For tourists, Bukit Bintang area is all glitz and glamour, with many shopping malls and world class hotels.
In those malls and hotels there are secret walkways to transport goods and workers hidden from customers. On a bigger scale, Bukit Bintang itself too have hidden back roads and walk ways that are not readily visible to tourists. This post is sourced from one such places.
stall Adik Tomyam at medan selera behind Fahrenheit 88
Sandwiched between Jalan Imbi and Jalan Bukit Bintang just behind Fahrenheit 88 (previously known as KL Plaza), there is an old, beat up medan selera that have definitely seen better days. Most tables and chairs are in the state of disrepair, the place is not properly lit, and half the stalls aren’t even in operation. Nevertheless, there are usually groups of mostly Malay working class people lunching there.
I wandered into the food court on one hot afternoon. Most of the stalls offer nasi kandar, which I wasn’t particularly interested at the time, until I walked to the last stall – Adik Tomyam. The only stall that prepares food on order.
nasi paprik ayam – check out the ingredients
The menu are quite standard, there’s Malay style tomyam, beef, chicken, or seafood cook in paprik (spicy), merah (red sauce), halia (ginger), kunyit (turmeric) etc, and several types of fried rice and noodle too.
My first try was sotong halia (ginger squid) and a telur dadar (omelet with onion) to go with rice, and then I return a couple days later for ayam paprik (chicken with spicy sauce).
sotong halia and telur dadar
It was out of my expectation, and easily the best looking made-to-order Malay food from any medan selera I’ve had. There’s a host of ingredients in each dish. The sotong halia had squid, chili padi, cauliflower, fried onion, ginger, garlic, parsley, and more. Paprid ayam came with chicken, ginger, spring onion, onion, long bean, lime leaf, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, and more…
So you can imagine that even though they are a single dish, there’s a lot of variety in them, and the sauce tastes damn good too! Oh, best of all, with the telur dadar and rice, the meal was still only RM 5.50.
I’m gonna order their tomyam next time.
Address
Adik Tomyam,
Medan Selera at Jalan Padang, Bukit Bintang
GPS: 3.145101, 101.713108
Tel: 012-3538 440
Good char kuih teow is harder to come by in KL than honest salesmen, but as with them salesmen, every once in a while you do find one that aren’t part of the rule.
I’m still looking for that elusive salesman, but for char kuih teow, there is the stall at Win Heng Seng kopitiam at Jalan Imbi.
Win Heng Seng kopitiam also have a good dry yong tau foo
If you recall from earlier post, this Win Heng Seng kopitiam is the very same one that also has the really awesome pork noodle.
So anyway, I had 3 pieces of yong tau foo (RM 2.40) as appetizer while waiting for the char kuih teow (which tends to be a bit busy). The yong tau foo actually turned out pretty good. It was the type without soup, but soaked in chili and sweet sauce and topped with sesame. Delightful.
the char kuih teow, was really awesome except for the smallish prawns
Then of course, came the char kuih teow. The fatter type of flat noodle is used here, it had a good dose of “wok hei” going on. There were the usual beans spouts, blood cockles, those bits of “choi pou” (salted vege), and a couple smallish prawns you can’t exactly see.
While the prawns certainly did not impress, the taste of this char kuih teow was very good. So good that I don’t mind the lack of giant shrimps. It was a tad oily, a tad sinful, a tad salty, but exactly what a good plate char kuih teow should tastes like.
I am missing it already.
Other good char kuih teow in Klang Valley includes Robert’s at Seksyen 17, Lau Wan (halal) and Aunty Gemuk (halal) at Kelana Jaya
Address:
Restaurant Win Heng Seng
Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.145479, 101.715087
my little Giant mt. bike – Terrago Team
In another news, I recently bought a mountain bike in order to burn all those foods that try to find their way to stay around my waist. It’s a Taiwanese bicycle with Japanese parts built in Malaysia.
Got the bike off a nice Malay chap from Shah Alam who was kind enough to transport it all the way to my house. I’m now waiting for a phone mount so that I can record some rides with Endomondo. Cycled to futsal last week and well, I survived. 
In case you haven’t read about it, here’s a story of how I hit a car’s side view mirror with a bicycle back in my high school days
Of the many pork spare parts that are available, my favorite would be pork kidney.
You can often find pork liver, intestine, and stomach, but unfortunately, mainly due to the difficulties in preparation, there aren’t too many places that offers kidney these days.
restaurant Win Heng Seng, jalan Imbi
Luckily, tucked at this less glamourous corner of Jalan Imbi is the restaurant Win Heng Seng with a very busy pork noodle stall that serves just what I look for. Awesome bowl of pork noodle with all the good stuff, includingliver, intestine, pork slices, minced pork ball, and of course, the very slurp worthy pork kidney.
glorious pork noodle, with extra pork kidney
The above bowl of pork noodle cost RM 8, only because I asked for extra pork liver.
I mean, look at it, does it not call your name? The texture of pork kidney, contrast with the slightly rougher liver, and the more exquisite intestine.. and then there’s those pork slices, all in sweet savory soup. With a little bit of vegetable to give you that nice coloration too.
Heaven!
the ingredients include pork slices, intestine, liver, kidney
The pork noodle comes with kueh teow, lou she fun, mee hun, or mee. There’s also dried version available as well. If you feel suicidal, feel free to ask for extra lard.
Expect a relatively long waiting time over lunch. And yah, the kopitiam is hot and not at all comfortable, but the pork noodle with be worth it.
map to restaurant Win Heng Seng
Address:
Restaurant Win Heng Seng
Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.145479, 101.715087
From the outside the restaurant is a classy bungalow, much like those at the soon to be decommissioned Bangsar One. You can park your car on the street, or valet for only RM 2.
Levain Italian Restaurant at Imbi
The decoration inside the restaurant is done tastefully, with pretty window curtains, cute little chairs, tables, and bits of beautiful brickworks too. The place really looks like something plucked straight out of Lygon street in Melbourne. The ambiance is really good.
Seafood aglio olio
LeVain is a bit of a partially self-service restaurant. You order at the counter, get your drinks and a number for your food after payment. Some 10 minutes or so later, the friendly servers will have your food at the table. This also means that if you have a table more than a few orders, food can arrive seemingly at random intervals.
My suggestion is to order together, or don’t wait for everyone’s food to arrive before eating.
teriyaki beef sandwich, potato salad, tomato soup
The best thing about LeVain tho, is the value you get. Most dishes are priced below RM 10, with only a few (such as seafood pasta at RM 12.50) slightly over the red colored bill. They serve free water too, so you’re not always obligated to order drinks either.
more spaghetti, Mychelle, KY, Queen, Horng, Winnie, Terence
As for the food, well, they aren’t top notch but they do hold up pretty well compared to restaurants that typically charges at least 50% more. I liked my seafood spaghetti and took a bite of the terriyaki beef sandwich which tasted pretty nice too.
Serving size at LeVain is smaller than almost everywhere else outside Penang, but hey, eating a smaller main dish leaves room for dessert and maybe a starter too right?
LeVain is opened for lunch and dinner. My experience is strictly from one Friday lunch visit, so dinner might be completely different. Cheers!
Address:
Levain Boulangerie Patisserie
Jalan Delima,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.14664, 101.72061
Tel: 03-2142 6611
One of the benefits working in a 1Malaysia kinda company is that you get the same treatment for everyone, when our Muslim colleagues go for prayers, we too, get 2 hour lunch on Fridays.
Last Friday we took the recommendation from our Bidayuh colleague Angelina and went for Sun Foong Bak Kut Teh at Imbi, just a short drive from our work place in the heart of the city.
Sun Foong Bak Kut Teh
To be honest, my first impression of Sun Foong is that of a TSH (tourist slaughter house). Lots of air conditioned indoor dining and alfresco tables, a little too clean and walls plastered with too many touristy posters.
I usually liked my BKT place to be one of old school settings, like Xhin Fhong of Sungei Way, or Weng Heong at Klang, but I reserved my judgement till after food tasting.
pork kidney in Chinese rice wine soup
The first thing that caught my mind while looking at the menu was the availability of pork kidney, I immediately ordered a small portion of pork kidney in Chinese rice wine soup. If you’re a fan of innards, don’t ever miss pork kidney, it is the reason I go to Kaka BKT in Kepong.
The pork kidney was indeed prepared the way it’s meant to be, sort, tender, and just very lightly cooked. I enjoyed this very much.
bak kut teh lunch at Sun Foong
Then there was the bak kut teh. For the five of us, we actually only ordered portion for three, which proved to be quite sufficient as the portions were rather big (RM 15 per portion).
While the additional vegetables and mushroom did not make this bowl of BKT shine in a BKT beauty contest, the taste actually exceeded my expectation. Even my colleague Ivan from Klang gave it a thumb up. The soup had a very strong and wholesome herbal taste that we liked, I think we asked for additional soup at least 3 times.
Debran, Angel, Yin Foong, KY
Oily vegetable was just normal, and to be frank, the yao char kuai was a disappointment at Sun Foong, so not everything is a hit there to be honest.
Sun Foong also serves seafood bak kut teh (which I’d probably never bother to try) and some other dishes like pork knuckle with vinegar and salted vegetable dishes, those could be interesting.
Our bill came to be something like RM 18 per pax including drinks, a pretty normal sum for good BKT meal in the city. This is a place worth returning, decent value for money and rather tasty BKT.
