Kuala Lumpur | Meet Malaysia
3. The Cuisine
Kuala Lumpur’s main attraction is undoubtedly the food.
Hazree is a chef who’s lived in KL since he was 9. He’s crafted menus for a couple different restaurants, so he knows a thing or two about the city’s famous food scene.
“I watched my mom cook,” says Hazree. “She makes a mean ayam masak chili. Also when I was young I watched a lot of travel and cooking shows, like Anthony Bourdain and Anna Olson.”
Hazree is an artistic soul who enjoys both cooking and music. He plays in a rock band when he’s not in the kitchen.
Hazree chose to pursue cooking because he felt it offered him a better chance of success than being a musician. KL is certainly not a bad place to be a chef.
Kuala Lumpur is a highlight reel of the best food in Asia, incorporating dishes and ingredients from India, to China, to traditional Malay.
“If you go to any food stalls in Malaysia, there’s always rice and some kind of spicy dish,” says Hazree. “Those are basically our staples.”
Simple enough, right?
Well, not quite.
In Malaysia, the meat and rice dishes incorporate delicious flavor combos that you won’t find back home.
Asian food can be intimidating for westerners because there’s so many flavors, ingredients, and textures packed into a single dish. Even the sauces are complicated. Take sambal, for instance.
“Sambal is a chili paste,” says Hazree. “You blend it with a lot of fragrance–lemongrass, garlic, red onion, ginger — you cook it for hours and let it fuse together. It becomes a very complicated, intricate flavor.”
Sambal is served with chicken-and-rice dishes, like nasi lemak. Nasi lemak is the national dish of Malaysia and a must-try when you visit KL.
“Nasi lemak translates to fatty rice. It consists of sambal, some fried peanuts, anchovies, cucumber, and then the rice itself — which is very fatty because we cook it in coconut oil.
“To a lot of people, even locals, nasi lemak is very heavy. People would eat it for breakfast back in the day so they could have the energy to work long hours in the sun. You need to sweat it off.”
In other words, you should eat some nasi lemak if you’ve got a long day of exploring ahead of you.
Another must-try is the legendary durian fruit.
Many hotels in KL make it clear that smoking is prohibited in rooms. Also durian.
“There’s a reason they call it the king of fruits, right?” says Hazree. “You can literally smell it a kilometer away when someone opens up a durian.
“You have to try it yourself. It’s indescribable… it’s a love or hate kind of thing.”
Fantastic Flavor Combos in KL
Nasi kerabu. The rice is cooked in flower petal, which gives it the blue color.
Percik chicken covered in a mild spicy sauce.
From left to right: samosas, laksa, and curry puffs.
Iced lemon tea, the staple drink of Malaysia.
Apam balik, a sweet-and-savory pastry treat.
Cendol, a type of ice cream topped with sweetened vegetables.
There are so many good foods in KL that it’s impossible to list everything that needs to be tasted. I’d have to make separate lists for each individual Asian cuisine you can find here, a task better left to the city’s many food bloggers.
Even Hazree has difficulty choosing his favorite dishes because there’s just so many options. However, he’s got some advice for you if you’re visiting KL for the first time.
“I say you go to Jalan Alor. Most of the shops sell seafood. Mostly Chinese-style, but there’s also Thai-style and Malay-style.”
Jalan Alor is a famous night market that opens around 5 PM. It’s a single street lined with all sorts of different food stalls and small eateries. You can walk from one stall to the next, buying large or small helpings of anything that catches your nose.
Hazree has mostly cooked for restaurants, but he acknowledges that the city’s best food is often found on the street.