The most common complains among the new arrivals working at the twin towers and the surrounding area seems to be the price of food. From fast foods such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King, to the food courts and restaurants within KLCC and Avenue K malls, you often need to spend at least around RM10 to get a decent meal.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

However, if you are willing to walk just a bit, there are hidden gems littered all around the KLCC vicinity. Warong Kak Fauziah with its excellent ikan bakar (grilled fish) is one of them.

Hidden behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia (opposite main entrance of the twin towers), the little zinc roofed shack is tricky to get to. The safest bet is to walk from the back road of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, and just follow what your nose tells you. There is usually a healthy crowd during lunch time on weekdays.

freshly grilled fish with rice comes to less than RM 6

There are three types of ikan bakar available here, ikan kembung (hardtail), ikan keli (catfish), and ikan pari (stingray). My favorite is always the ikan pari due to mainly the fact that there is no bone to deal with. For lunch, in addition to the fish, I also grabbed an omelet and some ulam (raw vegetable) to go with rice.

As with many ikan bakar places, you can find at least 3-4 different types of condiments to go with the fish, sambal belacan, chili with soya sauce and lime, cencaluk, and so forth. I usually like to mix them up.

KY and Chew (who wants a gf)

The ikan pari here was simply delicious. Rich, oily, and generous portion of very tasty stingray meat mixed with the spicy sambal with that bits of burnt fish skin, there isn’t many thing that is so down to earth, no nonsense, halal and unhealthy. I love it. Best of all, the plate of fish, egg, vegetable, and rice was less than RM 6 in total.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

Good food, great price, there isn’t nothing not to like about this place. Well, except maybe the lack of air conditioning, but that is pushing it, no?

Address:
Warong Kak Fauziah,
behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
Jalan Ampang, KL
GPS: 3.160088,101.711941

Tags:  chew,  fish,  ikan-bakar,  klcc,  malay-food,  stingray

Posted by KY | 23 Comments »

On a lazy weekend morning a few weeks ago, I was looking for a lunch buddy and happened to see Lorna coming online over MSN.

“Lunch?”
“Why not?”
“Let me bring you to this Malay chicken rice place”

I said okay with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, then proceed to get ready and wait for the lady to pick me up. (sexual equality, right? )

Lorna sipping her syrup ais

As it turned out, the nasi ayam bakar special (special roasted chicken rice) place is located pretty close to where I stay, at SS5 just next to the big Kelana Jaya Giant. The Malay food court area was not as busy in the afternoon as it is at night, there were only a few tables occupied.

drum stick, rice, soup, satisfying

We ordered two sets of nasi ayam bakar with drum sticks, and another extra drum stick for good measure. To properly Malaysianised the meal, we had iced syrup to drink.

The bbq chicken was rather unique, I could only describe it as a cross between roasted chicken and the chicken tandoori with the sauce that is somewhat similar to paprik style, slightly sweet and a little spicy. The rice was cooked together with other chicken parts (such as neck) and I presume, fats; thus carry a very fragrant smell that goes very well with the meat. It was very unique and certainly delicious. We finished devoured everything to the bones.

If I remember correctly, the chicken rice was less than RM 5 per portion and only available during lunch. The same place also have a big sign board that says “steamboat”, I wonder how Malay steamboat tastes like, maybe another time.

Address:
Jalan SS6/2,
Kelana Jaya, PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.101791, 101.598172

Tags:  chicken-rice,  lorna,  lunch,  malay-food

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

Being a true blue Malaysian, I love my nasi lemak. When my futsal buddy decided that we should head down to Kampung Baru from PJ after our game at 11pm on a weekday, I didn’t think it was a bad idea at all. I will happily trade a little bit of sleep for a good session of nasi lemak anytime.

There are several famous nasi lemak places around the area. The nasi lemak RA few hundred meters away, and nasi lemak antarabangsa that is even closer (I’ve yet to try) to this nasi lemak CT Garden situated right at Kampung Baru.

plenty off add-ons to go with your nasi lemak

The actual nasi lemak packets are rather small and pretty basic. A quarter of an egg, a small cup of rice, and plenty of very tasty sambal. The difference at this place is the availability of the huge variety of lauk (side dishes). Chicken cooked in half a dozen methods, fish, eggs, vegetable, squid, cuttle fish, cockles, beef, lamb, liver, lung, and more.

we didn’t leave anything behind

We had 2-3 packets of nasi lemak (RM 1) per person to go with some ayam madu (honey chicken), cockles, potato, and cuttle fish. Chicken and cockles were pretty good, but the cuttle fish was the one that caught my attention. The texture was just right, a little bit like biting down well cooked cartilage and went very well with the sambal. Personally I am not a huge fan of spicy soggy potato chips, but the other two dudes seemed to love it though.

The nasi lemak with lauk and drinks costs us about RM 6-8 per person. I guess nasi lemak isn’t exactly the cheapest meal these days, but it was worth it at this place though.

Nasi lemak CT Garden opens from 6pm to around 5am, parking is not too difficult. The place is also pretty clean and comfortable. Now I’ll have to try antarabangsa and see what the fuss is all about.

Address:
Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman
Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.16246, 101.70113

Others:
masak-masak

Tags:  curry,  malay-food,  nasi-lemak,  sotong

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

Nasi lemak RA at Jalan Raja Abdullah is one of the original famous nasi lemak places in KL city, alongside with Tanglin and Antarabangsa (which I haven’t try). Of course, there are also the very good Jalan 223 and Seapark versions in PJ for those who doesn’t want to drive to KL.

I had the chance to try it out a while ago when Kelvin and I went to the city one particular weekend morning.

plenty of dishes to choose from

There is always a crowd at this stall with customers arriving in their latest luxury Mercedes as well as the 12 year old Honda EX-5. At this place, you are treated the same whoever you are, line up and self serve.

The choices of lauk lauk (toppings) for the nasi lemak is probably the biggest here, curry chicken, deep fried chicken, beef rendang, tripe, lung, prawn, squid, fried egg, and so forth. Of course, peanuts, anchovies, 1/2 hard boiled egg, sambal, and sliced cucumber come standard.

rendang, sambal, egg, excellent!

I had my plate with plenty of sambal, a piece of beef rendang, and a fried egg. The meat was very tender and the redang very flavorful, I also particularly like the fried egg that is done just nice with the yolk still half liquid, very sinful. The rice was warm and didn’t stick together, and of course, the sambal did not disappoint either.

the nasi lemak stall is a short walking distance from Dang Wangi LRT

Despite being at a prime location, the price was very reasonable at the time of eating. The standard nasi lemak was RM 1.50, with extras ranging from RM 2 to RM 5. Nasi Lemak RA opens every morning and weekday evenings.

Address:
No. 15, Jalan Raja Abdullah
Kampung Baru
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.156649, 101.700965

Other reviews:
masak-masak
makan trip

Tags:  KL,  malay-food,  nasi-lemak,  traditional

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »

Quietly tucked in a row of shop houses at SS18 is the JM Bariani House that serves traditional Johor nasi briyani. My colleague and I went there on a particularly warm afternoon for lunch as this place is actually air conditioned. It was a wise decision, not only did we not have to sweat in a kopitiam, the food was so good it reminded me of the awesome Indian nasi briyani I had at Myanmar.

illustrated menu and a comfortable interior

JM Bariani House serves all but one item (mee bandung) that isn’t nasi briyani as main dish. There’s lamb, beef, chicken, fried chicken, and even just pure nasi briyani without any meat. They also serve nasi briyani gam ayam (chicken) every Wednesday and nasi briyani gam kambing (lamb) every Saturday.

I ordered a lamb briyani and my colleague had the chicken briyani, we also ordered a tauhu bakar (fried bean curd skin stuffed with mengkuang, cucumber, and sauce) to share.

chicken and lamb briyani, tauhu bakar

The rice used is the finer and smaller grain than usual, very soft and fragrant. The meat was so tender you can cut it with your spoon, they must be cooked for many hours. The taste was just right, not overly spicy, salty, nor sweet, but just a perfect harmony that was very satisfying. My colleague was very satisfied with the chicken briyani as well.

As for the tauhu bakar, I could say that I’ve had better. You would probably want to skip this item when you’re there.

The lamb briyani was RM 10.50 and chicken at RM 9.50. Not exactly economical but wouldn’t break your bank either. Some might justify it with air conditioning provided, but I’d say the awesome nasi briyani more than make up for the slightly higher price.

Address:
21 & 21A Jalan SS18/6,
Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.064812, 101.585866
Tel: 03-5634 4660

Tags:  briyani,  delicious,  eats,  johor,  malay-food,  subang-jaya

Posted by KY | 38 Comments »