Petaling Street, or better known as Chee Cheong Kai, is another favorite haunt of mine. I was saddened when the local government decided to update the Chinatown image to a more commercialised one. Nevertheless, the renovations are over, and many of the street stalls are back again!
If you venture off the main street selling touristy sovenirs and fake, branded goods and into the side lanes, you will be well rewarded with delicious food and a glimpse of the old Chinatown folks.
Start the morning with yum cha at one of the oldest coffeeshops, Yook Woo Hin, on the corner at end of the street before the Swiss Garden Hotel. They serve dim sum as early as 6:30am, the traditional way. I love the atmosphere here and have been coming to this place since I was a child. Little has changed here, and the atmosphere is lively as orders are shouted across the room. Tea and cutlery is still served emersed in hot water. The dim sum is cheap and freshly made in the shop.
My favorite food: wanton mee
There is a particular stall in the foodcourt at the other end of Petaling street that is touted as the best in KL (with Swiss Garden Hotel on your right, walk down until you reach a junction, turn right, and it is at the corner). For RM$2.50, you get a plate of yellow thin noodles that is cooked al dente and covered in light oyster sauce, served with cai xin, thick, roasted bbq slices of char siew (roast pork), and a small bowl of wanton soup (cantonese meat dumplings).
You can see the workers frantically churning out the noodles and wantons diagonally across the foodcourt in a dark coffee shop hidden by streetcarts selling fruits. In this same shop, you will also find one of the oldest stalls selling the best-tasting chee cheong fun (paper-thin rice noodle). Their sweet sauce recipe has a 60-year history.
Dessert? Head towards Bee Chung Hiang (you can see a huge red and yellow signboard), and look out for a streetcart selling silky jelly beancurd and a soybean drink, just before Bee Chung Hiang. For RM$0.60, you will not only get a bowl of silky beancurd (which is reportedly good for your skin) with a choice of either brown syrup or plain syrup, but you will get to be Ms./Mr. pretty/good-looking lass/lad for the duration. Look out for the middle-age couple in yellow baseball caps. They are usually there from noon onwards. If you are still unsure of who they are (there are quite a few), they are usually surrounded by students or a crowd of aunties.
Stomach still growling? Cross over back to Chinatown central again; this time go into the back streets. There, you will find a few stalls selling anything from wanton mee in claypot to a strong, thick local coffee brewed in socks.
How local can it get?