Long haul travel between Europe and Australia is best broken up with stops in Asia and the middle east. Over the years I've been lucky to have friends to drop into and visit in Singapore, mainly, and one memorable trip via Toyko. It's a way to stretch the legs but also disconnect, as a few hours even in an entirely different culture (eg language, signage, climate, sounds, daily cadence etc) acts as a strong circuit breaker from work and holidays (usually). Naturally, the biggest opportunity is to fill up on delicious food mid-travel to escape another gloopy airline omelette or overcooked morsel of meat.
This time, we stopped in Kuala Lumpur. And while it was on the return leg it was the perfect break between an intense 6 weeks of family and friends visits in Australia and returning to a summer in the Jura (no work in sight for the next little bit anyway). I also felt it's a great test of how it is to travel with kids in Asia; a little introduction.
What a great few days it was. Some favourite food moments.
Restoran Win Heng Seng - https://maps.app.goo.gl/4FUMb3u1Q247VHQW6?g_st=ic
We went for lunch and it was probably our best set of dishes. A saltwater prawn is their signature dish, and it certainly didn't disappoint. BBQ'd king prawn laying a top of mound of crispy and under that gooey instant noodles style noodles, all floating in a prawn, slightly sweet sauce.
Zul Nasi Lemak Jalan Imbi - https://maps.app.goo.gl/3BLz7UoowFZNivqn8?g_st=ic
I was excited to leave the room just after arriving. It had been a long day flying up from Adelaide, pluse there's a long drive from the airport. I was chomping at the bit to get to see the city too. Around the corner from our place was this street food restoran. I grabbed some noodles, fried rice, a lobak and drinks to then head back to eat at home. Fun to get all this food in their respective plastic wrapping systems. What I realised in the morning was this place was 5x busier in the morning than in the evening. Clearly it's a morning watering hole for both strong coffees but also a bowl of noodles to fortify the day.
Mee Tarik Restoran - https://maps.app.goo.gl/tK6oSEZAoSVypWaSA?g_st=ic
This is a place where I can picture Anthony Bordain sitting at a plastic chair, at a plastic table, amongst a hubbub of activity quietly contemplating the scallion cake and fried dumplings (well that's what we had!). A high quality, high turn over, low pretension kind of place...I wish I had a bigger stomach or more time as there was loads I'd have tried. That end of Petaling St also felt the most fun.
Lot 10 Hutong Food Court - https://maps.app.goo.gl/pGkZXWBKNg8AWvZU7?g_st=ic
Hutong means alley way and while this is a typical subterranean food court under department shops heaving with people this felt like a rabbit warren back alley. Once we got a seat, I secured myself a classic chicken rice. Delish. Then some pastry pork puffs - epic. And then after a bit of a walk around to look and digest, I had a fresh cheung fun to wash it all down. There was serious energy down there with families grabbing a long lunch, workers grabbing a quick bite and many just picking up their local favourite.
Jalan Alor -
A street food street. You can't get much more street-foody. We ran the gauntlet and came our relatively unscathed. We settling for some dinner - I can't remember the place other than I had an epic black pepper king prawn dish. The sauce was next level - rich and warming with a distinctive but not overtly overpowering.
Q Cup Café - https://maps.app.goo.gl/doNtVWuf8oL2g84k9?g_st=ic
If you've not had a Ethiopian yirgacheffe coffee a run over the tastebuds you're missing out. Nothing can prepare you for the baseball bat of blueberries. It almost doesn't taste like coffee, that you know it anyway. These guys did a mean cup of yirgacheffe, taking me back to when I first tried it in Ireland and then bought bags of it.
Oh and we tucked into some Japanese and Korean cream buns incl at Don Don Donki - epic - especially if you like soft gooey things!
Some other things we enjoyed
- The Batu Caves is a bit of a schlep only to be very much part of the tourist circuit. That being said, we went early and witnessed the scamper up the coloured stairs into the cave. Actually worth doing for the look up high into the cave entrance.
- The playground and splash pool in the KLCC is perfect for hot and bothered kids.
Some other observations
- It goes without saying that Malaysians are super friendly. Always curious and engaging we always received warm engagement. As we were travelling with a 2.5yo and a 6mth old, we attracted a lot of that attention from people who were very family focused. Which is another observation - the strength of family ties (esp. up and down generations) - leading to a lot of curiosity about the kids (maybe it was the blonde thing as well) but also the clearer role each generation plays)
- Clearly the usual huge disparity between haves and have-nots
- I felt like communication was further hampered than just language barriers. In a few situations I really struggled to have a clearly laid out fact-based discussion (eg getting a late check-out turned into a mad round about way of needing to just book another night, don't get me started on arranging a deposit to stay at the hotel in the first place!).
- If the airport wasn't so far out (there is a slightly shorter train) i'd say I'd make this a more regular occurrence, to pop in for a meal between sessions stuck in a metal tube