Tom Did you know that Kuala Lumpur is a foodie’s paradise? Prior to this trip to KL with the bros, we thought that Kuala Lumpur was about roof top pools with views of the Petronas Twin Towers and Menara Tower (aka KL Tower).
But we were so wrong…
This 48 hours trip to KL turned out to be such an eye-opener to the world of local delicacies in Kuala Lumpur. Special thanks to GST for all the meticulous planning and bringing the bros out and about to the local joints!
Kuala Lumpur 48 Hours Foodie Itinerary Day 1
We had previously shared that this trip was originally planned as part of a larger plan to #factcheck whether a 48 hours transit at Changi Airport was possible. Nope. Not possible. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed our time during our 24 hours pre-flight stay at Changi Airport, savouring delicacies at Terrace Chinese Kitchen, Chutney Mary, Kaveri and Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. As for lounges, one of our new find was the Chocolate Block red wine at Marhaba Lounge, great views at Plaza Premium Lounge and enjoying a haircut at TranSpa…
Our flight to KL was scheduled at 9:20am. However, there was a delay of 1 hour on the runway due to a really heavy thunderstorm…
After arrival at KLIA Terminal 1, there was an internal bus transfer to the immigration terminal. After clearing immigration, it was a 1 hour ride to KL city. The strange thing that we experienced this time was that the Grab driver actually went for a toilet break and also pumped fuel (separate occasions) while the 3 of us were onboard his car. 🤔
Soon, we arrived at Petaling Street, aka the Chinatown of KL where we started the day with a piping hot bowl of beef noodles…
Before heading over to our apartment stay (courtesy of GST), we also stopped by Lim Kee Cafe where we had an excellent cup of Flat White (11RM – $3.20SGD), Polo Bun (7RM – $2SGD) and Tiramisu Kahlua (17RM – $5SGD) – all of which were actually superb!
We had a quick tour around Quill City Mall (which does not really have much shopping options) before checking out the roof top pool of our apartment.
After a rest, it was time to really start our foodie itinerary in Kuala Lumpur, starting with dinner at Sek Yuen Restaurant KL…
Sek Yuen Restaurant
Sek Yuan is a Cantonese Restaurant that has been around in the heart of KL since 1948. Even during our visit, its premise had that old school vibe. There were a couple of favourites during this visit such as the Yam Ring (with sweet and sour pork) as well as the Stuffed Oyster and Prawn with Egg Yolk in Crispy Shell (合浦環珠) – which was a dish that required 2 days of pre-order in advance. But what really caught our attention was the Crispy Chicken Skin with Fish Paste aka “Flat Chicken” (杏花鸡 – which also requires pre-order) because of the amount of work required to create this dish. You have to first remove the skin from the chicken then pound together a prawn/fish paste. Wrap the said paste with the chicken skin, deep fried and recreate the shape that makes it look like a flattened chicken. Just the description alone is already tiring, imagine the amount of actual work that is required to bring this dish into reality. Nonetheless, it was mightily delicious with the crispy chicken skin on the outside and the fish paste on the inside – a “surf and turf” in bite-sized pieces. Yum!
REXKL
To “walk off the calories”, we visited REXKL – a legendary theatre in on Jalan Sultan KL. Today, this 1000 seats single-screen theatre has been converted into community and cultural hub with its seating area converted into an. BookXcess was probably our favourite part of this visit with its many instagrammable spots…
Inside this mega bookstore, if you open your mind, you’ll be able to find many frames where you and your buddies can have several memorable shots. We also noticed that there wasn’t many (or any) staff around. So you can really take your time to take those photos. Even at the cashier, there was no staff when we left. Even if we wanted to buy some books (which are arranged according to colours of the book covers in BookXcess), we couldn’t pay for them. 😅
Kwai Chai Hong (鬼仔巷)
Kwai Chai Hong (鬼仔巷) was our next stop this evening. Located minutes from Petaling Street KL, Kwai Chai Hong wants to recreate the golden age of 1960s Chinatown in KL through murals that depict everyday life then…
The many murals here are yet another instagrammable destination, popular with tourists like us! We particularly enjoyed the barber seat while climbing a flight of stairs. There, you’ll be able to “interact” with the art mural – either by sitting on the barber seat and acting as though you’re having a haircut or you can pull the pulley to lower a basket – hopefully to find some loose change of cash within!
PS150
To round off the evening, we visited PS150 – a Speakeasy Bar in the heart of Kuala Lumpur…
As you can see from the entrance of PS150, it was an non-descript store front which resembles an old school toy shop. However, once inside, you’ll find a long alleyway that leads to the cocktail bar inside. Also, you cannot imagine the number of people inside based on what you see on the outside. It was CROWDED! Thanks to GST, we made our reservations this evening and were promptly seated when we arrived (though we were slightly earlier than the reservation timing). The “Speakeasy-ness” also extends to the PS150 cocktail menu that resembles that of an old exercise book – complete with name, grade and school on the cover of said exercise book. Within, you’ll find description of the cocktails…
This time we tried the cocktails Age of Blossoms as well as Rumble in the Jungle which were both pretty good. Love the presentations as well.
Back at our apartment, we were able to catch a relatively high quality match right from our bedroom window. The really strange thing was that the match was professional – complete with jerseys, referees and linesmen, played at midnight?! The matches went on for both nights we were there. In fact, the standards were so good that they’re probably like our S-League clubs. Really strange…🤔
Kuala Lumpur 48 Hours Foodie Itinerary Day 2
ICC Pudu
The next morning, we headed to ICC Pudu for breakfast. Unfortunately, the hawker centre part of ICC Pudu was closed. Thankfully, we were able to try out the local delicacies at the coffee shop, also located within ICC Pudu (Kopitiam Jia Jia Le). Enroute, we also picked up some egg tarts from TK Bakery – touted as the largest egg tart retailer in Malaysia…
At the onset, it may seem that dining at the coffeeshop (instead of hawker centre) at ICC Pudu KL is like visiting the “less well-liked” cousin. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a very good venue for our breakfast haunt this morning as well!
This morning, we tried the char siew noodles, beef noodles as well as the IMBI Road Sam Kan Chong Pork Meatball Noodles. Thanks to GST, instead of making the usual soup version of the Sam Kan Chong, we ordered the dried kway teow version which was so so good! Not only was the kway teow doused in the fragrant dark soy sauce, there was also a satisfying spoonful of pork lard – which made the entire dish so delicious! But of course, undeniably unhealthy 😅
As for the char siew noodles, the char siew had nice fatty bits lining each piece that gave a nice tender texture to it as well. On the surface, a lightly charred caramelisation, sweetened the entire taste. The beef noodles on the hand was something we’ve not quite tried before. Covered in fragrant beefy oily goodness (notice the running theme here), the beef stew exuded a ginger/onion taste which was excellent. Be sure to do your exercises to burn away the excess fats that you’d be loading up here at ICC Pudu!
Optimist Coffee Lot 10
After a hearty breakfast, we headed over to the shopping malls at Jalan Bukit Bintang. First, we stopped by Optimist Coffee for some gourmet coffee fix. One of the reasons why we’re fast becoming fans of Optimist Coffee is because of this…
Yup! Handwritten phrases such as “Time to check that you’re still making yourself happy :)” As we bought a few cups from Optimist Coffee this time, it was rather fun to check out each other’s handwritten phrase that we each received this morning!
Kuafood Fried Skewer 夸父炸串
Nearby, we chanced upon Kuafood Fried Skewer (夸父炸串). We ordered a mix of potato, brinjal, lamb, beef, spam and sausage for 27RM. The seasoning mix of chili, cumin, salt and pepper made skewers so enticing – especially after a good BBQ.
Pan Heong Restaurant Batu Cave
You wouldn’t believe where we headed to next after the snack at Kuafood Fried Skewers. More food at Pan Heong Restoran Batu Caves!
Thankfully, we had a 20 minutes car ride to help us “make space” for more food this afternoon. Arriving at Restoran Pan Heong Batu Caves at 1:30pm, we still had to wait a little bit (less than 10 minutes) before we were seated.
The objective? Sang Har Hor Fun!
Pan Heong Restaurant is famed for its Sang Har Hor Fun or fresh river prawn hor fun. This amazing dish not only features the “wok hei” (smoky aroma) infused hor fun but also a gravy that has the prawn roe melded into it. A superb concoction of flavours. Here’s what we had at Restoran Pan Heong:
1. River Prawn Wat Tan Hor (aka Sang Har Hor Fun – 大生虾滑蛋河)
– We chose 3 River Prawns that came up to 189RM
2. Braised Pork Belly Bee Hoon (Kou Yok Bee Hoon – 扣肉米粉) 33RM
3. Penang Lobak (槟城卤肉) 16.50RM (for 3 pieces)
4. Garlic Fried Potato Leaves (蒜炒薯苗) 11.80RM
5. Nam Yu Pork Belly (aka Red Fermented Beancurd Fried Pork Belly 南乳炸五花肉)
Everything was pretty good really. Besides the Sang Har Hor Fun that we really enjoyed (but was also quite pricey at 189RM for 3 succulent river prawns), we also loved the homely taste of the braised pork belly bee hoon. Not unlike what our mothers would have cooked when we were young. A comfort food of sorts. The braised pork was tender and the bee hoon had all the goodness of the gravy infused into it, that made it so much more flavourful. Of course, we also added the pork lard while having this dish, enhancing the overall texture and flavours. Yum! The total bill came up to 303RM fofr the 5 of us, which was not too bad.
Heli Lounge Bar (aka Helipad)
Returning back to Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, we spent about 3 hours there shopping and walking around the Jalan Bukit Bintang area. For pre-dinner drinks, Kate suggested that we check out a rooftop bar. A quick Google search revealed Heli Lounge Bar (aka Helipad) just less than 10 minutes walk away.
Upon arrival, we took a lift up to level 34 of Helipad KL where we paid for the “entrance fee” of 100RM which included 2 choices of drinks. You’d be able to choose from:
1. Juices (Mango, Orange)
2. Soft Drinks (Coke, Sprite)
3. Cocktails (Takeoff, Touch Down, Star Kiss, Helilusion)
4. Beers (Tiger Beer)
5. Wines (House red or white wines)
Heading up to level 36 of Heli Lounge Bar by stairs, you’d be able to enjoy 360 degrees views of the skyline of downtown Kuala Lumpur. Many instagrammable shots of Menara KL, Petronas Twin Tower and the Merdeka 118 Tower – the tallest building in Malaysia (or 2nd tallest in the world), can be taken from the Helipad.
Another interesting feature is that the “aviation theme” continues to the staff who are dressed up as flight Captains as well as cocktails that have names such as Takeoff, Touch Down and Helilusion. Our favourite was Takeoff. Unfortunately for us, it was a rather cloudy evening which meant that sunset was not on the cards. Nonetheless, it also meant a rather cool evening where we had games and great conversations. 2 hours into our stay, a quick downpour ended our stay here, along with many others who scurried down the stairs to seek shelter. Thankfully by the time we reached level 1, the rain had subsided and we were able to stroll back to the Pavilion for our…you’ve guessed it…next meal!
New Ocean Restaurant
For supper, we strolled over to New Ocean Restaurant about 10 minutes away from Pavilion by foot. Originally, we wanted to try out the famous Imbi Road Fatt Kee Hokkien Mee – one of the best KL Hokkien Mee in the area. Unfortunately, it was closed this evening. Hence, GST took us to another old favourite at New Ocean Restaurant…
It was yet another educational evening on the different types of “sang meen” in Kuala Lumpur. We had the Sheng Noodles, Yee Meen and KL Hokkien Mee – all of which feature different tastes and textures. Although the Sheng Noodles had a similar but less flavourful gravy as compared to Pan Heong, we did find the texture to be different on each mouthful. We can imagine why some would be fans though Sang Har Hor Fun at Pan Heong is still hands down the better version for us. The Yee Meen we ordered was with the duck stew that had a sweet duck sauce and onion/ginger stir-fry taste to it. The flavourful yee meen brought out another side of the “sang meen” genre but our gripe was the boney parts of the duck that came along.
Lastly, the KL Hokkien Mee for whence we came for. The ingenuity of GST was displayed once again when he ordered a bee hoon / tai lok mee mix. As postulated by GST, the bee hoon would soak up the fragrant soy sauce gravy while the tai lok mee would be coated with the aromatic lardy oily texture. Together, they were texturally comforting yet flavourful. Wow!
Yet, GST remarked that the IMBI Road Fatt Kee Hokkien Mee was much better. We’d have to try it the next time we’re back in KL!
Kuala Lumpur 48 Hours Foodie Itinerary Day 3
ICC Pudu Hawker Centre
Next morning, our relentless pursuit for the best foods in KL brought us back to ICC Pudu again. This time, to check out the hawker centre side of ICC Pudu that was closed the previous morning that we visited.
Well, where do we start? EVERYTHING shown above was good! Seriously!
– The char siew from the wanton noodles were so tender, exuding charcoal fragrance
– The curry Yong Tao Fu had the sweet and spicy tanginess that attracts one to have another piece (over and over again)
– The kaya butter toast was old school – probably due to the use of planter butter that we don’t usually find in SG now
– The coffee was fragrant
– The curry of the noodles was so rich
– The soup of the prawn noodles was a silky and flavourful taste that is hard to forget
– The crispy popiah was also unlike what we usually have with so much of its crispy bits, adding an unique texture to this dish
This time, we also learnt “Cham” – a Hainan coffee / tea mix that was rich and flavourful. We also had an amazing lor mai gai, probably one of the best we’ve had (ever?) where the glutinous rice is so fine in texture, yet soaked in all the fatty goodness of the braised chicken. AMAZING!
Yut Kee Restoran (镒记中西菜馆)
After chilling back at our apartment for a while just before check out, we headed over to Restoran Yut Kee for our last meal before heading to the airport…
Yut Kee is a famous Hainan Coffee Shop that was started in 1928. Today, it is a popular casual dining venue – popular with the working lunch crowd as we witnessed this afternoon. We ordered the
1. Roti Babi (面包肉) 14RM
2. Pork Chop (猪扒) 18RM
3. Hailam Mee (海南面) 10RM
4. Belacan Fried Rice (马来炒饭) 9.50RM
5. Longan Drink
At Hainese Coffeeshops in KL, Pork Chops are a signature item. Having tried the version at Hua Mui Restoran in JB, we had a pretty poor impression of this dish. Seemed more like an Asian take on a Western staple. However, after trying out the Pork Chop at Yut Kee Restaurant, we’re converts and are looking upon this signature dish at Yut Kee, in a different light. This is because the pork chop itself was so tender. This meant that alot of preparation (probably the old school pounding of the meat) had been done prior to deep frying the pork chop. Also, the gravy sauce was actually quite enticing. You’d really want to soak the deep fried batter in the gravy before enjoying it with the tenderised pork. A very good rendition of the Hainanese Pork Chop by Restoran Yut Kee indeed.
The Hailam Noodles (Hailam Mee) was another surprise find. The white noodles and seafood gravy was flavourful while the slightly spicy and sourish chili elevated the overall taste of this dish. We’d definitely order this dish on our next visit here as well.
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After departing from the bros at KL airport, we did some lounge hopping at Plaza Premium Lounge KLIA, Sky Suite Airport Lounge KLIA and Travel Club Lounge KLIA T1…
All in all, it was a fruitful and satisfying trip, rounding up some of the best foods KL offers. Thanks to GST, the local foodie expert, we tried out some amazing local delights during this trip and had a great time of catching up with the bros. Now, you too can have access to this amazing foodie itinerary in Kuala Lumpur. Try out some of our recommendations here in this post and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
