Kuala Lumpur: EAT!

Two weeks ago, I was sent to Kuala Lumpur for work-do on behalf of my boss. That was like during the peak of flood crisis so in a way, KL trip was like stress-relief trip. It's good to go away from all the flood information and the fear. I stayed in KL for almost a week and when people know I'm from Bangkok, there is no one that wouldn't ask me about the situation; hotel staffs, chefs, taxi drivers, colleagues. That's how big the flood is to other countries' eyes, I suppose.

Anyway, I did keep track of what I ate as much as possible. Some were pretty same old boring stuffs - I'm boring like that. So let me recap a bit;

Madam Kwan's

First meal in KL was a re-visit to Madam Kwan's at Pavilion. I was still Teh Tarik (tea with condensed milk) addicted as usual. Never would I thought I had enough of Teh Tarik, whether it's cold or hot, I can have any day.

You could never say you are in Malaysia unless you eat Nasi Lemak so I ordered my first Nasi Lemak of this trip. Madam Kwan's Nasi Lemak is quite a plate-full (if that's an actual word for it). It's rice cooked coconut milk with chicken curry (the chicken was tender - so much love from me), hard boiled egg, dried shrimp floss (very tasty!), spicy ikan bilis (dried anchovies), cucumber, and some pickled vegetables. You might wonder how to eat this, should I mix them altogether? Trust me, I have wondered about the proper way to eat it. My Malaysian friend said the proper way to eat Nasi Lemak is that eat whatever you like, however you like it. So you can eat curry with egg or ikan bilis with pickled vegetables. It doesn't matter as long you enjoy it.

I would say Madam Kwan's is quite pricy for Nasi Lemak (I think I paid 18 RM for that) 'coz you can actually get decent Nasi Lemak with only 5 RM. But if you have the money to spare, then it's quite worth it. They also served many authentic Malaysian food and Western dishes.


Food Republic

How would a trip to KL be completed if I missed Food Republic at Pavilion! It's like my food heaven coz when I have no idea of what to eat, I would just go there, walking around to see what I want.

Call me boring but I did go for some old favourite that didn't have in Bangkok. Char kway teow and yong tau foo.

Char kway teow is actually a lot like Thai's Pad See-Ew but more spicy somehow. I got my Char kway teow from Thye Hong stall at Food Republic. You can find them in Food Republic in both KL and Singapore. Though it was very oily but the taste was great. Love the spicy sauce they provided as well since it got along well with the noodle. It never fail to satisfy me.

On the other hand, Yong Tau Foo wasn't as pleasant as before. Somehow it moved the stall (from what I recalled last year). The soup wasn't as nice as before. I don't know what was wrong, it's just not as nice as before. That was rather sad coz I love Yong Tau Foo so much.


Food Court in Subang Jaya

After a site visit one day, K, our colleague from KL, took us to dinner to Subang Jaya which is little bit outside of KL. We had some bonding session during the traffic jam of KL which was as bad as Bangkok. K took us to this big food court-like place close to Taylor's College. I don't know the name of that place but I guess people around the area would know where I mean. K helped us picking up seafood dishes to try then we just sat back and waited for food.

told you I could never get enough of teh tarik

Satay came first. I think we had beef, chicken and lamb satay with rice bun thing that would eat along. In Thailand, you would find satay coming with a bread instead. The peanut sauce in Malaysia is more chunky than in Thailand which puree everything. Taste wise was similar though.

Next was spicy squid with wing beans. It was different kind of spicy than Thai. It was pleasant though.

Next was steamed calms with ginger. It smelled so good, very gingerly. The soup that came out from calms tasted amazing. I love this!

K then ordered this shellfish thing which I have no idea what it was. You have to suck the meat out off the shell. The sauce was spicy kind. I think a bit like the squid dish but more thick.

Last one was sambal sting ray which was my choice. The fish was grilled with sambal (I think it's chilli paste?) paste. It was quite tasty, not too spicy.

The sitting area was opened air so it was really nice to sit down and enjoy food with friends. We did talk of so many things and even cross-country gossiping. It's amazing what happened in Thailand can also be known in Malaysia. This world is so small.


Madam Kwan’s Restaurant
Pavilion KL,
Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Food Republic
Pavilion KL,
Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Bangkok: Food Loft at Central Chidlom

I have been procrastinating in life lately. No real reason, just lazy. Last week, I took half day off to meet D1 on a "mission". It was the coldest day of Bangkok so it was pretty weird that I was wearing black tight walking around on Sky train. After our mission, we decided to grab lunch at Food Loft at Central Chidlom since they have cocktails in friendly price (100 something baht per glass - it was quite decent, I must add). Food Loft is like high-end international food court. You can get decent Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indian in one place.


I chose "Mabo Tofu" or Spicy stir fry tofu. It was absolutely addictive. I have had it ages ago here and it was still very good!



D1 ordered her Indian's lamb masala with garlic naan and samosa. They were nice, thinking I should try butter chicken next time I eat there. Though the dipping sauces tasted a bit weird. The green one was suppose to be mint sauce but it was very sour and the red one was just, weird. Anyhow, after mixing two sauces together, everything was fine.


I ordered "Kimchi Shige" or Kimchi soup and it was such a let down. It was just sour and not even pleasant taste of sourness. I think it could be the kimchi they used coz kimchi that came with it also tasted not that so so. So definitely lesson learned that I shall never order kimchi soup unless I'm at Ootoya or dining at Korean town.


Such a big meal for two of us (inc. 2 glasses of cocktails!). It was Baht800 for the bill so 400 for each of us. I think it was decent, not for everyday eating but definitely for a treat.

Food Loft at Central Chidlom
7th Floor
Central Chidlom
BTS station: Chidlom

Singapore: Food Opera at ION Orchard

As I mentioned in the last post that me and friends had lunch before we headed for Arteastique, I was a bit torn to make decision on what to eat since I had such a short time in Singapore (3 days) but so much to eat! So Y asked me to list down what I don't want to miss. I said "Beef noodle, Yong Tau Food, hor fun and steamboat" (No kidding, I EAT A LOT). She said we can make it at food court so we decided to give Food Opera at ION Orchard a try.


We decided to go order dishes that we want and share. I went out to get Fu Lin Tau Fu Yuen's Yong Tau Foo for soupy one. The soup tasted good but somehow the stuffs I picked weren't that fulfilled. Maybe it was the matter of my choice?


Y got us Fatty Weng’s fried oyster omelette. It wasn't too soggy and oily. It was very pleasant. Oysters might be small but plenty to find. I turned out to really dig this dish.


C joined us a bit later and she got the message that we wanted Scotts beef noodle. It was okay, not disgusting but not over the top. The meat ball was very nice anyway.


It was amazing how we took 2 hours to finish just 3 dishes. Or maybe it was due to the fact that us girls never shut up? The ambience was actually quite nice since we sat behind the dessert counter and since it was week-day so no one was rushing us to finish our food. There were so many things to try so this could be my eat when I go to Singapore in the future.

Food Opera
Level B4
ION Orchard


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