Kuala Lumpur: Off The Eaten Track

This morning we made the short flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.  After checking into our bnb, a room in an eerie “ghost” hotel that shut its doors several years ago and now operates as a block of privately owned studio apartments, we had an lazy afternoon catching up with the blog and buying groceries, before headed out in the early evening for some culinary delights courtesy of the Off The Eaten Track foodie tour.

Being a Monday, and low season, I had expected us to be the only guests on the tour, but much to my surprise, we were joined by three other couples.  We’ve encountered very few Brits since leaving London eleven weeks ago, so spending an evening here in KL with five other Brits was certainly unexpected.

I mentioned in a recent post that our guide in Moorea was one of the best we’ve had the pleasure of spending a morning with.  But I’m sorry Yvette, our guide tonight was even better.  From the moment he introduced himself, Charles was cracking jokes and putting on terrible brummie and cockney accents to make us feel right at home!  He had the knack of looking out for his flock as we navigated the chaotic pavements of suburban KL, without us feeling like we were being mollycoddled, and had tons of cute catch-phrases, my favourite being “Charles does the buying, you do the eating”!

We began the tour in Petaling Jaya, known affectionately as “PJ”.  This is one of KL’s inner suburbs where house prices have risen sharply in the past few years in response to the growing demand for housing within commuter reach of the city centre.

Malaysians eat out a lot, but not always in the sit-down restaurants we are accustomed to in the west.  In KL, there are dozens of night markets serving food and drink to locals.  Many of these markets move around from night to night, and on Monday nights one of the best – the SS2 Pasar Malam market – comes to PJ.

With some very threatening thunder clouds overhead, Charles took us on a quick dash around SS2 – or a “jog in the park” as he described it!  Here we tasted Popiah, an open spring roll (fresh, not fried) which can be made of almost anything, but we sampled a vegeterian Popiah made from, amongst many other ingrediants, yam, tofu, and cucumber.

At another stall, we sampled a selection of dim sum.  Though we’ve eaten char siu bao (barbeque pork buns) and siu mai  (Chinese steamed pork and shrimp dumplings) many times before, the ones we tried here were excellent, and we’ve certainly never seen steamed buns quite this big before!

Finally, we tasted the only dish of the evening that we’ve been unable to recall the name of.  It’s a sweet Malaysian “waffle” made with sweetcorn and palm sugar, and pretty tasty too.

Just a couple of minutes down the road, we made our second stop at Restoran Millennium Eight Six, an interesting concept in restaurant eating.  Millennium Eight Six acts rather like a food court – around the side of the building are several independent chefs who each pay a rent to the restaurateur.  In exchange, he provides seating for guests, and sells them drinks.  You place your order and pay at your table, but which of the various “stalls” will receive your money and cook your food will depend upon what you order.

Before we sat down to eat, Charles introduced us to some of the chefs whose food is served at Millenium Eight Six.  One gentleman has been cooking the same noodle dish here for more than forty years!

First on the menu at Millennium Eight Six: Chai tow kway, also known as Malaysian Carrot Cake.  Don’t be fooled though – this is not a sweet dish at all.  It’s a radish cake (made from steamed rice flour, water and shredded radish) which is cooked for eight hours, then chopped into small pieces using a utensil which looks curiously like a tennis racket.  The cubed cake is then stir-fried with eggs, preserved radish, spring onions and other seasonings.  Eaten with a few drops of chilli sauce, this tasted amazing, and was definitely one of my highlights of the evening.

Next we tried fish head stew – a Malaysian delicacy made with large slabs of fried tofu and served with rice – and Haikken Char Mee, a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in a dark soy sauce with squid, fish cake, cabbage and small cubes of crispy fried pork fat.  For the fish head stew, we were served a sanitised version using regular fish steaks rather than the head – but Charles assured us that usually, only the head would be used, and that “you get the eyeballs for free”!

Finally, we were served a selection of charcoal-cooked chicken and beef skewers served with satay sauce.  Chicken satay was one of the dishes we prepared during our Balinese cookery class back in December, but I have to say that the KL version tastes better!

To wash down all these delicious dishes, we were served a blended lime juice which was very tasty but with a bitterness and acidity that were not for the feint hearted!

By the time we’d cleaned our plates at Millenium Eight Six, we were beginning to feel very full, but this was just the beginning of the evening!

Next we visited Medan Selera 223, a 24/7 food court found in the middle of an industrial park on the edge of PJ.  I assumed that anyone visiting this food court in the early morning would be working a night shift, but Charles explained that this is a popular hangout for party-goers after a long night of drinking.

Several food stands are lined up along either side of a long, narrow building, with guest tables down the middle.  We had to walk past a few dozen locals to get to our table, and felt very much like awkward celebrities as we found ourselves being very much the centre of attention!  I guess they don’t see many white people in this part of the city.

Here we were served two dishes, both cooked in a palm leaf.  Otak-otak is a steamed mackeral “cake” made from ground fish meat mixed with tapioca starch and spices, and with a rather off-putting jelly consistency.  Otak means brains in Malay – perhaps this name was chosen because the dish has a consistency similar to brain, or perhaps because mackerel is said to be good for your brain power.

Next, we tucked into Nasi Lemak, a traditional Malaysian breakfast dish consisting of coconut rice (rice boiled in coconut milk), sambal (a slightly sweet spicy sauce), and boiled egg.  Another really delicious dish, this time complemented perfectly by an iced lemon and lime tea.

Though we had already made three stops, we were still in Petaling Jaya.  For our final stop, we made the 30 minute drive into central KL – including a brief stop off at the King’s Palace – to try some roti.

Roti is the name given to unleavened, flat Indian breads.  Along with plain roti and puri (a fried bread) – dipped into chicken curry, daal (lentil curry) and a coconut chutney – there was an Indian ‘pancake’ which we dipped into coconut milk, and finally for dessert, a jam roti and a giant sugared crepe.

Again, everything was delicious, washed down with ginger tea and the best mango lassi in town.

At the end of a night of hard eating, we were definitely ready for some antacids and bed by the time Charles delivered us back to our hotel at 11pm.   After all those calories, it’s a good job we’ll be mountain climbing tomorrow!

This was certainly the best food tour we’ve had the pleasure of joining, and must be a contender for best tour of any kind.  The food and drinks were almost all excellent, the other guests were entertaining, and Charles was a blast.  I only wish he’d warned us at the beginning just how much we were going to be eating so we could have paced ourselves a little better!