I get asked that question a lot (and similarly, I’m always looking for recommendations before I visit places in Malaysia I’m not familiar with).

In July 2022, I had the opportunity to go on a road trip covering most of the peninsula of Malaysia for an entire month with Noah, Paul Gray, and the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) extended family of chefs, cooks and YouTubers.

Red dots mark the places we visited during July in Malaysia

We were there to film content for our next two Tourism Malaysia Australia-sponsored series, Street Food Journeys: 4 and 5. (Series 4 is on Laksas of Malaysia and Series 5 is called Malaysia: Melting Pot of Asia.) 

Arriving at KLIA (KL International Airport) at 5am in the morning meant we had to kill time for 10 hours before we could check in at the hotel where we were staying.

These were some of the key destinations we visited –

• Terengganu
• Melaka
• Kuala Lumpur/Selangor
• Ipoh
• Penang Island
• Seberang Perai (Penang Mainland)

Thanks to the collective local knowledge of our Malaysia-based chefs, tour guides, hosts and sponsors, we were able to sample a diverse range of food we might otherwise have missed. 

This being Paul’s first visit to Malaysia, he was intrigued to see that McDonald’s sells Nasi Lemak. The text says (to paraphrase it), “you don’t know (how it tastes) until you try it”

So, over the next few articles, I’m going to compile information on the food we ate and the places we stayed at for each of these places (I’m going to do a separate blog post for Subang because MOMC chef Debbie Teoh took us out so many times in her neighbourhood) – that way, you can use them as reference points for when you visit Malaysia.

We arrived on a Sunday morning and most places were closed including money changers – so we wandered around for hours looking for street food that wasn’t going to cost more than the spare notes I had left from my previous trip to Malaysia some 3 1/2 years ago. This scene in Jalan Alor was one of the first photos Paul took, and yes I do know Jalan Alor mostly comes alive at night.

Just as a heads-up, this isn’t a comprehensive list but more of a starting point – there are countless dishes we wish we had tried, but because of our busy shoot schedule we just didn’t have the time to fit them in.

An exhausted Paul Gray finally gets to sit down to a meal at a place we stumbled upon near Jalan Alor. A quick calculation told us we did have enough cash to eat there, but the order menu was via a QR code and we didn’t have local sim cards yet since nothing was open, ie. no internet access). Find out what the outcome was in my next installment.

Where possible, I’ll include the eatery names and other pertinent details; sadly, we ate so much (cry me a river, I know) and were so rushed during our long stay, that we didn’t get to record every last outlet where we bought our food, but I hope the dish names and photos will inspire you to look them up next time you’re in that part of Malaysia. 

Who knows, maybe we’ll get to organise a group to go again sometime in the near future, and you can join us on a culinary tour of Malaysia, right?

The post Street Food Journeys Road Trip: Malaysia (Eat & Stay Series Intro) first appeared on Jackie M..

Harm Chim Peng (I’ve spelled the dish the way it’s pronounced in Cantonese; I don’t know of a standard spelling for it), is a type of savoury doughnut sold at street stalls back in Malaysia, and it comes in a number of different varieties – plain, spiralled, filled with sticky rice, etc. My favourite is the one with red bean paste, but I’ve never seen this particular iteration on this side of the pond.

Furthermore, the ones they do sell here in Australia (that I’ve come across) tend to be a lot stiffer, bulkier and chewier, whereas the ones I grew up eating are light and delicate.

Now, I could have sworn I’ve made harm chim peng way back in my early days with some degree of success, but this time around, it took me three tries using three different recipes before I was happy with the result.

My main takeaways from these experiments are as follows –

1. Put away the electric dough mixer or Thermomix – hand mixing works best, and over-working the dough can actually be counter-productive
2. Don’t add salt to the dough – it can impede the yeast’s ability to do its job
3. Replacing yeast with baking soda (for a quick-and-easy version of this snack that a friend found on YouTube) produces a bun with a texture reminiscent of crumpets, ie. rubbery
4. There’s really no shortcuts with this recipe; it’s actually very easy to make but you need to plan ahead and do the prep work 30 hours in advance

As I mentioned, third time’s a charm, and it was my friend and fellow ex-Serembanian Lily’s recipe that worked for me, with tweaks. Next time I make it, I’ll try to roll the dough more thinly because this latest batch was still a bit thicker and more chewy than what they sell at my favourite stall in Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur, but I’m definitely tracking right with Lily’s recipe.

This is my adaptation of it –

Harm Chim Peng with Red Bean Paste Filling

INGREDIENTS:

Starter (30 hours before) –

90g plain flour
90ml water
2 tsps vinegar

Dough –

360g bread flour
130g sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp lye water (optional)

250 ml water
1/2 tsp instant yeast

Seasoning –

1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
1/2 tsp lam yue (red bean curd)
1/2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp salt

————————

1 cup red bean paste, rolled into balls 2cm in diameter
1 TBSP sesame seeds (optional)
1 TBSP water + pastry brush
Flour for dusting
Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1. Using a wooden spoon, mix the starter ingredients in a bowl, then cover and set aside for 24-48 hours.
2. Add the dough ingredients to the starter and mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.
3. Scrape and mix the dough, then cover again for 20 minutes – do this 3-4 times until the dough is smooth.
4. Set aside for another 3-5 hours.
5. Combine seasoning ingredients and mix well.
6. Work seasoning into dough, transfer onto a floured surface and divide into 16 portions.
7. Place a piece of red bean paste in middle of each portion of dough, cover and flatten as thinly as possible.
8. Brush one side with a little water, then sprinkle sesame seeds and press into dough.
9. Heat oil to 160’C and deep-fry, turning the doughnuts regularly to cook until they’re evenly golden brown in colour.
10. Remove and serve, preferably while still warm.

The post How to Make Harm Chim Peng (Savoury Doughnuts) w/Red Bean Filling first appeared on Jackie M..

This was what I sent her – it was very quickly thrown together so there are likely lots of places that slipped my mind at the time of writing. Steph specified she wanted hawker food and traditional offerings which is why I’ve deliberately left out some other places that would otherwise have made the list. I thought I might reshare it here as a blog post for others planning to travel a similar route on their next visit to Malaysia. Let me know in your comments if you’ve got any suggestions of your own

========================================================

Recommended tour guide – Mr. Shaukani Abbas – twice winner of Tourism Malaysia’s tour guide of the year.

Eating Guide – Kuala Lumpur

1) Kampung Baru KL – a Malay enclave in the middle of Kuala Lumpur – with lots of Malay and especially Kelantanese food (Kelantan is the northernmost state in Malaysia and borders Thailand)

 – Suraya Seafood (Kelantanese restaurant) – (every dish we ordered was delicious)

– Nasi Lemak CT Garden (I was brought here because apparently it’s much better than the other, more well-known Nasi Lemak place also located in Kampung Baru)

2) Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang

The oyster omelette at this place (sadly I don’t know the stall name) is quite different; it’s thin and crispy instead of the gooey, soft version you may come across in Penang –

There are a number of outdoor “restaurants” along the Jalan Alor strip – the tables are filled by a mix of Western tourists and locals and they’re generally all pretty decent. Go local with dishes like frog in ginger and shallot sauce, anything with salted egg yolk sauce, kangkung belacan, butter prawns etc. Don’t do what most Western tourists do, i.e. order sweet & sour pork, lemon chicken and that sort of stuff.

3) Brickfields (a.k.a. Little India)

Look for Visalatchi’s (which is located in a back street rather than the main strip in Little India) – it does Banana Leaf Curry but it’s Chettinad-style (that’s like a sub-sub-sub Indian immigrant group in Malaysia) and it might just be one of the best meals you eat in Malaysia) –

 

4) Petaling Street (a.k.a. Chinatown)

There’s a pseudo wet market there in the morning along with food stalls serving breakfast dishes like rice noodle rolls with yong tau foo (tofu and vegies filled with fish paste). Petaling Street comes alive at night with its street market and more food stalls. This is frog with ginger and shallots from my Petaling Street supper –

5) Jalan Imbi

Breakfast at this place –

Restoran Win Heng Seng – was pretty good – they had those rice noodle rolls with yong tau foo as well, along with a few other dishes. These types of “restoran” i.e. restaurants are really like mini food courts – you’ll find a number of different hawkers subletting spots within the premises and they all sell different dishes.

This is those rice noodle rolls and stuffed tofu/vegies I mentioned –

For dinner, Fatty Crab is a well-known seafood restaurant (you’ll have to catch a cab/Uber there) and their food is very reasonably-priced.

Eating Guide – Penang

1) Pulau Tikus Wantan Mee –

This place has a number of different offerings (also from different hawkers in the same building) but its claim to fame is the wantan mee i.e. wonton noodles.

2) Char Kway Teow at Excellent Cafe, Ayer Itam

This place has my favourite CKT. This is the husband/wife team (so look out for them) –

3) Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng –

They’re famous for their fishball noodles in clear broth (breakfast).

4) Line Clear is a famous Nasi Kandar (Indian-Muslim rice/curry buffet) restaurant in Penang –

5) Ayer Itam Laksa is famous for its Penang Asam Laksa –

6) Kedai Kopi Genting (Genting Coffee Shop) –

Lots of great food in this place (various vendors). Especially look for this dish –

It’s Penang Pasembur (vegetable salad with sweet potato sauce) but Chinese-style, which is lighter and has jellyfish strips in it. 

Also, Richard Poi (based in Sydney; ex-assistant director of Tourism Malaysia Sydney) – ricpoitc@gmail.com– is running a 5-day (I think) foodie tour of Penang in May. I think price is around the A$890 mark and covers 4-star accommodation plus guided food tour for the duration, if that’s something you want to consider (assuming his dates correlate with yours).

Eating Guide – Ipoh

TBH I haven’t spent enough time in Ipoh to give specific recommendations; I was given Mark Ng (pron. Erng) from http://www.simplyenak.com/  by Tourism Malaysia’s PR agency as someone to contact re: Let’s Do Coffee when we talked about filming in Malaysia. It looks like they do walking tours (quite expensive by local standards but may be worth checking out).

Eating Guide – Melaka

1) Definitely check out Amy’s Nyonya Restaurant – best Nyonya food I’ve ever tried – you have to call at least a day or more ahead, and she only takes about 30 guests per lunch or dinner (everyone else gets turned away) and the food will take at least 45 minutes to prepare.

Address: Bandar Hilir 75, Jalan Melaka Raya 24, Taman Melaka Raya, Melaka, 75000, Malaysia
Phone:+60 6-286 8819

2) Melaka is also famous for its Ikan Bakar (grilled fish) and there are a number of coastal restaurants that come alive at night that sell this. It’s a good drive out of town so you’d be best advised to have a guide to take you there. We went to this place –

Where we got Ikan Bakar in MelakaFLASHBACK: One of the coastal restaurants in Melaka where they serve Ikan Bakar.

Posted by Jackie M. on Tuesday, March 1, 2016

– which was great, but it wasn’t the first choice for my guide (his favourite restaurant was shut that night).

FYI Melaka is Shaukani’s hometown so even if you only use him for the Melaka leg it’ll be well worth it.

                

The post Street Food Recommendations For Your Next Trip to Malaysia first appeared on Jackie M..

Print PDF

Brought to you by the team that makes the international travel show, The Travel Bug, this is Jackie M’s Street Eats Journey, filmed in Kuala Lumpur and Pahang late last year.

In this first of four segments, I visit Kuala Lumpur’s famous night market, Jalan Alor, in the middle of Bukit Bintang. I get to try oyster omelette Foochow-style, which is very crispy unlike the scrambled, soft, gooey Singapore and Penang version I’m used to. It reminded me a bit of the “UFO” I had at the Lucky Foodcourt in Kuching, Sarawak >> http://jackiem.com.au/2014/10/06/jackie-ms-sarawak-travel-diary/

Click to watch on YouTube >> http://youtu.be/fLivEz9nbuM

Just because I’m from Malaysia, it doesn’t mean I know how everything works food-wise – this was the case when I visited the Lok Lok stall at Jalan Alor with its vast array of nibblies on sticks. Similar to Satay Celup in Melaka, except I didn’t see any peanut sauce, the default cooking and serving gravy for this setup.

Finally, I also get to eat some Musang King Durian – if Durian is considered the king of fruits, the Musang King is often regarded as the king of durians – make sure you look for it next time you’re in Malaysia. If you look hard enough here in Australia you might even be able to find frozen Musang King Durian in select Asian grocery stores.

Thanks to Carotino Malaysia and Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur for your help in making this show

The post Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur – Street Eats Journey 1 first appeared on Jackie M..