL.. mmm, the after smell of curry on the fingers.. far out
char siew char siew char siew!!! <3 muacks
LOL
To love Malaysia is to eat like a Malaysian!
Agree lil munkey!
Great post! I’m in KL. Come…take me go! =P
can.. but u are sooo busy.. sigh!
LOL. You’re right. There’s no way you can miss out the yummy glorious siew yoke!
Curry Mee!
You left out food of my heritage. *sobs* *wailing to my tangechi* *sobs again* *eats banana leaf rice alone* *emigrates*
oh DARN! i knew we forgot something!!! arrrgh.. SEAN was right.. i should have said TWENTY things i’ll bring u to eat.. but then hor, ppl will be scared to read my blog.. or to come to KL!! mwuahahaha
thats about the 10 or 11 dream items to eat!
but theres also CKT, Prawn Mee, Ice Kacang, Roti Canai n etc etc..
you are totally correct joe! i should have said 15 things we need to bring u to eat.. teehee
My bad for clicking on your site when I was feeling hungry… now my stomach is growling. No thanks to you
LOL, thank u thule.. i tried and tried and now, i made u hungry.. yay
wow…all of them were ….so sinful……pork pork pork…lol
;-p
there’s NASI LEMAK!! hahaha
curry pork …..also can be a condiment in chinese style nasi lemak…lol! you are kind ….and evil as well……lol
LOL as I was reading thru… I was wondering where is the siew yuk!!! so clever to put the best for last
thx babe kl! hehe
obviously not catering to a potentially muslim crowd of tourist are we…. almost everything has OINK.
hehe .. nasi lemak leh.. i tried to be impartial.. but DAMN i love pork! haha
all also tuu bak! pretty true also la the list`~:D
hehe yup2
I want my (Hainanese) Chicken Rice!!! Those hot steaming fragant butter rice served with thick home-made (pound) chilli sauce and ginger, steamed smooth chicken topped with light soya sauce and parsley.
LOL, ok ok.. i really need a list of 20!!!
Malayisan food are the best!!! Malaysia Boleh!!!
LOL, agree…
a great list, indeed!
thank u darling!
Northern Indian food never tried b4.
really.. which rock u live under?!
Totally agree!! Look at those golden cubes of goodness on that Hokkien Mee. On days like this, there is no way to feel but total, uncompromised national pride!
100% proud to be Malaysian! hehe
What’s with all the Chinese food? Well, since we’re being open here, I think it doesn’t quite represent Malaysia. Even the satay is in a Chinese restaurant? Hmm…questionable list to say the least.
thanks Don. true.. but those are the things WE take our friends to eat. please feel free to share yours;)
Aiyoo. Ok heres my top 10. I’ll tell u why I said aiyoo in a minute. Nasi lemak, banana leaf, curry laksa(ferget wat the Singaporeans claim-they only existed as part of Johor just less than a half century ago), Sarawak laksa, char Siew/Siew yoke, loh hei yue sang(Malaysian as all he’ll and only available during Chinese new year), hokkien mee, satay (tho debatably Indonesian), rendang, sotong kangkong, and my número UNO dish, CHAR KWAY TEOW. Sigggghhhhhhh aiyooo how not to put in CKT into that list.
true.. CKT! i told you i needed a list of at least 15 things.. chis
i agree with your list. BKT has to be tops!!! and must have the obligatory siew yoke and roast pig! all porky!!
really ar, i’ve never seen you eat BKT !
delicious!
although i should point out, palak paneer is not made from ricotta, but from a kind of cheese called paneer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paneer — hence the dish’s name!
thank u grace! we stand corrected:) ( and thx for stopping by)
agree, make a list of top 20 (or more) food
where do u go for ur fix of hokkien mee coz the photo looks sinfully delicious! *drooools*
LOL, great!
aw….
Can I choose all?
then please take me to morning running routine of yours!
Juno.
juno.. best plan is i take u running in the morn. then we go for bfast , shopping, lunch, shopping, dinner… SHOPPING:D
I would put in roti canai, and maybe banana leaf rice as well. Of course, I am proud to see Tualang prawns in the list, yet white coffee, egg tarts, heong peng, and and ….. kai see hor fun, dry curry mee, yeong liew, and ….
Wait, I’m a proud Ipohan, ain’t I? =P
good hor.. tualang! LOL
Errr.. chap fun?? Hehe.. luv my rice.
Take visitors to eat Economy rice? err.. no way! Are you out of your mind?! LOL
Roast pork is the best. Overnight , just stir fry with good quality soya sauce and or with birds eye chili.
I agree!
reading this when one is away from malaysia is not good idea! but hey great information for me to share with the locals here and entice them to visit malaysia and for me to gorge on when i get back!
excellent stuff Rach;)
That would be my top 10 reasons to come back every year! Haha! Nice post Ciki!
Thanks Pea;)
Slurp! What a decadent list of yummy food! It’s hard to keep it to just ten, isn’t it? Hahaha
I’m surprised to see palak paneer – but hey it’s good too!
Very hard!
Hey there! I’m looking for a nice restaurant ard Bkt Bintang in KL to take my husband to for his bday dinner this Sunday. Any cuisine is fine but ambiance must be nice and classy. Can stretch the budget a little.
Any recommendations? 
Txs in advance!
nero vivo, nero teca, al cerdo (changkat BB)
prego (Westin hotel)
cilantro (Micasa)
lafite (shang)
first two options – mid-range
last two – high end.. good luck! (u can google for address but all are in ur requested area;P happy bday to ur hubs!)
aiyoo…lapar eh~
me too yo!
So yummy! Will be in Malaysia very soon.. can’t wait to have a feast! I’m a big time foodie. Great info.. thanks!
when will you be in town?!
YUM! My mouth is drooling for all this food! I can’t wait until I get to Malaysia some point this year! All that food!
be sure to hook up if you do!
My 2 cts worth: Missing are 1) Crabs cooked in whatever style and 2) Yeong Lieu (or YTF in KL) as suggested by fellow Ipohan Motormouth.
LOL! OK.. hello! not enough space to add ALL the top favourites in my friend;)
YUM! YUM! Too bad I can’t come this year. I’ll just have to watch.
Great list to have when you are on the streets of Malaysia. The pork looks especially delicious.
Thx Ted!
What a fantastic list! But the first 3 have just frightened my Jewish friend a little, let alone the last delicious one. For me, I really like the Soong Kee beef ball noodles apart from my fave nasi lemak packets by the roadside
Yummy, I’m gretting hungry. But I’m missing my favourite Malaysian food: Laksa. Soooo good. It’s a coconut soup with Laksa paste, tofu, bean sprout, onions, rice noodels, coriander and then either fish, chicken or prawns…
Look us up if you are in town!
Can’t wait to grub on this. We may have to drop by and say hello when we’re in Malaysia!
hello!
know my stomach’s growling! thx alot
Best food ever huh!
i’ll hold you to this if and when we return to KL! Great roundup!
OK Jen LOL