1. Nasi Lemak is the national dish. You can’t leave Kuala Lumpur and not try this. You’ll find different varieties and different restaurants doing it. But most believe the restaurant that does the best Nasi Lemak is Village Park (read more).
2. Nasi Campur from an area named Kampung Baru. This is an amazing local foodie area. You’ll hardly see any tourists (read more).
3. Banana leaf curry from Vishal food & catering in Little India aka Brickfields. The dish is basically different Indian curries with rice, pickle and salad served on a banana leaf. Strangely, it elevates the taste – it’s a game changer. In an authentic Indian restaurant they’ll place the banana leaf in front of you and then give you some rice and then come round with a bunch of curries for you to choose from. Go to this spot at lunch time. We went a little after lunch and we got served some cold dishes. But they’re meant to be good.
4. Nasi Kandar Pelita – this is a restaurant that does some amazing amazing amazing food. Nasi Kandar which is rice with Indian inspired curries is good here. Also, they do many types of Malaysian roti dishes like the famous roti canai. Also, the Malaysian tea – teh tarik is good here! Especially the ice one. Read more about the restaurant here.
5. Durian from SS2 if you’re brave enough. Read about our experience here.
6. Exotic fruits other than the infamous Durian generally are a must to sample here due to the climate of the country. Read about the fruits we tried here.
7. Apam Balik – the perfect light dessert to have especially as you wander the streets of Malaysia.
8. Little India (Brickfields), Chinatown (Petaling Street) and the Night Markets are must visits. You can spend hours there just wandering, exploring and discovering great food! Read more about our experience of Jalan Alor here.
9. Corn juice. One of the things I love about Asian countries is their funky desserts and drinks. They go completely against what is considered normal in the western world. Things that shouldn’t work, just work. And I love finding and trying such gems. We found this vibrant yellow drink outside a mosque in Kuala Lumpur and it turned out to be corn juice! We had never tasted such a drink before this and have never done so since! But it’s something we crave… it was absolutely delicious! Again, something that shouldn’t work, but it actually does and works mindblowingly well! I am sure this drink was sweetened heavily with a lot of sugar, but the corn flavour was not compromised. You can definitely tell your drinking corn, but in a strange way it was the perfect drink!
10. Other dishes to look out for: Ikan Bakar (grilled fish), Satay (meat skewers with peanut sauce) and Laksa (noodle broth dish).
