Food And Drink In Kuala Lumpur – Budget Travel In Malaysia

Where is the best nasi lemak in Kuala Lumpur? The best Indian food? The best Japanese food? Food is very cheap in Kuala Lumpur and there is so much great choice.

Whether it’s eating at one of the many restaurants and street food vendors on Alor Street, eating at any of the many food courts or even eating from a truck park, Kuala Lumpur has you covered!

When it comes to alcohol, however, KL is not cheap. We managed to find some reasonably priced bars in other towns and cities in Malaysia, but not so in Kuala Lumpur. Expect to pay at least 20 MYR (£4) for a large beer and be prepared to even pay a lot more!

WHERE TO STAY IN KUALA LUMPUR | THINGS TO DO IN KUALA LUMPUR

The Best Food In Kuala Lumpur

Alor Street (Food Street)

Possibly the busiest street in Kuala Lumpur and it’s easy to see why. Restaurant after restaurant line both sides of this pedestrian street. There is so much food options and it is very reasonably priced. We ate here on our first night and had a meal for 7 MYR. I also ate at ‘Ticklish Ribs & ‘Wiches @ Jalan Alor’ which offered a place to sit and have a beer with my ‘sloppy chips’. There is also a grill place at the top of the street on the left hand side which did amazing grilled pork and satay sausage. This place has it all: dim sum, western, Thai, durian, smoothies, BBQs and, of course, traditional Malay. A must-visit. Map.

Blue Boy Vegetarian Food Centre

Are you seeking vegetarian food in Kuala Lumpur? Located just a couple of minutes walk from the bottom end of Alor food street is Blue Boy Vegetarian Food Centre. It’s a hawker centre made up of entirely vegetarian food. There’s a lot of choice here and the food changes from day to day. We ate here three times and it was good, tasty food every time. Map.

Changkat (Bar Street)

This is the place to come to experience Kuala Lumpur nightlife.On both sides of Changkat, you will see bar after bar with signs showing the offers designed to lure you inside. These range from your usual beer ‘sets’ to ladies drink for free. It gets very busy and loud and it is not cheap. One of the cheapest I found was 60 MYR for 3 big bottles at ‘Rockaway Grill & Bar’ (map). I paid 32 for one bottle in the ‘Why Not’ bar though this was much later in the evening when the offers have ended, apart from ladies get a free drink. ‘The Italian Market’ (map) did a good offer on 2 beers for 33. You also have to pay service charge on top of these prices.

I did go looking for smaller, backstreet bars that were off the tourist trail but these were even more expensive. In one such place, it was 18 MYR for a SMALL beer! So, if you want to get drunk in Kuala Lumpur, bar street is your best bet.

Lot 10 Hutong Food Court

Located in the basement of the ‘Lot 10’ mall, this is a very popular place with locals and tourists alike. The food is traditional from many South East Asian countries; if you want pizza or burgers, don’t come here. Lots of choice and at decent prices. Map.

Restaurant Al Wira

Typical self-serve curry restaurant: I felt like we might have paid tourist prices in here as it seemed a little more expensive than other similar restaurants. There wasn’t much choice when we arrived but we managed to scrape together two plates of food, which was of decent quality. Map.

Restoran Sri Kortumalai

Located in the city’s ‘Little India’. Looking on Google Maps, this placed had an overall rating of 3.6 out of 5. If this is a 3.6, I can’t imagine what a 5 would be! Looking at some of the reviews, it is obvious that people are not used to eating in this type of establishment. The food is uncovered, hygiene won’t be up to western standards, you might even spot a cockroach or rat scuttling around the street outside. But it is filled with locals and that tells you all you need to know. As is standard in this type of restaurant, it is self-service and I had no idea what each of the dishes were. I helped myself to what looked some kind of chicken curry, chicken tikka tandoori and what I thought were onion rings but were in fact squid. It was delicious and cost just over one English pound! Map.

SHAM Pizza and Pastries

On a lazy day in Kuala Lumpur, we had one of our occasional cravings for pizza. Ignoring the usual Pizza Hut and Dominoes options, we discovered this very small place in a tiny Arabic quarter. All pizzas are made fresh to order and they also make some wonderful, small, Arabic breads too. Map.

Sri Paandi

Busy Indian restaurant in the heart of little India. It was a bit confusing on how to actually order and pay for food at first. Basically, you take a tray, fill it with as much or as little as you want and sit down and eat. Eventually, someone will come and look at what you’ve got and then give you a card which you take to the till at the end of your meal. It was cheap and it was good. Map.

Tapak Urban Street Dining

Located in the vicinity of the twin towers, this is a food truck park where you can purchase food from any of the trucks and sit in the middle of the park and eat until you are stuffed and then some more. We went western here; I had a quite delicious chilli dog with fries followed by churros with nutella and peanut. Map.

Tommy Le Baker

We came here on the Sunday morning to watch a ‘Singing Balcony’. This particular week, we were treated to a live opera performance. The cafe is in a cool building called ‘The Zhongshan Building’ which itself is in a cool area, surrounded by street art. The building is host to many independent shops. I even managed to find my first durian t-shirt after 6 months in SE Asia!

We had a cheese platter to share and onion soup. Free water is provided. Map.

VCR

We came here as we very hungover and it was the nearest cafe to our hotel. Luckily, it turned out to be a great cafe. The coffee was great and, though we had not planned to eat, the food was excellent. I had the roast duck quiche and Joanna had potato waffles with mushrooms, eggs and a delicious tomato topping. Map.