Top 20 things you have to eat in KL

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better bowl of Hakka-style beef noodles outside of Kuala Lumpur (okay, and Petaling Jaya), but hey, if you do, don’t gatekeep and drop us a note. Hakka-style beef noodles, unlike the soup variant, are dry or kon lou. Noodles, thick or thin, are tossed with a savory-sweet dark sauce, then topped with a thick slather of minced beef and a side of choy sum. It’s served with a bowl of soup swimming with beef balls, tendon, tripe, or your choice of beef parts. 

In Chinatown, there are two especially storied stalls popular with locals and tourists alike for Hakka-style beef noodles: the third-generation Shin Kee established in the 30s, and Soong Kee which was founded in ’45. If you prefer Hainanese-style with soup, instead of dry, there’s always Lai Foong a brisk walk away. For more, read our compilation of best beef noodles in KL.

Yeah, pan mee is great, but have you ever had chilli pan mee? Kin Kin, the little ol’ shop in Chow Kit, is famous for having invented it: fresh wheat noodles crowned with crispy ikan bilis, minced pork, an egg poached to perfection, and a dollop of dry, pan-roasted chilli flakes. It’s served with a small bowl of soup and sayur manis to counter the heat of the chilli. We’re spoiled for choice these days with the likes of Madam Chiam and Super Kitchen, but you never forget your first.

No trip to Jalan Alor is complete without barbecue chicken wings at the longstanding legend Wong Ah Wah. The key to a good hawker-style wing is in the marinade, and at WAW, it’s made of honey, soy sauce, and aromatics like garlic, ginger and spring onion. Wings, marinated overnight, are cooked over a charcoal grill, resulting in caramelised and slightly charred skin, sealing the juicy, succulent meal inside. Flavours are smoky, spicy, and sweet, pairing perfectly with a lively chilli sauce. Hey, if it’s good enough for Anthony Bourdain and Jay Chou, it’s way good enough for us.

Hainanese chicken chop is a comforting old school kopitiam classic also found at ‘Western’-style hawker stalls at food courts, but for the best, you’ll want to head to Yut Kee. Operating since 1928 making it one of the oldest restaurants in Malaysia, Yut Kee’s signature is a deep-fried deboned chicken leg served with mixed vegetables, fried potatoes, and a pool of brown gravy. 

Fun fact: you won’t find chicken chop beyond Malaysia (and Singapore), nor in Hainan, as it’s a dish created by the Hainanese settlers here in the 19th-century. They worked as cooks for the British colonial masters, learning to fry up crispy chops, turn out roasts, and boil eggs just so. Since meat and potatoes were a popular meal for the British, the chicken chop was born, a true meeting of cooking techniques and flavours of the east and west.

On fish head curry, most Malaysians agree it’s a local dish beloved by all — that has to be why we have the Malay, Chinese and Indian version of it, each tasty in its own right. Restoran ZK is a longstanding Indian Muslim institution famed for its signature fish head curry or kari kepala ikan, typically golden or red snapper, served with okra and tofu puffs. It’ll go beautifully with a plate of stir-fry cabbage, fried squid, or another popular item, the ayam goreng madu. For the Malay version of fish head curry, head to Tugu View Cafe; it offers a similar, but sweeter take on the dish. We like Ah Lye Curry Fish Head in Subang Jaya for Chinese-style fish head curry, served piping hot in a claypot bubbling over with fried brinjal, okra, and tofu pok.

In 2024, the government gazetted bak kut teh as a national heritage dish, joining the likes of nasi ambeng, kolo mee and more. The soul-reviving soup of pork ribs, belly, and other parts simmered in herbs and spices is best paired with copious amounts of chilli, garlic, and dark soy sauce, plus a bowl of fragrant oil rice. Although Klang is believed to be the birthplace of bak kut teh, Kuala Lumpur has more than a few very good bak kut teh restaurants too in Leng Kee on Jalan Ipoh, Yik See Ho in Pudu, plus the Bib Gourmand-rated Hing Kee on Jalan Kepong. For more, read our guide to bak kut teh.

For freshly-made fluffy chapattis, go to Santa along Jalan Tun HS Lee. Kulwant Singh named the shop after his father, Santa, and his signature chapattis have drawn in the crowds for some thirty over years. Hot off the tawa (griddle), the flatbread is the perfect vehicle to sop up chickpea masala, chicken varuval, mutton keema, vegetables, dhal and curries. On a hot day, order a tall drink of cold lassi or another crowd favourite, the teh tarik with fresh cow’s milk.

Malaysians’ love for food and lepak-ing manifests itself in the Maggi goreng, a dish as Malaysian as nasi lemak and Ramly burger. A staple at any mamak stall worth its salt, the curry-flavoured Maggi goreng has a special place in our stomachs — especially when it’s 2am on a Saturday night. If you have a pack of instant noodles (any brand will do, and most use Mi Sedaap or Indomie), some greens, chilli and onions, you could very well fry up your own Maggi goreng, but places like Murni, Steven’s Corner, and Nasi Kandar Pelita do it so much better with fried tofu, fishcakes, a squeeze of lime, and optional but recommended, an ayam goreng on the side. Always say yes to telur mata.

Pongteh is the epitome of Peranakan cuisine. Though pork is traditionally used, most places prepare it with chicken today, slow braised with potatoes until the dish is dark and rich from taucu, soy sauce and gula Melaka. The ayam pongteh at Limapulo warms you up like a stew at the end of a hard day’s work. For more, read our guide to Nyonya food and eat your way through the best Nyonya restaurants in KL.

Can we say something without people getting mad? Is this a safe space? We know nasi kandar is, like, Penang’s thing or whatever, but if you’re not in Penang, we maintain that Kuala Lumpur has some pretty solid nasi kandar spots for your next fix. Kudu in Jalan TAR was the late P Ramlee’s favourite haunt; go before noon to secure a table, but expect a queue nonetheless. Mahbub doesn’t just have nasi briyani ayam madu and sup kambing, its nasi kandar is also outstanding (yeah, we said it). Saddam Nasi Kandar has a few branches, but the best one is in Segambut. If you really must have a nasi kandar from Penang, well, Hameediyah, Line Clear and Yaseem have all opened multiple branches in Kuala Lumpur.

Visit KL without a plate of nasi lemak and consider your trip wasted. It’s hard to pick the best spot for our mighty national dish, so here’s our top three: go to Nasi Lemak Famous for nasi lemak with crispy ayam goreng rempah, Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa for a variety of sides (such as sambal sotong and paru goreng), and Village Park if you like yours with a whole fried chicken leg and a side of cool. For more, see our list of best nasi lemak stalls in KL.

The premise is simple: a quarter of a banana leaf is laid before you, sides are (artfully) arranged on it, next comes the rice, and lastly, a generous ladle of aromatic curry. Pair it with rasam and papadum, and dig right in (with your fingers!). Somewhere along the line, KL-ites have made this South Indian dish a Malaysian one with the addition of items such as fried chicken and fried fish. Not that we mind, anyway. For your next banana leaf fix, check out Time Out KL’s list of best banana leaf restaurants in town.

Even if you’re not a huge fan of grilled fish, the ikan bakar at Kedai Kak Jat exists to change your mind about it. Maybe it’s the freshness of the fish, the spicy marinade or the precision with which they’re grilled to create a charred, crispy exterior while the flesh remains moist and flaky; whatever it is, this is the ikan bakar worthy of going the extra mile for (in this case, going up Bukit Petaling at lunch time). To up the experience, have your ikan with the stall’s equally famous air asam. 

You can get this bread dish at pretty much any mamak stall in town, but for a plate (or two) of some of the best roti canai in town, head to Valentine Roti. The 20-year-old roadside stall’s roti kosong (plain roti canai) is light and crispy with a slight sweetness; it’s tasty enough to eat on its own, but you’ll want to dip it in the dal, sambal and mutton curry for the full experience. For a wider (if more peculiar) range of roti, head to Restoran Murni SS2 for its Roti Hawaii (roti stuffed with minced meat, eggs, cheese, sausages and pineapples) and Roti Fujima (roti with bananas and two scoops of corn ice cream). To learn more, see our guide to the different types of roti you'll find at a mamak. 

This highly customisable and affordable roadside burger is a Malaysian icon, and while you can find at least one stall operating in every neighbourhood, some of the finest Ramly burgers can be found at Brother John Burger Stall in Damansara Uptown. Try their famous Master Burger: two Ramly beef/chicken patties with egg and cheese and black pepper sauce. For more, see our list of KL’s best Ramly burger stalls. 

This modest 26-year-old stall in Bangsar churns out appam (fermented rice batter pancake) so good you’ll wonder why Om Shakti Chelo’s Appam Stall isn’t a popular place for weekend brunch. While you can opt for plain appam with coconut milk, we go weak for the brown sugar variety; coconut milk and brown sugar are liberally applied onto appam batter and swirled in a pan so the edges remain fluffy while the sides are brittle. The sugar is intentionally left in chunks, so every bite hits you with a burst of caramel-coconut goodness.

If there was a dish that inspires our midnight cravings, it would be char siew. Not just any char siew but Restoran Spring Golden’s – it’s glorious to look at; even better to eat. Perfectly caramelised, nicely charred and sticky from all angles, the honeyed barbecued pork is rimmed with a layer of translucent fat, hence the name: ‘glass’ char siew. If we had it our way, we’d glaze every centimetre of the meat with the restaurant’s special char siew sauce and eat it on its own without rice. 

For more than 80 years, KLites have sought comfort in the city’s best hokkien mee at Kim Lian Kee – how can any noodle stall rival the birthplace of this hawker staple? You may have dined at its outlets across the city (including Lot 10 Hutong) but only this original stall at Petaling Street opens until wee hours in the morning. A slurp of these thick noodles – coated with dark soy sauce, glistening in lard, and imbued with charcoal-fire wok hei – is all you need to sate that midnight hankering.

The abundance of gula Melaka takes centre stage in this pleasingly kao cendol at Baba Low’s 486, which boasts a sugary quality that stops just short of being overly cloying. The creaminess of the fresh coconut milk also shines atop the finely shaved ice and amidst the green pandan cendol jelly – a combination that makes this local dessert such a favourite.