Malaysia - My Home

Cheap and good hawker fare, international standard hotels with "Malaysian" prices (cheap), and fine dining experience that can beat any other restaurant in the western world with reasonable price.

Quick Tips:

Go off the beaten track, there are many good places to see and good restaurants to eat outside of the city of KL.

Best Way To Get Around:

Within the Kuala Lumpur city centre area, the LRT (metro) or monorail service is sufficient to get you around. However, if you want to go out of the city, having a car is the best option, although you will have to bear with the traffic congestion during peak hours.

I had the most memorable fusion dinner at this restaurant: Mezza Notte. It’s near Sheraton imperial, at the Asian Heritage row where all the happenings bars are. The interior of this restaurant is very romantic and upscale, with purple as the theme. Most of all, I can’t help but to applause to the 28-year-old chef for his creativity.

For starter, we had foei gras tempura (RM48). When I heard about this dish, I can’t imagine how it’d taste like. After one bite, the taste was heavenly. It's a very unique fusion of Italian and Japanese. The foei gras was done just right, with a code of crispy tempura batter (the tempura was a little oily for my liking, but all tempuras are oily anyway). Second appetizer was white asparagus with parmesan cheese and white sauce(RM45), accompanied by aniseed and cardamom. I’d never have thought of that combination, but it tasted great. The white asparagus are a little old though, so I only rated this dish three stars as the cooking was good but the ingredient wasn’t. I also ordered a strawberry and prawn risotto wt balsamic vinegar (RM18) as a starter (it has degustation portion, which is vr rare for a main course). The name of this dish could only suggest the taste of this unique dish. Tasting it is the key! This risotto was splendidly done with strawberry pieces, strawberry sauce and lobster bisque as the main ingredients. One would never imagine this combination! And surprisingly, it has only a very mild sweet strawberry taste. Highly recommended for those who has an open mind for creative food (I know some people just can’t accept fruits in their food)

For main, we had the venison with polenta in gorgonzola cheese sauce (RM88). I’ve never been a big fan of polenta, but the vr good polenta has transformed me!!! And very seldom, you can find red meat in white sauce. The amount of sauce was just right as not to cover the taste of our medium rare venison. It was superb! I give five stars to this dish, ver y very well done!!!! I felt like congratulating the chef!

For dessert, we had chocolate lava cake wt honey gelati (they hv a selection of unique gelati/sorbet, eg., balsamic gelati, basil gelati, lavender sorbet and some others). I think the chocolate wasn't smooth enough, and I didn’t like honey gelati that much. But overall I’d still give it a four stars.

The service was good and attentive. However, they did made a wrong order for us. We ordered degustation portion of white asparagus but they present us with "main" portion and of course charge us for that. Overall, it's a great fine dining experience.

Luna Bar is a bar restaurant. There is usual finger food such as pizza, foot long hot dog ,chicken wings, crispy calamari, etc., served here. The food here is not spectacular, but sufficient to fill up your stomach for the party. After all, the purpose of your visit to Luna Bar shouldn't be the food, but the breath-taking view of KL Tower, KLCC and the ambience of this cool two-storey open roof bar perched on the rooftop of 33-storey Pacific Regency Hotel Apartments, by the rooftop pool.

Luna Bar consists of two floors – the main area and the mezzanine floor. The main area, complete with the swimming pool and long bar, accommodates most customers. The illumination of the lights on the still waters in the pool provide added glamour to its already elegant atmosphere. There are also cubicles built into the side of the wall with only glass separating you from thin air and a phenomenal view of the city. There are only 8 cubicles so do make reservation ahead to get a place.

The mezzanine floor is "so-called" by invitation only. However, I self-proclaimed myself a VIP and blended in all right without anybody stopping me. The view from the mezzanine floor is even better!

Chilled-out music or sometimes jazz are played here everyday to sooth the souls of the crowd, usually yuppies.

Highly recommended are the cocktails here. If you get in the bar before 9pm, there will not be a hefty cover charge of RM50. And each cocktail will only set you back a reasonable amount of RM25.

If there is only nightspot you plan to go in your KL trip, make it Luna Bar. It never fail to impress.

Cilantro is located right in the middle of KL city, behind the US embassy. It claimed to be a French fusion restaurant but I would reckon it as more inclined to Japanese Italian fusion.

This restaurant is famous for its Friday lunch where a different set menu is offered every week with appetizer, soup, main course, and dessert, plus accompanying wine for each dish. All these for only RM100 nett per person. Absolutely bang for your bucks.

Food here is good, having the usual fine dining standard in Malaysia, but not outstanding. Given the hype and reputation of this restaurant, I would expect something amazingly memorable but it failed to burn a lasting impression. Maybe it was just the set lunch since they only have a very low budget to play around with.

This restaurant has an appalling policy of getting your credit card details when making reservation (for Friday set lunch only), including the CVV number!! This is because if you didn't turn up, 50% of the set lunch cost would be charged to your credit card. Nevertheless, every Friday, the restaurant is fully booked. Therefore reservation is highly recommended days ahead (if you don't mind giving out your CVV number, that is).

This is a hawker stall selling Portuguese grill such as fish, prawns, calamari, and various types of shellfish at rock bottom prices.

Although the name is 'Portuguese grill', it has blended in the local flavour so much that it has hardly any Portuguese resemblance, except that it is as hot as peri-peri!First, the seafood, together with okra and lots of chilli marinates, are wrapped in an aluminium foil, and put the whole wrap on top of fire to grill for up to 15 minutes. Be prepared to sweat it out when you eat this very spicy seafood grill. Recommended for strong stomachs only.

There are a few stalls selling Portuguese grill around Petaling Street area. The best one is next to Hong Leong bank at the busy intersection of Chinatown pedestrian street mall. There is also a very popular drink stall selling 'Lo Han Kuo', a type of Chinese herbal tea near the Portuguese grill stall.

As a Malaysian, I think that the Bumbu Bali restaurant in Malaysia is better than the one in Bali itself, although they are from a different owner! Of course, it might be because Bumbu Bali Malaysia has innovated their cooking method to suit the taste buds of locals.

Tucked in a residential neighbourhood of Puchong, quite a distance from the city, it is not easy for tourists to find this gem. The decor of this restaurant is typically Balinese, with Balinese music playing in the background and some Balinese trinkets for sale in the restaurant.

Highly recommended is the Nasi Campur with beef rendang. The grilled lamb and grilled fish with very refreshing Balinese twist in the sauce and marinate are popular orders.

Also worth a mention is the creative ice blended drinks such as Ice Kacang (red bean) ice blended, Cendol ice blended (a type of Balinese dessert made into ice blended drink). I especially like the honeydew ice blended with a hint of mint. Marvellous!

The portions of the dishes are huge and the prices are very reasonable. No wonder this restaurant is always full during meal times.

Cafe Cafe is a Parisian style cafe at Jalan Maharajalela—a very busy street. Somehow I feel that it’s located on the wrong side of town as it’s surrounded by cheap food stalls in a lower to slightly middle class neighbourhood. However, stepping into the cafe will immediately transport you to a romantic cafe in France, with huge drape of Victorian curtains separating the cafe into 2 sections; beautiful chandeliers and glittering crystallite stars hanging down from the ceiling over the candle-lit restaurant; French furniture and pictures that normally found in Parisian sidewalk cafe hanging on the walls...the deco in the restaurant was said to be actually transported from France itself by the 2 owners. Although the furniture are a bit old, and there are quite a few odd ‘local’ chairs that do not match the Parisian tables, this restaurant does not lack a rustic charm to enchant its patrons.

The food in Cafe Cafe is also fantastic. There are a few value-for-money 3 courses set menu from RM69 to RM149. We ordered the RM109 set that came with escargot with foei gras and truffle as the appetizer, roasted wagyu cheek as main and tiramisu as dessert. We also ordered another a la carte appetizer Canadian scallop wt foei gras(~RM40) and a main course recommended by the head waiter – a duck confit(~RM45). The escargot with foei gras and truffle was an interesting mixture of 'the best of french cuisine'. However,I think the escargot was a bit bland and oily. While the other appetizer - Canadian scallop with generous portion of foei gras(3 big pieces!) was definitely a winner. Of the 2 mains we ordered, I really love the wagyu cheek. It was done perfectly and it's so soft it melts in your mouth. I was quite disappointed with the recommended duck confit. I think it was too salty to my taste and rather boring.

The dessert - Tiramisu, heavily soaked in Grand Marnier, was heavenly. I honestly vote it as the best Tiramisu in town. As Malaysia is a Muslim country, it is very difficult to find good quality Tiramisu with sufficient liquor in it. Now I'm very happy to find the perfect tiramisu in Malaysia.

I would definitely recommend this Parisian cafe, if you fancy a romantic dining experience with your loved one.

This restaurant is a hidden gem in a row of unattractive shophouses in an affluent neighbourhood, which is in between the satellite city of Petaling Jaya and capital city of KL. Getting to the restaurant is a bit tricky if you are not familiar with the roads around Pusat Bandar Damansara. However, it is definitely worth the effort to go all out for the delightful Austrian food offered in this Austrian restaurant. Think about it, KL has not many restaurants that serve authentic Austrian cuisine.

We skipped the appetizers and went straight for the mains. However, we heard good reviews of the mushroom soup and escargots. One thing to comment is the complimentary focaccia bread was very good and the 'special' home-made butter with a hint of mint was absolutely fantastic!

We ordered the stuffed trout Johann Strauss(~RM45). It comes as a whole fish, so it's not recommended for those who are not used to western food that comes with the animal head and tail. The stuffed trout was baked with mushroom, salmon, and spinach as the stuffing, and top with an unbelievably fragrant light dill cream sauce. Do be careful with the bones as the trout was not de-boned and still there's still a slight hint of fishiness. However, the cream sauce was so good it managed to cover the fishiness of the trout.

Another main that we ordered was venison pot roast with juniper-berry and mushroom sauce(rm48). This dish comes with cabbaged in red wine and a very delicious fried bread pudding. We both enjoyed this dish very much.

We ended our sumptuous meal with 2 desserts: the house speciality strudel(RM15) with vanilla ice-cream and the 'black man in white shirt'(RM16) which is really a brownie covered in sinfully rich chocolate sauce and cream. Both are yummy and value-for-money.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant for the incredibly fine food and great ambience.

Bakerzin is a franchise from Singapore, the founder is a pastry chef. Needless to say, this restaurant is famous for its pastries and desserts. This restaurant is located on the ground level of a major shopping complex in the suburban Petaling Jaya. I was quite intrigued by the concept of this restaurant as it is first of its kind in Malaysia. They serve dessert tapas! You can order about 20 types of different desserts in small portions. 3 dessert tapas will set you back around RM21 (~USD6). This restaurant also has a selection of appetizer and heartier meals and wide range of coffee and tea.

You can get the best deal during weekdays when they have set lunch promotions and dinner specials where you could get free desserts! I had dinner there on a public holiday so none of the promotions were applicable. I did not have a very good impression of this restaurant initially as the service of the staff was lousy. They were not knowledgeable at all and inexperienced even in communicating with guests. When we made our order, quite a few items on the menu were already finished as it was a busy day that day! Even the very basic mineral water was out of stock! I was quite unhappy with that as it was only 8.30pm and there are in fact 1 hypermarket and 1 grocery store right in the shopping complex itself.

Anyway, apart from the bad service and unavailability of simple stuff, the food was superb! We had escargot in cream sauce with asparagus and crab salad as appetizers, pasta with escalope of roast beef and champignon  a la creme for main, and warm chocolate cake for dessert. The escargot was all right, portion was quite big but it did not specifically outshine any other restaurant's escargot. We loved the crab salad. Many restaurants in Malaysia usually use Japanese crabstick as the crab salad ingredient but Bakerzin used fresh crab meat, which is really yummy.
The pasta with roast beef was ok. They actually mixed up our order but we accepted it anyway. The most heavenly dish is the champignon a la creme. This flaky fluffy puff pastry is the best I had so far in Malaysia. It is a version of Dome chicken & mushroom pie, but done in a much better and tastier way! This is a must-try!
Overall, I would recommend this restaurant.

Isthmus restaurant is located in a chic new office building near Mid Valley Megamall. It serves a good variety of east-meets-west cuisine. You need to have adventurous palette to be able to handle the blends of western cuisine with oriental spices.

I had the WOW platter for two as appetizer. It's a good degustation portion for five different signature appetizers - Simply Lentil, Just Avocado, Smoked salmon with wasabi sauce, blue lotus dumpling and the oyster shooter. I wasn't too impressed with either of them. In fact I was quite disappointed with the blue lotus dumpling, which was given much hype on other reviews. I believe the chef must have given lots of heart into the presentation as we could see the lotus petals were finely shaped into a dumpling. However, I would appreciate it more if the chef could work on the taste as well.

The oyster shooter was a tad too spicy to the point of covering the taste of oyster, which to fresh oyster-lovers like me, was quite a let-down. The other appetizers were not memorable so I would skip introducing them. Next, I ordered the famous Din Kum Duck as main course. Again, I wasn't impressed at all. The duck breast was roasted Cantonese style but spiced with anise and drizzled with plum sauce, on a bed of cha soba and grilled shitake mushroom. Sorry to say, the only thing I like about the dish was the very nicely grilled shitake mushroom and the crispy duck skin. The cha soba was overcooked, the spices for the soba was too 'industrialized' (it tasted like instant noodle flavouring!) and the duck, although crispy, was nothing to shout about. Luckily my partner's main course saved the day! He ordered the lamb cutlet which was very tender and juicy and delicately cooked to medium rare. The red wine sauce was good too. I highly recommend this dish.

The meal costs about RM160 for 2 mains and 1 appetizer platter. The price was quite reasonable and the service was attentive. Although the lamb cutlet was really good, the ambience of the restaurant very nice, I wouldn't go back to this restaurant again. Still, for people who would like to try some 'evolved' traditional food, it's still worthwhile to check it out. Maybe I just do not have the tongue for fusion food...

After making a name for itself in 1-Utama shopping complex, Delicious by MS Read has opened another branch in the new chic shopping mall at Bangsar - Bangsar Village 2. Those who are familiar with the dining scene in KL should know that Bangsar is one of the favourite areas where expats and locals gather, with restaurants and pubs just about everywhere.

I went to Delicious with my partner on a lazy Sunday morning. The restaurant serves all-day breakfast so they are open from 9am on weekends.

My partner had the Decadent French Toast served with grilled banana and beef bacon. The beef bacon was a bit too hard and oily (which bacon isn't?) to my liking and the combination of savoury and sweet needed a little bit of getting used to. But the french toast itself was HEAVENLY. The perfect fluffy texture of the french toast just melted in your mouth! Absolutely yummy!

As a custard fan, I chose the Marmalade Bread and Butter pudding with custard sauce from the display shelf. Actually I had a hard time choosing as everything displayed looked so good! The highlight of this dish, is definitely the custard sauce. It was so light yet giving the right flavour to the bread and butter pudding. Usually bread and butter pudding could be quite heavy but this was not the case here. It was still good to the last bite.

One thing to note is the very good hot lemongrass tea. It was very refreshing to have a cup of this on a lazy Sunday morning. It woke me up all so gently without accelerating my heart rate like other caffeine did to me.

Overall, I would highly recommend this restaurant for breakfast, especially with the relaxing and chic decor of this restaurant in a quiet corner of Bangsar Village 2. You could soak up a little bit of morning sun at the semi al fresco dining area too while dining. (Windows are open but with air-conditioning, how better can it get?)

As a local, I did what the tourists do and visited the Skybridge (10 years after it has been open to the public! Shame on me!)—the 88 storeys Petronas Twin Tower, once the highest tower in the world.

The double-decked Skybridge is located at the 41st and 42nd storey, connecting the twin tower in mid-air. We took the speedy elevator up to the Skybridge, travelling at an amazing rate of 3.5m to 7m per second! On the Skybridge, sweeping view of Kuala Lumpur is presented under our eyes. We were only allowed 15 minutes time on the Skybridge, which is really short compared to the time spent in the queue, but it's worth it for this architectural marvel. Don't forget to visit the exhibition hall on the ground floor for the explanations of the architecture, lifts, Skybridge, etc.

As we needed to get tickets to the Skybridge (only limited number of tickets are given out each day, and they are free), we had to queue up very early in the morning, at around 7am (on weekends), in order to get the tickets! I queued up for the ticket twice, and half way thru the queue (around 8:30am), they have already ran out of tickets I had to come back again some other time! So, I would strongly recommend tourists to visit the Skybridge on weekdays, as weekdays are usually the off- peak visiting period.