Brendan eats in Kuala Lumpur

Brendan, our older son, arrived for a 5 day/4 night visit. Since he has been to KL several times and was still jet lagged, we concentrated on eating. We introduced him to our neighborhood food options and tried a few new restaurants.

We had two banana leaf  dinners. A typical banana leaf meal starts with a server putting white rice in the center of a banana leaf and adding side vegetables, a choice of gravies (chicken, fish mutton and/or dhal) and papadum. The customer can control the portion size - I usually only want the first spoonful as I have watched others pile the food on. Our first meal was at Restoron Raju on Jalan Gasing, which was recommended by friends and a taxi driver. The prices were the high side, but the chicken and fish were great and worth the cost. The restaurant on a street with several framing shops and art galleries. A thunderstorm ended our cancelled our plan to arrive early and tour the galleries before meeting up with a friend.

A welcoming dasa

Cleaning the banana leaves

Nirvana is a neighborhood banana leaf restaurant, about 1.5 kilometers from our condo. Breakfast, lunch or dinner Nirvana is always has a crowd.  We had a vegetarian banana leaf - same as Raju, we just didn't include meat or fish in our orders. In addition to the vegetables we had a great pickle relish and rasum (a sour soup). I preferred the papadum at Raju, Doug and Brendan preferred the vegetables at Nirvana. No matter we had two good meals.

A trip to Paramount Gardens has to be carefully planned to avoid the lunch crowds. Arrive after 12 and you may have trouble finding a seat. Paramount Gardens is a short walk from the Paramount LRT station. The food court has about 15 stalls, but I never venture away from the assam laksa stall. No other assam laksi that I have had in KL comes close to being as good. The portion size is reasonable, the price (RM5) is great, and it loaded with fish. I ordered two (Doug had his usual pan mee, fried noodles with pork),  - only to find out that Brendan really wanted curry laksa (filled with coconut milk).  Like mothers everywhere I gave him the healthier choice.

We went into the center of KL to pick up shirts that Brendan had made at Custom made by Andy. It gave us an excuse to visit Sisters Kitchen at Menera Hap Seng where we could indulge in mango smoothies and mixed popiah (plain and crispy). We particularly like the crispy; Brendan pointed out that deep frying helps everything. On an earlier visit we added an order of ais kacang (also good, but we wanted to keep from having our stomachs exploding)

After a good lunch and filling snack we were at a loss for a dinner choice (too many possibilities). Brendan said soup dumplings, seafood, or Japanese sounded good. It was Vietnamese that got a warm response. We surfed the web, found Sao Nam in the same area as the popular street food area of Jalan Alor, and decided to check it out. A wise decision I can still taste the dinner. We start with beef la lot, which I have been looking for since we returned from Hue. It was better here, probably because Sunday night may not be the best time to visit a student run  restaurant. In Hue we didn't get lettuce, noodles, or fish sauce to wrap along the beef la lot. We also had a papaya salad, duck with tamarind sauce, and a crispy pancake.Everything was tasty and the flavors blended nicely. The dishes were served separately so that we could savor the taste of each.

Beef La Lot

Crispy Pan Cake - worth the trip across town

The last dinner on this four night eating binge was at Hakka Restaurant near Pavillion Shopping Mall. I have eaten there with the family of friends several times, but only during the day. At night the outdoor eating area is lit up and the nearby skyscrapers hover over the diners. As we sat down an attractive young woman in a fitted white dress (according to Brendan a la James Bond) asked if we wanted beer; Doug and Brendan's glasses were refilled every time they were half full. The food service was far less attentive. We had homemade Hakka noodles with minced pork, ginger, and spring onions; claypot tofu with mushroom, carrots, and pork (a real winner); Thai gai lan (similar to spinach) pan fried with garlic; tilapia breaded and deep fried in a spicy fruit sauce. Except for the fish we ordered small portions, which were adequate for the three of us. Due to the attentiveness of "the beer lady" Doug and Brendan drank two large bottles of beer.

One of our two breakfasts out was at  Aswara, a cafe about 1.5 kilometers downhill from our condo. Doug and Brendan had roti canai and I had a dosa masla. The food was good, but it was the atmosphere and convenience that won the day. We usually walk down to this part of Bangsar, which also includes Nirvana and the night market, and take a bus or taxi back. (The other breakfast was a major disappointment - so it will go unnamed.)

Bottom line - 8 meals; 7 at places worth revisiting. Now we are off to India. Not the best place to recover from this eating spree.