Kuala Lumpur 2024

 

Amuse bouche, DC Restaurant

We recently drove up to Kuala Lumpur for a fantastic few days of exploration. It’s not as popular a destination with tourists as other parts of Malaysia, and that’s a shame. After my trip here, I think KL’s a pretty underrated place. 

Staying in Singapore makes it easy it is to do short getaway trips in neighbouring countries, and I’ve been trying to make the most of it. I really enjoy driving to Malaysia a couple of times a year, whether it’s relaxing on their beaches in Desaru, indulging in Peranakan food in Malacca, or even just going around Johor Bahru for some rest and relaxation. I’ve never tried driving up to KL before, but thankfully, traffic was pretty smooth throughout.

I’d been to KL’s tourist sites like the Central Market before and well, I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone else. This time around, we stuck to where the locals go: the popular restaurants, good cafes and bars, and the shopping malls. We gave the tourist traps a miss, which was probably why I enjoyed myself so much this time around.

On our way up to KL, we stopped in Johor Bahru for wantan noodles for breakfast.  Another common rest stop is Yong Peng, which is just a little over an hour’s drive from JB. We stopped here on the way back at the end of our trip to explore the area. I didn’t know it at the time, but I actually came to Yong Peng once before a few years ago for breakfast at Sunroast, a local-favourite restaurant selling meats roasted over charcoal the size of my forearms, on my way to Malacca. This time around, we went to Yuan Yean Fishball Eating House, a restaurant specialising in Yong Tau Foo and Fish Ball Noodles. The fried fish balls were beautifully fried to order, and the minced fish fillings were noticeably firmer than the typical fish balls. In the rain, the hot bowls of yong tau foo were pure comfort.  


As we were already in Yong Peng, we also stopped at 正宗永平鸭面 Authentic Yong Peng Duck Noodles, which served decent sliced braised ducks, and then onwards to Eng Hin Bakery, a local bakery. Eng Hin occupied two storefronts: the first, their kitchen with a strong inviting smell of flour and yeast. The second was their shop, where they carry their own products in additional to other local brands. We had their 福州光饼 (Traditional Fuzhou Biscuits), which were generously stuffed with a peanut-based filling. It had an interesting texture, more akin to soft Asian buns and not the flakey sort of pastries that I was expecting.

There were several fruit stalls within walking distance, and we bought some fruits. There’s the usual Mangosteens, which comes into season mid-year. Duku Langsat is another seasonal fruit for these few months: they’re small dusky-brown orbs that break open to reveal slivers of translucent flesh, each sweet and slightly chewy, like nature’s gummies. We also bought a whole Cempedek. But the star of the haul was a fruit called the Pulasan, a close relative of rambutans and lychees, and a fruit that I’d never encountered before. It’s apparently even rarer outside of Southeast Asia. It looks a little like a sea urchin, and contains a single seed surrounded by sweet dense flesh.


Reaching KL, we had no particular inkling on what to do aside from stopping by a few restaurants. Still, the days sorted themselves out. We were never at a lost looking for things to do.

Our apartment’s infinity pool at night, overlooking the city skyline with the Petronas Tower

We start our days with breakfast from local favourites like VCR and Feeka Coffee Roasters, for good coffee and excellent brunch. Are tarts excessive to eat after brunch? Perhaps, but we also saw that VCR also supplies several other brunch places with pastries, so we really wanted to try some while visiting. 

Kenny Hills Bakery is another place that had been recommended to us, and we had a fabulous Tiramisu Cake, topped with caramelised nuts.


In the midday, we hung out at the malls: we had direct access to Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre from our apartment, and The Exchange TRX Mall, the newest mall in KL, was a short drive away. We had a sumptuous meal at DayOne DayOne Noodles; the star was the noodles’ chewy consistency (bring on the extra noodles!).

One restaurant that had been highly recommended to us was DC Restaurant by Darren Chin. Dinner was a three-hour long affair, but what a dinner it was. We were pampered from start to finish. Each dish was a blend of classical French techniques with Asian flavours, and each course was a delight. We were stuffed from the four-course meal.

One of the best things that I'd eaten in KL was from their amuse-bouche (picture at the top of the page): Pâte à Choux with a gruyere filling, and another, a delicate crunchy pastry shell filled with crabmeat on top of a dollop of curry sauce. Every bite was incredible.

Another knock-out dish was something called the Echo of the Sea: pasta served with uni, crab, shrimp, two types of fish roe (tobiko and ikura), and accompanied in truffle sauce with a small mound of wasabi. You're encouraged to stir the dish together before eating, wasabi and all. The many components in this dish may read like a directionless mess, but the execution was on-point, a testament to the chef’s mastery of the balance of flavours. 

Saying that our dinner was four-course is a little misleading. Each course is a little like the secondary school MCQ math practice question: each question is divided into a,b,c and so forth. For desserts, we have had 3 different desserts on 3 plates. My favourite was the mangosteen sorbet - unique, flavourful and not at all icy. 

Another fantastic find in KL was Sushi Yoshi Omakase. Sitting on the counter watching the chefs prep each course was an event unto itself. Their swift, deliberate movements making cuts into the fish fillets and rolling each slice delicately to make sushi.

Torching anago. An eel similar to unagi, but with an incredibly soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

I ate the single best hand roll of my life here, made with engawa and uni. 

At night, we visited nearby bars. One of our favourite finds is PS150, a speakeasy hidden behind the front of an antique toy shop. It was crowded, loud and dark. But somehow, we loved it immensely. The drinks were well-crafted, and the waitstaff and bartenders look like they were having a great time. As did we, throughout the entire trip. 

Cocktails from Hookie Dookie

All too soon, it was time to leave. Our original plan includes checking out a whole host of other bars, as well as Village Park Nasi Lemak (which just about everybody said we had to visit) and Mu Artisan, a niche soy sauce maker that produces my favouritest light soy sauce, but three days turned out to be too short to do everything that we wanted to. I can’t wait to return.