We’re definitely blessed with a great selection of street food in Malaysia, from your typical char kuih teow stalls to burger tepi jalan, to nasi lemak shacks.. but if you look harder, you can also find authentic street food originated from neighboring countries, case in point – Little Rara with its authentic Thai fare.
Little Rara Thai Noodle House, Kia Peng
The restaurant is located at the carpark next to Menara HLA by Jalan Kia Peng, a stone’s throw away from Pavilion KL. The set up is as “authentic” as they get, seemingly putting up together by someone who happened to have a set of table saw, hammer, and nails. There’s no such thing as air conditioning or tinted windows, but you are somewhat shielded from rain should it starts pouring.
The place starts operating by 5:30 pm and does work up a crowd pretty soon. While the set up is old school, they do have a proper digital queuing system, color me impressed.
tomyam talay meggi
Like most proper “street food” stalls, the kitchen is pretty much open. There’s a BBQ grill where they prepare beef/chicken/corn, a stall for noodle (wet & dry), plus a drinks’ kitchen.
We started out with their famous tomyam talay meggi (RM 19 for small), it was basically tomyam maggi on steroid. Packed with prawns, mussels, squid, egg, and ultra strong tomyam flavor. Love it.
bbq beef, pad thai
BBQ Beef (RM 13, Australian beef apparently) goes well with the accompanying sauce, and it wasn’t over cooked either. Portion though was a bit small I thought.
However, the must-order from the grill turns out to be their BBQ Corn (RM 7 for 2). They were ultra sweet and almost half caramelized, I need this for movie night!
mango sticky rice & the excellent bbq corn
We also had seafood pad thai (RM 12) which I thought was quite competent, and a dessert in mango sticky rice (RM 8) which turned out to be just average.
Over all thought I really liked the place and the intense flavor of their tomyam & those corns. Will definitely order those two again when I revisit, and perhaps try some of their other dishes.
Address: Little Rara Thai Noodle House Menara HLA, 3, Jalan Kia Peng, 50450 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.151342, 101.713584 Tel: 012-372 2706 Hours: 5:30 pm to 12 am, Closed on Sunday
A couple weeks ago I managed to check off the list of states to travel in Malaysia, finally stepped foot in Kelantan after all these years thanks to a colleague’s wedding invitation.
ayam bakar, solok ladi, daging bakar
While it was only for a short day-trip and the wedding reception involved food, I can’t help but stopped by one of the more famous nasi kerabu place for a pre-kenduri brunch.
After consulting my brother’s friend who’s a Kelantanese (my brother spent years in Kelantan as a uni student), we decided to visit Liniey Nasi Kerabu Tumis in Kota Bahru town.
The restaurant is just over 10 minutes from the airport. Renting a car to move about in KB is probably the easiest way to move about this town. Pro tips: search with the term “kereta sewa” and you’d usually get it a bit cheaper than “car rental”.
The restaurant was rather busy in the brunch hours when we were there. There was a queue, we lined up for our turn and waited for our turn to pick the version of rice (dagang/kerabu) and lauk (dishes).
liniey nasi kerabu kota bahru
I opted for the blue nasi kerabu (color from butterfly-pea flower) with ayam bakar, daging bakar, and a piece of solok lada (stuffed green chili).
The meat were flavorful if not a bit sweet, as most things in Kelantan often is. If you’ve not had solok lada before, imagine yong tau fu, but also with shredded coconut, and spicier, I love it.
options of dishes to choose from, and that long queue
The brunch at Liniey Nasi Kerabu Tumis was lovely, a word of caution – the drinks was still too sweet despite us ordered it “kurang manis”, you’ve been warned.
Address: Lieniey Nasi Kerabu Tumis Jalan Abdul Kadir Adabi, 15200 Kota Bharu, Kelantan GPS: 6.125033, 102.258844 Hours: 7:30 am to 2 pm
While Klang Valley is one of the best places for those of us who eats out, one has to admit that it is not usually easy to find something that’s genuinely healthy.
It’s easy to find food that’s delicious (that’s what this site mostly concentrates on), and also cafes that offers cool concepts and beautiful dining environment/experience (those “instagrammable” spots, anyone?), so when I was contacted by MEDIFOODS to check out their unique proposition, I was pretty eager to take a look.
MEDIFOODS Lifestyle Cafe, Damansara Kim
The founder of MEDIFOODS is actually a licensed pharmacist, you wouldn’t have guessed it, but it is not a surprised when you really look at the name of the restaurant, right?
What the founder aim to do is to provide delicious food that is also healthy in nature – by the way of preparation and carefully crafted ingredients. For example: non-GMO, MSG free, vegetables from own farm, etc.
FIT meal – 2 protein 1 vege, or 2 vege 1 protein
In addition to these food, they also offer consultation on food selection and choices if healthy lifestyle is what you seek. Like I mentioned above, founder is a pharmacist, and often there’re also nutritionists in house.
I was there a couple weekends ago to check out their FIT Menu – where you can choose from either 1 protein + 2 vege (RM 16.90), or 2 protein + 1 vege combo (RM 18.90). The set is also served with a base of Medifoods rice (parboiled basmati), multigrain brown rice, or quinoa + millet (extra RM 2.00)
fish, steamed egg, and chicken dishes
So, what are you choices of these protein and vege? And most importantly, are they any good?
There are four different fish dishes (farmed raised organic tilapia) – ginger steamed fish, deep fried with ginger, steamed with soya sauce and fried ginger, steamed with assam sauce. Three chicken dishes – steamed with minced ginger, green curry, and with herbs. A couple egg dishes in Chinese style omelet and steamed egg, as well as a four different tofu and mushroom dominated dishes.
I found that the tastes aren’t overwhelming and generally a little bit more subtle in nature, while retaining natural sweetness of ingredients, very.. comforting.
tofu and egg dishes, basmati rice, multigrain brown rice, or quinoa
There’s also over half a dozen different vegetable dishes to pick from as well. I particularly love my bitter gourd with egg, but there’s also bok choi, choi sam, mixed vege, brinjal, and so forth. If paired it with tofu or egg as your protein choice(s), you can easily have a rather delicious set of vegetarian meal without resorting to those “fake meat” dishes, something I find rather contradicting at times.
which one is your favorite vegetable?
As for the base, I’d suggest trying out quinoa and millet, both of which offers higher fiber, magnesium, and antioxidants. But if you are a true Asian who can’t live without rice, there’s they are also available.
The FIT Menu is available daily, if a healthier hot meal is what you look for, this is a place to check out.
salad bar and noodle soup station
On weekends, MEDIFOODS also offer their signature Healthy Breakfast Buffet in the morning. Essentially a buffet spread specifically curated to contain healthier options in the all you can eat format.
At RM 21.80 per person, here’s what you get:
A salad bar with over 20 different ingredients from green peas, cherry tomato, roast pumpkins, cons, to eggs, spinach, and salad greens.
meehun, pizza, fried rice
A noodle station, as well as fried meehun, pizza, and fried rice.
angku, chai kuih, pumpkin cakes, radish cakes, fried fuchuk spring roll
A variety of traditional kuih, pumpkin cakes, radish cakes, fried spring roll, as well as santan free nasi lemak with their home-made sweet/spicy sambal.
oat embryo milk, bread, onde-onde
Bread, onde-onde- oat embryo milk, and free flow coffee and tea. There’s also porridge and two different types of tongsui to choose from.
The buffet is really the option to go if you have a good appetite, not willing to scarify healthy eating, and want a good value all at the same time.
spoiled for choices
Other than Damansara Kim (address below), MEDIFOODS is also presence at the following locations:
Bangsar South – Ground Floor, Tower 1, Avenue 3, The Horizon
Subang Jaya – 61, Jalan SS 18/6, Ss 18, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
SS2 – 11A, Jalan SS 2/30, SS 2, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
While char kuih teow, laksa, and cendol gets all the attention in Penang, one of the must-eats for me is actually the humble old apong. Specifically, the stalls offering these tiny apong that have been operating at Jalan Burma right outside Union Primary School for decades.
Apong Guan, Penang
There are only two of such stalls on the island as far as I know, both offering very mini sized apong made with plenty of eggs, flour, ripe banana, corn, and some other secret ingredients (I think the guy will sell you the recipe for a handsome fee).
I’ve wrote about Apong Chooi back in 2011, so now let’s look at Apong Guan, arguably the more “famous” of the two.
Each Apong now goes for RM 0.60, up from RM 0.35 8 years back, and seven for RM 1.00 maybe two and a half decades back when I first got my motorbike license.
Apong Guan will usually have a small crowd surrounding the stall on weekends, an exercise in patient in these hot climate to be sure. The reward though is definitely worth it. The apong is sweet from the ripe banana & corn, savory from its egg, and perfect in every way. I suggest you order enough to lasts the afternoon, and eat them while hot!
RM 0.60 each for this goodness, must-eat if you’re in Penang
Apong Guan has been in operation for some 50 years, with no heir apparent in sight, so if you’re longing for something uniquely Penang, this is a stall not to be missed.
When it comes to Indonesian food, none is more famous than Ayam Penyet, essentially a flattened deep fried chicken served with tempeh (made from fermented soya bean), tofu, and those oh-so-addictive sambal.
Ayam Penyet Mak Maya, Kampung Baru
My first ayam penyet was at Waroeng Penyet just over a decade ago, and it was love at first taste. I’ve been on a look out for ayam penyet stalls in its most “pure” form ever since, for a lack of a better word.
A hunt that led me to Ayam Penyet Mak Maya at Kampung Baru, my current favorite.
Mak Maya is located at Kampung Baru, directly opposite to one of my favorite Nasi Padang restaurant. The restaurant itself is a bit of a time capsule from the 80s, with plastic chairs and laminated table.
I always order mine with extra sambal
What sets Ayam Penyet Mak Maya apart from other such stalls is their sambal. The sambal is prepared “fresh” on the spot by grinding fresh ingredients to the paste form we’re familiar with.
The result was expectedly excellent, spicy, aromatic, and pure. I love it.
ayam or ikan for you?
Other than ayam penyet (chicken), they also have ikan kembung (Indian Mackerel), and ikan keli (catfish) deep fried in the same style.
These are served with deep fried tauhu, tempeh, and a slice of raw cucumber, cabbage to go with plain rice. The sambal of course ties everything together to make a plate of super satisfying lunch.
if you love it spicy, you’d love it here
If you want a good meal of ayam penyet in the heart of KL city, this is one to check out.. before Kampung Baru is eventually being redeveloped.
Address: Ayam Penyet Mak Maya 58, Jalan Raja Muda Mus Kampung Baru, 50300 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.164533, 101.708807
