Who doesnt make a list of yummy food they want to eat upon arrival in Malaysia?  I bet all of us perantau do. Sadly to say, from friends anecdotal evidence , the excitement only last about two weeks and the novelty tires because we’re back into our comfort zone.

Now, my objective is to prevent that from happening. Hence , the birth of the strategy to create a more specific date and name of food that i must venture out there. I dont know about you people in Australia or United Kingdom who’s blessed with Malaysian restaurants but i havent touched a real ( non-frozen) roti canai in two years. Envisioning the probability of events when i step on beloved Motherland, is the repetition of food places i would most probably frequent. Why not try new place every week? That’ll be grand.  The quest can be summarized with these simple steps.

1. Choose a food/ restaurant

2. Find best vendor that sell the food.

3. Set a weekend date/ Friday night and time ( except pasar malam ventures)

4. Gather friends who would like to join.

6. Gluttony and dont forget to recite Bismillah and  tapau for mak ayah and adik beradik at home if needed.

* Due to Malaysian style timing, step no 4 should be moved to top.*

There are a few limitations to this and a set of thumb rules:

1. No pizza and pasta place please, i am sick to my stomach eating pizza and pasta.

2. Transportation is going to be the sticky part here, hence i would have to limit the food excursion area to places around Klang valley and *probably* Bangi area.

This is going to be a dynamic post. Hence, i welcome suggestions from people who would like to recommend a good place to eat. Right now, i am relying on floggers blogs since they give accurate description , recommend dishes , gave exact address and direction to a  particular place( some even provide GPS coordinates)

For starters, this list is what i have in mind( sorry for the logistical bias, mane dekat dgn rumah je lah kan?)

Type: Good old Ramly burger

Where: Ana Burger
Jalan L8
Taman Melawati
Phase 6A
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 017-2670924

Whats so special? : Burger Kawen.( Mixture of beef and chicken patties, with eggs in one bun. Also, instead of cucumbers, they used sliced green apples. The few Ramly burger stalls that uses mustard apart from the usual fare of mayonnaise and chilli sauce)

Read reviews here.

2.  Jogoya/ Tenji sushi

Type : Japanese food buffet spread

Location: Starhill (Jogoya),Solaris Mont Kiara ( Tenji)

Jogoya sushi reviews here. Tenji buffet here

Specialty: Huuuge Japanese buffet spread. Biiiig oysters.Fresssshhhh Sashimis. Veeeerry expensive ( Rm100 perpax after tax) and cautionary warning must be given to those with little appetite. (Rule of thumb: If in any buffet experience you never exceeded three plates, forget it)

3. Type: Ayam Goreng Kampung

Location: Kampung Bharu, KL

Specialty: Their ayam goreng kampung panas and other nasi campur items.

Read reviews here.

I know, i know, why ayam goreng? It is so…lame. However, do you kow how hard it is to find halal ayam goreng here? And to cook for yourself is out of the question because the stove here is flat ( not suitable for a wok ) and if frying in a pan requires lots of oil ( unhealthy). Oh yeah, i also need a KFC fix.

4. Halal Dim Sum place.

This one is quite hard. Good dim sums can be found by the roadsides ( all over the place near LRT Wangsa Maju, that why so hard to park car there)  stalls however you’ll be hardpressed to find halal ones. The problem with halal ones is that they’re mostly expensive hotel offerings. The closest i can find is  at PNB Darby Park.

Location: MinMax Restaurant, PNB Darby Park ( next to Nikko Hotel and KLCC Park)

Specialty: Relatively cheaper ( compared to hotels ) halal dim sum.

Why dim sum? My roommate berated me for being a Malaysian and not eaten a proper dimsum meal before.

Read reviews here.

5.  Pasar malam style food

Location: Pasar malam Taman Melawati

Specialty: What else? Good old pasar malam fare.

That is it for now i guess. Obviously this list will grow from time to time. Hopefully friends in beloved homeland would contribute to this list since they know better. I am still looking for a cheap, good Korean BBQ place, Chinese place ( that has Peking Duck) and Halal Hainanese Chicken Rice ( NOT Chicken Rice Shop). If one would notice the blatant absence of Malay food ,fear not because that is a deliberate move. Reason: Why bother buying when my own mother can cook kick ass Malay fare?

An interesting article:  Halal Chinese food around my area ( Eda!! are you reading this, ask your boss to belanja you here instead)

With regard to article above, people living around area Melawati/Wangsa Maju have no excuses. Let us try something different from the usual mamak fare of NZ curry house,Restoran Maju Terus and the likes.

Itadakimas!