Kuala Lumpur. November 2025.
Postcard from Kuala Lumpur
After a week in Hong Kong and 2 days in Guangdong, my brother and I went on a food tour before returning home.
Day 1
We took an evening flight from Hong Kong and by the time we arrived it was already really late. We called a Grab and made it to our hotel just before midnight. We were too tired to go out for food so we ordered room service, and the nasi goreng with the fried anchovies was surprisingly good. I don’t know if we’ve just be deprived of good room service in the US, but that dish really exceeded by expectation. The next morning our first activity was the National Mosque. The mosque was completed in 1965, and underwent renovations and extensions in 1987.
The mosque is very close to the railway station and we made the mistake of thinking we could easily walk to our next stop which was the KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) area - it turns out we had to find the underground footpath near the Old Railway Station Building to make our way across the highway. You can see the building from the balcony of the National Mosque and I wish we get to go in!
We passed by the River of Life, stopped at currency exchange to exchange some cash (which had much better rates than at the airport), and got lunch at LOKL Coffee Co, a cafe I stumbled on while scrolling on Instagram. We desperately needed a refreshing drink after walking in the KL heat and the food and drinks were exactly what we needed. We got the iced ginger rooibos lemon tea & the iced coffee coconut, as well as the Thai breakfast omelette over rice and the Balinese Chicken bowl with chilli sambal.
Post lunch we headed to Central Market, the iconic blue building built back in 1888 as a wet market. It has now turned into a cultural center with boutique shops and it’s a great spot for shopping for souvenirs. Not surprisingly I spent a lot of time here shopping for postcards, magnets and other small gifts. One store has a DIY layering stamp postcard where each stamp is a single color and layering the different stamps creates an image of the iconic KL landmarks. Another stall has a Gacha machine for the iconic Malay tea to-go lanyard (it was cat themed and I couldn’t resist). After shopping in the main floors we went onto the top floor and discovered a food court and decided to try the actual Malay tea to go, served in a plastic bag tied with a string and with a straw. The teh ais (iced tea) was delicious and so cheap!
From Central Market we walked over to Merdeka Square (Independence Square), but the iconic Sultan Abdul Samad Building by the square is undergoing renovations and it was completely covered up 😅. We still spent a little time there and went to an exhibit at the public library, and then called a car to get an early dinner.
Fatty Crab Restaurant turned out to be one of my favorite meals in KL. I first came across this restaurant after seeing a reels on Instagram, and we knew we wanted to make the trip there even though it’s a bit far away from city center. We ordered the crab in the signature sweet sour spicy sauce, the fried garlic Ming prawns, a fried rice and the toasted bread. The crabs were so meaty and the slightly spicy sauce (we got it little spicy) goes so well with the fried rice and the toasted bread. The prawns were also amazing and my brother actually liked the prawns more than the crabs. If we had more space in our stomach we would probably have ordered the fried chicken too.
Our last activity for the day was one my brother booked ahead of time! We did hit traffic (again) on our way back to city center so we were a little late to our 7PM reservation at Penrose KL, one of the top 50 bars in Asia. Their menu is pretty cool and drinks were great! I started with a highball and moved on to a stronger smokier drink, and both were scotch based.
Day 2
It’s my brother’s birthday and we’re celebrating in KL! We’re switching hotel today from one side of the city to another so we packed up our bags and stored them at the hotel before heading to our first stop of the day, the Batu Caves. It’s series of limestone caves and temples located north of Kuala Lumpur, and most people recognize it by its colorful stairs leading up to the caves, as well as the monkeys that called the caves home. I wished I had done a little bit more research about this place before visiting because as soon as you enter from the ride share drop off location, there is Hanuman, the Hindu God of wisdom and courage, and the entrance to the Ramayana Cave. I had initially mistaken that as part of the Batu Caves, but it’s a separate but complex cave systems that is also worth exploring. The Ramayana Cave features lots of sculptures and murals, as well as a waterfall and a temple all the way at the top of the caves. Perhaps my only complain is the somewhat tacky lighting they’ve chosen for the caves.
The actual Batu Caves is about a 2 min walk from the drop off location, and normally you’ll spot a 43m Hindu god Murugan statue with the 272 colorful steps (they were painted in 2018), but when we visited the statue was undergoing renovations so it was covered up in scaffolding. There were monkeys surrounding the area, most of them appeared less aggressive than what I had read online. These monkeys seemed very intelligent - I saw one of them took apart a McDonald’s happy meal and started banging on the plastic toy and trying to eat it. Once we ascend the colorful steps there are few more sets of stairs within the limestone caves for you to get a closer look the limestone cave formations and even more monkeys. The day we visited it was quite humid so it’s was extra humid within the caves. We had to stop for a refreshing drink after coming down from the stairs.
For lunch we took a car to Lai Fong Lala Noodles in Chinatown. It’s a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant that started as a street stall. Outside the now 2-story restaurant is a replica of the original stall. Lala means clams in Malay and of course I ordered the Lala noodles to try. The broth was flavorful and just the type of noodles I like. My brother got a different dish with clams on a clay pot with vermicelli and that was excellent as well.
We spent a little more time in the Chinatown area, on Jalan Sultan. In the middle of the street is an alleyway full of murals.
On one end of the block is REXXL, an older building that housed a movie theatre that has now been converted into a cultural center. There are some trendy and vintage shops inside, and a massive bookstore called BookXcess Rex KL (which has now turned into an Instagram hotspot because of it’s bookshelves setup).
We finished off the afternoon for a walk on Jalan Petaling, the main Chinatown street full of stalls. It reminded me of the Ladies Market in Mongkok in Hong Kong.
It was getting cloudy in the late afternoon so instead of staying out we decided to move to our new hotel in the Bukit Bintang area. Traffic was crazy(!) and it started pouring so we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon.
For dinner my brother had made a reservation at De Wan 1958, another Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant. They actually have a few locations and we picked the one at The LINC. We ordered the Chef Wan’s Platter which came with chicken satay, pomelo salad, Pucuk Paku (Malay veggie) & Keropok Losong (Malay fish cake). The veggie salad was actually my favorite because I haven’t tried this veggie before. We also got the Aneka Rasa (steamed tiger prawns in ginger and lemongrass sauce), the Ekor Bakar (grilled oxtail marinated in tamarind and honey with 3 dipping sauces), Kari De Wan (squid cooked in a spice infused paste) and unlimited Nasi Bunga Telang (butterfly pea flower rice). The blue colored rice was perfect to soak up all the sauces! I honestly thought we over ordered with the food but my brother and I ended up finishing everything and even got a dessert!
Day 3
Day 3 started off late because the weather wasn’t looking very good for the rest of the trip so we were trying to see if we could switch some of the stuff around. We started off at Ah Hei Bak Kut Teh, a short 8 min walk from our hotel. Bak Kut Teh is one of my favorite Malay dishes and I was really excited to try this spot. The staff was very nice and we were seated up on the second floor. You can customize your Bak Kut Teh and so we added beancurd, enoki mushrooms and meatballs to ours. We also got the eggplant with Belacan and shrimp paste. 100% would recommend!
After the early lunch, we headed for the perfect rainy day activity that was MinNature Malaysia, a large exhibit that features everything Malaysia in 3D miniatures. We ended up spending a lot of time there as we were doing a scavenger hunt for the mini figurines. There are trains that you could activate and light shows as well, and I loved seeing all the famous landmarks for KL as well as those of other Malay cities.
In the same mall building as MinNature Malaysia was a supermarket so we did a little bit of browsing before we took a car to Thean Hou Temple, a hillside temple that offered me some comfort as I continued to think about the Tai Po fires in Hong Kong.
We then headed back to town for an afternoon snack at a Kafei Dian, a coffee shop inside an old post office in the Chinatown area. I had the kopi (coffee with condensed milk) and a kaya toast while my brother got the white coffee with the chicken floss croissant.
Kwai Chai Hong, a back alleyway full of street art and murals was just one block away so we decided to check it out. The rain had mostly died down by now so we were able to get some good photos. A cat outside a batik store drew me in and I ended up getting myself a nice outfit.
We dropped off our bags at the hotel and waited till it got darker to walk over to KLCC Park via a series of connected footbridges. From the KLCC Park you can get a great view of the Petronas Twin Towers, which we’ll actually visit tomorrow morning when the weather is hopefully a little better. The park was actually quite popping at night!
For a late dinner and our last activity for the night we walked from KLCC Park to Jalan Alor Food Street, the night market of KL. We got lamb and beef skewers, grilled scallops, fried durian (this was interesting!), mango juice and desserts along the busy street. I don’t know if I have been spoiled by night markets in Taiwan but I thought there were a little bit less options here? There were sit down restaurants along the food street as well but we just weren’t that hungry to want to sit down for a full meal. We were going to call a car to get back to the hotel but realized it was only a 10 min walk so we walked through the busy streets of Bukit Bintang one last time before we leave tomorrow afternoon.
Day 4 Last Day
On our last day of the stay we have an early morning reservation for the Petronas Twin Towers at 9:15AM, so we had to be up early to pack our bags and check out of our hotel. The Petronas Twin Towers is probably THE signature building of Kuala Lumpur, completed in 1996 and was once the tallest building in the world (it remains the tallest twin towers in the world, and the 2nd tallest in KL). We had picked to visit on the last day because this was the only somewhat clear day in our schedule, and we didn’t want to risk not seeing any views up on the viewing deck. The elevators take you first to the 41st storey skybridge that connects the twin buildings - it’s actually a double deck but the top deck is reserved for Petronas employees only. From the footbridge you take another elevator to the observation deck on the 86th floor.
For our last meal in KL we took a car to Village Park Restaurant, a bit out of the city but a place known for its nasi lemak - a spiced friend chicken with a fragrant coconut rice called nasi lamak ayam goreng. It’s a no frills place with lots of seating, and there is always a line outside (it moves fast). We got there before the busy lunch hours and the place was already packed. I got their signature dish which only cost 13RM (3.17USD) while my brother tried a noodle dish. We also finally got to try the 3 layered tea which has palm sugar syrup, evaporated milk, and black tea.
Back at the city center, we checked out the Eslite Bookstore (I didn’t know they have locations outside of Taiwan and Hong Kong) and used up my remaining cash for a cute cat vase by a Malay artist, and it was time to head to the airport for our long flight home. Hoping to visit other cities in Malaysia in the near future as I’ve heard great things about Penang and Ipoh!