At the end of 2018, I went on a holiday with my family. It's been more than 10 years since we have had a proper holiday together so it was interesting to see if we would all make it out alive and thankfully, we did.
We spent Christmas in Kuala Lumpur with extended family and New Year's Eve (a super quiet one) in Bali.
I was in charge of organising the itinerary for the trip especially the food that we got to eat throughout the trip :)
Let's start we all the places we ate at in Malaysia...
IPOH
Restoran Nasi Ayam Pak Kong
Address: 27 Jalan Theatre, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh
Opening hours: 11:15am - 4:00pm
When in Ipoh, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to food and there is one thing that they are known for, chicken rice.
After some very in-depth research (comparing all the chicken rice places against each other), I settled for Pak Kong Chicken Rice and it was definitely the right choice. The siew kai and pak kai was absolutely delicious and moist BUT the highlight was their char siu. The char siu was fatty, full of flavour and just melted in your mouth...I would happily eat this any day.
Tai Soo Ipoh Famous No 1. Dessert
Address: 24 Jalan Raja Musa Aziz, 30300 Ipoh
Opening hours: 11:00am - 6:00pm (closed on Wednesday)
Most people flock to Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah when they are Ipoh. I can't fault their tau fu fah but their portions are tiny (one mouthful and it's gone) and there's always a long queue.
The tau fu fah at Tai Soo may not be as soft in texture but it's a decent portion and the gula melaka that comes with it is thick and very fragrant!
PENANG
Moody Cow Dessert Cafe
Address: 170 Jalan Transfer, George Town, 10050 George Town
Opening hours: 11:00am - 12:00am
Who doesn't love a good cheesecake?
At Moody Cow, there is an amazing range of cheesecakes for you to choose from - they will not disappoint your tastebuds. Every time I am in Penang, this cafe is a must visit for me. My two must order cheesecakes are Musang King Durian and Cempedak.
Fu Er Dai
Address: 7 Jalan Sutan Ahmad Shah, George Town, 10050 George Town
Opening hours: 6:30am - 2:00pm
At Fu Er Dai, the dim sum is made fresh daily and there are over 30 varieties for you to choose from.
This is definitely the perfect spot for breakfast on a Sunday morning. The dim sum here are all perfectly seasoned that you don't even need to have any sauce to go with it.
The highlight for me was definitely their liu sha bao aka golden sands buns. They were smaller in size but bursting with so much golden sands. It was messy but totally worth the calories and it was finger lickin' goodness.
We ordered 31 dishes amongst six people and the bill came to only RM150 (approx AUD$50)! It was so cheap and delicious, it is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Penang.
KUALA LUMPUR
Segambut Yong Tau Foo
Address: 67 Jalan Segambut Pusat, Taman Segambut, 51200 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 9:00am - 5:00pm
You can get most Malaysian dishes in Melbourne but one thing Melbourne is seriously lacking is Yong Tau Foo.
I love the variety you get with Yong Tau Foo especially okra and chilli, so so good. I love eating it with chee cheong fun, it's a winning combination for breakfast. That's for sure.
At Segambut Yong Tau Foo, it comes with rice and soup if you want. And if you want, you can order tauhu bakar and rojak from the other stalls...YUM!
Softcore
Address: 56 Jalan PJS 11/7, Bandar Sunway, 46150 Subang Jaya
Opening hours: M, W, T & F 11:00am - 10:00pm, S & S 9:00am - 6:00pm (closed on Tuesday)
WORD OF WARNING: To make sure that you are not accidentally looking up R-rated stuff on google, type in Softcore Kuala Lumpur. Trust me, I have made the mistake of just typing softcore...
I stumbled across this place whilst researching for new places to eat in Kuala Lumpur. Who can say no molten cake especially when it's done to perfection with Asian flavours?
The molten cakes we ordered:
SALTED YOLK (white chocolate - salted egg yolk custard - honey cornflakes - curry leaves - crumble - vanilla ice-cream)
MATCHA EGG-YOLK (matcha lavacake - salted egg yolk custard - honey cornflakes - matcha coulis - sesame tuille - vanilla ice-cream)
I highly recommend paying Softcore a visit when you are in KL, you will not be disappointed.
Connaught Night Market
Address: Jalan Cerdas, Taman Connaught, 56000 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 6:00pm till late (Wednesdays ONLY)
Since I was in primary school, this was my favourite night market and till this day, it still is. There are hundreds and hundreds of stalls for you to eat and buy from, it's approximately 2km's worth of stalls! I always make sure I have a super early lunch/brunch so I have enough stomach space to eat everything I want especially the Assam Laksa from this stall (see photo).
I've loved the Assam Laksa from this stall since I was a child and it's still as good as I remember it. This stall has been churning out delicious bowls of laksa for the past 35 - 40 years. Each bowl of laksa is filled with a generous amount of ingredients and they even have pippies in their laksa that gives it an added sweetness.
On Wednesdays, you can find them at Taman Connaught Night Market and on Fridays, at Taman Segar Night Market.
Other things that are worth eating at Taman Connaught Night Market? HEAPS! There is something that will suit even the pickiest of eaters.
And if you don't feel like eating, there are plenty of shops to look look see see and buy buy from. I always like buying cute earrings, phone covers and also, stock up on underwear (3 pairs for RM15 is super cheap and they are of good quality too!).
ICC Pudu
Address: Jalan Kijang, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 6:00am - 2:00pm (closed on Monday - very very limited stalls are open)
There are so many food stalls at ICC Pudu, you can eat a different meal each day and rotate and still have new things to try.
One of the things that I have been wanting to try for a while was Ann Nasi Lemak because they serve pork skin curry! Most of us are used to pork skin being crispy but in this curry, the pork skin is softy and chewy. The curry was rich and fragrant but not too thick, paired with the sambal siham and sambal sotong, it was the perfect plate of nasi lemak for me. It was a very rich plate of food but it was worth the calories.
Some people may call it "a heart attack in the making on a plate" but like everything else in life, this has to be eaten in moderation.
Fatt Kee Roast Fish
Address: Off Jalan Pasar, 25 Lorong Yap Hin, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 12:00pm - 2:00am
Does photos even do the jumbo seafood platter justice? I am not sure.
There were nine of us for dinner and when this seafood platter was brought out to our table, we were all in awe of it and couldn't help but whip out our phones to take photos of it.
This seafood platter is not just for looks, it was equally as tasty. The highlight for me was definitely the prawns, I ate enough calories that night for the week.
There are several levels of spiciness for the platters ranging from No Spicy - Spicy Level 6. My auntie and I decided to go for Spicy Level 1.5 because everyone likes chilli and should be able to handle the heat, boy were we wrong. At Spicy Level 1.5, we could still handle the heat but our lips were burning and because the sauce tasted so good, we kept going back for more. You know what the say...no pain no gain. We managed to demolish 85% of the whole platter, not a bad effort. If we had three more people, it would have been perfect.
Next time, we all agreed that we will order No Spicy and just get chilli on the side to accompany the seafood.
Hope you have enjoyed reading about my recommendations on places to eat in Malaysia. Next post will be about my recommended food places in Bali :)