Malaysian restaurants in Malaysia
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A
Restoran Sempelang
Eating outside is a Kota Kinabalu tradition and Restoran Sempelang is a great place to do it - right smack in the middle of the colourful Kompleks Sinsuran. There's a lot to like about this bustling Malay eatery: giant fresh fruit juices, English menu, good seafood barbeque (from 18:00 nightly), a canopy to keep off the rain, and friendly staff. As with other restaurants in the complex, your meal will be accompanied by the ubiquitous pro-wrestling videos.
reviewed
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B
Kedai Kopi Lai Foong
Chinatown has a number of informal hawker-style restaurants, with various food stations serving classic Malay Chinese dishes. Almost all offer fried rice, fish curry, rice porridge, mee (thin noodles, fried or in soup) and tofu dishes - a meal should cost less than RM20. Kedai Kopi Lai Foong is recommended.
reviewed
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C
Bonda
Self-styled 'retro' restaurant with a vaguely '60s/'70s décor scheme, including orange plastic chairs and Lonely Planet covers on the walls. Chicken and chips-style dishes are served, alongside the usual rice and noodle options, and there are piles of English magazines to flick through.
reviewed
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D
Restoran Yusoof dan Zakhir
A huge banana-yellow and palm tree-green canteen opposite Central Market serving huge portions of delicious mamak food. Fresh coconuts are chopped open at the entrance to provide a refreshing natural accompaniment to the spicy dishes served inside.
reviewed
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E
Pusat Makanan Majestic
This crowded Chinese food court has a noisy, boisterous atmosphere, and is a good place for a couple of beers.
reviewed
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Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre
You'll find some smarter restaurants and a food court in the Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre .
reviewed
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G
Little Penang Kafé
Set meals (RM13.50) let you sample several of the Nonya dishes that Penang is famous for, including lobak (deep-fried tofu-rolled chicken strips) and the spicy Siamese lemak laksa (using coconut milk), only available Friday to Sunday.
reviewed
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H
Teachew Cuisine
We walked past this place for about a week before we realised there was a restaurant here, and yet it's Melaka's claim to haute cuisine. Duck past mum, who washes the dishes on the sidewalk and spends all day chopping veggies and dismembering chickens. Smile at uncle who runs the rickety soup stall that efficiently covers the restaurant's doorway, and then you're in for a surprise.
The secret interior room is air-conditioned, the tables are set with China's finest and the walls are decorated with an impressive collection of hard liquor bottles and odd landscape paintings. There's no menu but everyone knows that you're supposed to order the soft-shell crab or the prawns. T…
reviewed
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Night Market
The best and cheapest Malay food in town is in the night market: look for the yellow arch reading ‘Medan Selera MPKB’. The stalls are set up in the evening around 5pm, when the sizzle of oil and heat hits the air and magic ensues. They’re used to foreigners here and stall owners often tone down the heat without you having to ask; the resulting food is sometimes overtly sweet. Say ‘Suka pedas’ (‘I like it hot’) to eat as the locals do. Specialities include ayam percik (marinated chicken on bamboo skewers) and nasi kerabu (rice with coconut, fish and spices), blue rice, squid-on-a-stick and murtabak (pan-fried flat bread filled with everything from minced meat…
reviewed
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J
East Xiamen Delicacies
With tables made from antique sewing-machine stands, ageing tile floors, overhead fans and scrolls for menus, this quaint little café is one of Penang's most atmospheric. The food is equally interesting with tasty homestyle recipes such as teochew lor ark (stewed duck) eaten with rice or congee, mangkuang (vegetarian dumplings stuffed with shredded yam-bean and chives, also known as kuchai kueh) and kuang cheang Teluk Anson (yam blended with groundnuts, wrapped in soya bean skin and deep fried).
reviewed
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Kenny's Nonya Delights
It's a hole-in-the-wall café, but this friendly little place, right near the junction of Jln Hang Kasturi, serves up some of the best Nonya food bargains in Melaka. This is an excellent place to have a quick snack of Nonya style laksa, popiah or a nasi lemak breakfast. The restaurant bottles its sauces, which make delicious (albeit heavy) souvenirs.
reviewed
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K
Nancy’s Kitchen
In a town already known for its graciousness, this home-cooking Nonya restaurant is our favourite for friendly service. The server is as chatty as they come, full of suggestions of what to order and will have you making conversation with the other handful of customers in no time. Try the house speciality: chicken candlenut (RM10).
reviewed
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Capitol Satay
Famous for its satay celup (a Melaka adaptation of satay steamboat), this place is usually packed to the gills and is one of the cheapest outfits in town. Stainless-steel tables have bubbling vats of soup in the middle where you dunk skewers of okra stuffed with tofu, sausages, chicken, prawns and bok choy.
reviewed
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M
Restoran Zhing Kong
Chinatown has a number of informal hawker-style restaurants, with various food stations serving classic Malay Chinese dishes. Almost all offer fried rice, fish curry, rice porridge, mee (thin noodles, fried or in soup) and tofu dishes - a meal should cost less than RM20. Restoran Zhing Kong is recommended.
reviewed
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N
Bon Ton
Housed in an atmospheric Malay-style wooden pavilion just east of the Bukit Bintang tourist area, Bon Ton serves excellent Euro-Asian fusion food, plus a series of set menus showcasing cooking from around Malaysia. Sample such unusual dishes as tom yam carbonara, and black pepper and mango chicken.
reviewed
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O
Hoe Kee Chicken Rice
Serving the local speciality of chicken rice ball and Assam fish head (fish heads in a spicy tamarind gravy), you’ll need to arrive outside of peak time or expect to wait for a table. The restaurant’s setting, with wood floors and ceiling fans, seems to further bring out the exotic flavours.
reviewed
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P
Living Room
Living Room completes Kuching’s trendy triumvirate of fusion eats. The menu mixes the top noshes at Junk and Bla Bla Bla and guests dine in breezy open-air salas. You will no doubt find yourself wondering where you are: is this Borneo, Bali or Barcelona?
reviewed
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Q
Restoran de Lisbon
On Friday and Saturday evenings, head to Restoran de Lisbon, where you can sample Malay-Portuguese dishes at outdoor tables. Try the delicious local specialities of chilli crabs (RM20) or the distinctly Eurasian devil curry (RM10).
reviewed
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Sing Seng Nam
KL is fast filling up with new ‘old-style’ kopitiam, but this is the genuine object, busy with lawyers from the nearby courts enjoying breakfast of kaya toast and runny boiled egg or a kopi peng (iced coffee with milk).
reviewed
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Top Hat
Serves both traditional British – think oxtail stew and bread-and-butter pudding – and local dishes, such as Nyonya Laksa (R28), which all come with signature ‘top hats’ (pastry shells filled with sliced veggies) and choice of local dessert.
reviewed
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San Pedro
There's really not much reason to head out to the nondescript neighbourhood of Medan Portugis other than to eat. Visit San Pedro, on the street immediately behind the square, with a cosy, local atmosphere for Malay-Portuguese meals.
reviewed
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Restoran P.J. Corner
This friendly Malay place serves good fresh fruit juice, rotis, nasi campur and a nice plate of mee goreng. It's on the eastern end of Jln Abang Galau, roughly opposite the Regency Plaza Hotel.
reviewed
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Precious
Decorated with beautiful antiques (most for sale) and modern Chinese art, this sister establishment to the Old China Café offers an upscale environment in which to enjoy trademark Nonya cuisine, as well as a bar.
reviewed
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Restoran Buharry
Popular hangout for office workers on Asian Heritage Row. All the usual mamak (Muslim Indian) favourites are on offer, plus excellent tom yam (hot and sour) soup and delicious mango smoothies.
reviewed
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X
Lotus Hotel in KLCC
A second branch off Jln Ampang of this nasi kandar (Penang-style steamed rice) canteen. Expect huge trays of fish curry and lots of spicy fried meat and vegetables. The first branch is in Chow Kit.
reviewed
