Variety Value Make Kuala Lumpur a Food Lover's Paradise

When it comes to eating out, no city in Asia can compare to Kuala Lumpur for the variety of cuisine, the quality of the products and the affordable prices. Malaysian food reflects the ethnic mix of the local population, spanning traditional Malay cooking, a dozen different Chinese regional cuisines and Indian dishes that range from spicy south Indian vegetarian curries to rich Sikh dishes from the Punjab. It is almost impossible to not eat well in KL, but here are five of the best places to track down. Nasi Kandar Pelita Ever since the Twin Towers opened in 1998, they have become the unofficial town center, surrounded by luxury hotels, gourmet restaurants and top«nd shopping mals. But there are still some great, cheap places to eat, too. Nasi Kandar Pelita is a one-shop tamily-business that now has more than 50 outlets. Nasi Kandar is Indian Muslim cooking, where a large serving of rice is accompa¬nied by dozens of different fiery curries. A hearty lunch here will
 
cost $4.75. But follow directions down a nearby backstreet for the Zon Hotel and there is an even better discovery, the Zon Food Court, which isn't in any guide book. This is traditional Malay cooking at its best"nasi campur," a choice of dishes laid out as a buffet that is utterly irresistible. Hakka Restaurant Hakka cuisine from southeast China may not be as famous as Sichuan, Cantonese or Beijing food, but it is a favorite with Ma¬laysians for its simple rustic dishes, strong on flavor rather than sauces and chilli. Nowhere is Hakka food better presented than at this vast open-air restaurant in the shadow of the Twin Towers. The restaurant offers an extensive menu, including sizzling tofu with fermented beans, "kangkong belacan" (morning glory greens sauteed in spicy shrimp paste), herbal chicken slow-cooked in a clay pot and the amazing "double cooked" pork knuckle.
Precious
Some of the most interesting dishes you will find in Malaysia come from Nyonya cuisine, an
 
original form of fusion that dates back centuries to the cosmopolitan ports of Malacca and Penang where intermarriage between Chinese and Malays created a unique way of cooking. Nyonya food takes a great deal of preparation, so this is not something you find being hawked at street stalls. Book a table at Precious, a sumptuous restaurant on the first floor of KL's landmark Central Market building and sample complex dishes like sour "asam laksa" soup, "otak-otak" (fish cake, chilli and galangal steamed in banana leaf), "acar awak" (pickled vegetables smothered in crushed peanuts), and "udang femak" (prawns cooked in a delicious rich coconut sauc). The place is not as expensive as it looks.
Coliseum Cafe The Coliseum is no gourmet heaven, but every visitor to KL should come here for a meal or at least a drink at the bar, because walking through its saloon swing doors is Ike taking a step straight into a scene from a Somerset Maugham story. If this were Singapore, the old place would have been demolished years ago, but
 
KL somehow preserves these quirky anomalies. Shuffling between the restaurant tables is a wiz-ened Chinese waiter. This is Captain Ho, 89 years old and still serving favorites like Ox Tail or Mulligatawny soup, Welsh Rarebit and the Coliseum special, Sizzling Steak, which sizzles so much that diners are obliged to endure a ritual of hiding behind a large white bib. Saravanaa Bhavan Take a quick cab ride out of the city center to Bangsar, a formerly sleepy suburb that has been transformed over the past decade into a lively nightspot, with scores of bars, restaurants and clubs. Bangsar has a great selection of Indian restaurants, many specializing in very hot south Indian vegetarian food, often traditionally served on a banana leaf and eaten with your fingers. Saravanaa looks rather smart, with whitejacketed waiters piling curry after curry around a mound of rice placed in the middle of the freshly washed leaf. They will provide fork and spoon if you ask, but it realty tastes better with¬out Be sure to order "it.

Sourced=phnompenhpost