When I was in Kuala Lumpur a year and a half ago, I had a fantastic food tour put together by Farah at Food Tour Malaysia. So I decided to look them, and Farah, up again.
The full day for a guide and vehicle (all food included for two) was ~ US$175. I could eat cheaper of course on my own, in fact this is really quite pricey for the area, but I wouldn’t have her guidance, her explanations, and of course her company as we drove outside the city. So for me it was well worth it.
I’ll highlight just a handful of our stops. The goal here wasn’t to have a meal at each place, but to order a few things and then share them in order to try as many things as possible.
Our first food stop was the most amazing buffet I’ve ever been to (Vegas should learn something!), Mawar Tomyam.
We visited Choon Mee Prawn House. Most of our stops were outside of Kuala Lumpur proper, and this restaurant is in PJ.
Prawn Mee (also known as Hokkien Mee) is a popular Malaysian hawker dish. The soup is boiled using prawn shells, giving it a strong prawn aroma.
It generally features prawns, pork ribs, pork intestine, chili oil and possibly squid.
We stopped on the roadside for durian.
On one of my first visits to Southeast Asia I had been told I didn’t want to try durian. “Stinky fruit,” I wouldn’t even be allowed to bring it inside of many hotels. I’ve seen signs in Indonesia that read “No Durian.”
But it’s really quite delicious, and I eat it regularly with sticky rice at my favorite Thai restaurant in Northern Virginia.
And heading back into Kuala Lumpur we visited one of the best-regarded satay restaurants.
We stopped at some other food stalls as well during the day, and Farah had brought for us some baked goods to try as well. It was a marvelous day of eating and trying new things. And some of my favorite foods as well, Kuala Lumpur is not far behind Singapore as my the food city I enjoy the most (and of course for other reasons Hong Kong and Tokyo are both up there too).
You’d think that I would just find my own way in Kuala Lumpur at this point, but Farah found places I probably wouldn’t (I’d be taking a stab in the dark based on reviews at OpenRice.com) and I certainly wouldn’t be able to try as many things so efficiently on such a short trip. So I appreciated her guidance very much, and couldn’t imagine coming back to Kuala Lumpur and not looking her up.
She’s from Penang and helped to set up Food Tour Malaysia’s operation there, so when I go to Penang I’ll certainly set something up with them there as well.
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