A Malaysian Food Tour - Food Blogger Style

Petronas Towers

I'm back!

After a week in Adelaide, there was only a day-and-a-half to do laundry and re-pack for a 16-day holiday to Malaysia and Thailand. Along for the ride - foodbloggers Billy, Minh and Simon along with The Pom and Yewenyi.

It was my first trip to Malaysia, a vibrant melting pot of Chinese, Indian and Malay people with a cuisine that includes influences from China, India, Thailand and Indonesia.

We arrive in Kuala Lumpur mid-morning, our cheap Air Asia flight involving a circuitous route via Melbourne. We exit the airport, past the McDonalds selling ayam goreng fried chicken, and past the crowds sipping teh tarik sweet pulled tea at Old Town White Coffee, and walk straight into a wall of humidity that makes our bodies slump and our arms prickle with stickiness.

The taxi ride to our hotel takes us through a whirlwind of images, a collision of contrasts that includes skyscrapers, rickety vendor carts, palm trees and temples. Families of four crowd onto a single motorbike, outdoor markets bustle with activity, pandanus leaves grow on the side of the street. And whilst we seek refuge in the air-conditioned comfort of our taxi, the locals hurry on, dressed in jeans and long sleeves, oblivious and unperturbed by the stifling heat and relentless humidity.


Fountains near the base of the Petronas Towers

If there's one thing that symbolises Kuala Lumpur, or KL, it's the Petronas Towers. Completed in 1998, they remain the tallest twin buildings in the world, and dominate the city skyline. You can spot them from almost everywhere. From a distance, they are impressive, two powerful monuments made of glass and steel connected by a small but distinct observation deck. Up close, they are even more fascinating, a gleaming repetition of angle and curves that shimmer in the afternoon sun.

Billy tells us that the locals call the Petronas Towers the Corn Cobs, or Coin Stack Towers, their graduated structure really do look like towers of coins. The Towers also featured in the 1999 film Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.


Nasi lemak with ayam goreng RM8 (about AU$2.90)
with teh halia ginger pulled tea RM1.70 (about AU$0.60)

We grab a late lunch at Suria KLCC, the shopping centre located near the base of the Petronas Towers. The food court offers a more upmarket version of the hawker-style food courts, but even then, the prices are still jaw-droppingly cheap. With a current exchange rate of roughly 3 ringgit to one Australian dollar, the local staple of nasi lemak - coconut rice with fried chicken, boiled egg, cucumber, sambal spicy sauce, peanuts and crispy fried anchovies - equates to less than AU$3.


ABC ais kacang

At the Just Desserts stall, the boys opt for ais kacang, colloquially known as ABC which stands for air batu campur. Air batu translates as "stone water" or ice, in Malay, and campur means mixed. Ais kacang translates as ice bean in Malay. Beneath the mountain of ice drizzled with rose syrup and creamed corn is a mixture of red beans, palm seeds and cool cubes of glossy black grass jelly. The consistency of the ice here is significantly finer than the ones you will find in Sydney, the ice made by a hand-operated ice shaver that creates soft crystals that melt instantly on the tongue.


Red ruby RM4.20 (about AU$1.50)

I spot the red ruby on the menu and order it immediately. The red rubies are in fact small chunks of water chestnut that have been tinted red, dusted with tapioca flour and then boiled. The result is a slightly starchy chewiness that gives way to a crunchy waterchesnut centre.

The dessert has its roots in Thailand where it is traditionally served with coconut milk and poetically described as "pomegranate seeds". In Malaysia, these shiny red rubies are piled on top of shaved ice, scattered with slices of jackfruit and splashed with salted coconut cream. It's cool, refreshing, rich and sweet, all at the same time.



Keen to explore Hakka cuisine, we catch a taxi that evening for dinner at Hakka Restaurant. Strings of fairy lights cascade from the steel support beams, and whilst there is seating inside the air-conditioned restaurant, most people opt to sit outside, beneath the glow of Chinese red lanterns and the distant city skylights twinkling overhead.


Patrons at Hakka Restaurant


Steamboat being delivered by trolley


Homemade Hakka noodle RM20 (about AU$7.30)

We order a mixture of dishes, the tofu with minced prawns, mushrooms, chilli and spring onion (RM10 or about AU$3.60) uses fresh tofu made on site, the soft wobbly cubes taking on the saltiness of its surrounding ingredients.

Homemade Hakka noodles have a satisfying chewiness, interleaved with the crunch of fresh bean sprouts and lengths of peppery garlic chives. The signature dish of moi choy kiao pork (RM14 or about AU$5.10 for three pieces) involves thick slices of stewed pork belly - generous with slippery layers of fat - served with preserved vegetables in a thick and sweet black soy sauce.


Bitter gourd RM13 (about AU$4.70)

Herbal chicken (RM20 or about AU$7.30) has been simmered in a fragrant concoction of Chinese herbs and spices. I find myself relishing the bitter gourd dish, slightly undercooked so the vegetable is still crunchy.


Kem Heong style prawn RM30 (about AU$10.90)

Kem Heong style prawns are sweet and succulent, stir-fried in a sticky mixture of dried shrimps, minced garlic and curry leaves.


River white whisker catfish RM60 (about AU$21.80)
(Market price RM70/kg)

Fresh catfish is our splurge of the evening, the whole fish steamed and dressed simply with soy sauce, coriander and chilli. I can't stop staring at its whiskers which are so long they look more like tentacles. When I'm dared to eat them, I take glee in doing so, using my teeth to scape the gelatinous layer off the inedible tendon, and crunching my way through the thinner point at the end.


Petronas Towers by night

We dine beneath the glittering presence of the Petronas Towers, easily spottable through the steel girders overhead. By night, the Petronas Towers come into their own, so powerfully illuminated they take on a white glow. They're a sight to behold, a reference point and calming visual anchor for the sprawling city of KL.


Petronas Towers from the roof-top Luna Bar

The soaring presence of the Petronas Towers means they cannot be escaped from anywhere, even from the Luna Bar on the top floor of the Pacific Regency Hotel. By day, hotel patrons use the roof-top swimming pool but at night the pool is closed and the area converted to a swanky poolside bar, offering members of the public spectacular 360-degrees views of the city from the 34th floor.


Bar stools

At RM30 (about AU$10.90) for cocktails, drinks aren't cheap, but it's a small price to pay for the glamourous surroundings.


Windowside lounges

The windowside lounges tend to be reserved in advance by cosy couples looking for a romantic evening, but we're happy to sit at the bar leisurely nursing our drinks. The only drawback is the open rooftop means there's no escaping the humidity, and despite the crystal blue waters of the inviting swimming pool, we're soon sweltering as though we're in a sauna.

And thanks to Billy's cheeky opportunism, I can say first-hand that the men's bathrooms offer unprecedented views. "Look at the urinal!" Billy says with excitement, and I do, an impressive glass-backed facility that backs directly onto the 34th-floor window.

Whilst the women's bathrooms are lovely, we don't get the same backdrop. Sometimes men have all the luck.

> Read the next Malaysia 2010 post (Street food, stingray and durian)

PS Today is the last day to enter the Freebie Friday competition to win a magic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs umbrella. Entries close at 5.30pm so hurry and enter now!


Pool-side lounge chair


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Suria KLCC
Jalan Ampang,
50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 (03) 2382 2828‎


View Hakka Restaurant in a larger map

Hakka Restaurant
6 Jalan Kia Peng
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Tel: +60 (03) 2143 1907


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Luna Bar
Pacific Regency Hotel Suites, Level 34
Menara PanGlobal, Jalan Punchak
(off Jalan P.Ramlee)
50250 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Tel: +60 (03) 2026 2211

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 5pm - 1am (until 3am on Fri and Sat)

A cover charge of RM50 (inlcudes one drink) may apply on weekends after 9.30pm

> Read the next Malaysia 2010 post (Street food, stingray and durian)