Dinner at KLCC food court.

Our first dinner in Malaysia was at KLCC mall. To be honest I wasn't that keen on eating in a mall. Somehow I felt like Malaysian food needed to be served in a Warung to be real Malaysian food. But thats ridiculous, the food being eaten all around at KLCC was being eaten by Malaysians and I'm pretty sure that makes it Malaysian food. Retrospectively I'm a lot more open minded about what Malaysian culture is. When i first got to Malaysia I had the idea that Malaysia food had to be traditional Asian style, something anachronistic and archaic.  What I came to realise over the next week is that Malaysian food, particularly in KL is like a representation of Malaysian culture as a whole (cheesy right?). Malaysia was once a traditional, old school Asian society,  and perhaps that old school culture remains, but  Malaysia is a country rushing forward into a new version of itself. In the food court at KLCC there are still the traditional Malay elements like Nasi Lemak, but you are also going to see everything from Indian and Thai curries, Chinese soups, Mexican burritos, Italian pastas or *shudder* Maccas or KFC.

We sat down for dinner in the food court with some students from the International Islamic University of Malaysia. It was Halim's shout so we sat down to a feed of Chicken and rice, sounds fairly boring right? But its not it was great. Funnily enough the place that sells this chicken and rice is called, wait for it, "Chicken Rice" and the dish is called.. Chicken Rice.

"Chicken Rice" is a traditional Hainan recipe that centers around chicken poached in a stock with ginger. It is served with a warm broth with some sliced spring onions tossed in, some sliced cucumber (apparently a Chinese thing) and of course the rice.The chicken was deliciously tender and surprisingly tasty with a subtle hint of ginger from the stock it was poached in. The rice was almost perfectly cooked in the same stock as the chicken. It was nice and fluffy with just a hint of crunch. This place was hopping, people were lined up the whole time we were there and plates of chicken rice were flying across the counter. And why not? At 6RM its a filling meal thats affordable for just about all Malays. It was Halim's favourite with good reason, and when I go back to Malaysia, I'll go back for Chicken Rice.

Despite being delicious, the chicken rice didn't fill the hole, which was probably mostly caused by enthusiasm. So of course, surrounded by options I went off to find some more food to eat. I was captured by a guy cooking what cooked like giant crepes behind a window. I'm always a sucker for a cooking display, I invariably stop and watch, and usually buy something. If i ever have a cafe I think I'll put a guy out the front behind a window cooking something flashy. The punters are easily amused. I was hooked by a dish called Dosai, a fermented pancake made from rice batter and black lentils. Its a staple throughout southern India and very popular in Malaysia. In this instance my Dosai was served with a delicious Sambar, a stew made with Pigeon Pea and veges and flavoured with Tamarind and Asafoetida.

Accompanying my Dosai was a nice selection of Southern Indian food. Some tasty but oily, green beans braised with onion and garlic, a hearty chickpea curry, a fairly un-interesting green chutney, some curry chicken and a completely underwhelming tandoori chicken. Whilst it was all quite palatable and easily the equal of takeaway Indian food in Australia, it wasn't a scratch on some other southern Indian food I was to have later in my trip. The Dosai and and Sambar was definitely the star of my Indian experience at KLCC. All up i think i paid 13RM, I think the servers were quite surprised that I ordered the Dosai and the curry dish, I think I was being a bit extravagant, I doubt very much that their average customer spends or eats quite that much in one go.

To accompany the curry I got an apple juice, I was pursuing that elusive juice experience from earlier that day at Warung Halims. But alas it wasn't to be. Once again it was frothy and served with plenty of fresh ice. In a very Malaysian style the juice was sweetened with sugar cane juice or air tebu. It wasn't overly sweet but definitely gave it another dimension of flavour, not sure if I liked it though to be honest, I think I like my juice unadulterated.

Finally to end an epic day of food, I had Red Ruby. Red ruby is  a Thai dessert made by boiling pieces of water chestnut covered in tapioca flour and red food colouring, and serving them over shaved ice, rose syrup and evaporated milk. This was another of Halim's favourites but this time I wasn't such a fan, to be fair though everyone else seemed to really like it. I think unlike the juice, this desert wasn't sweet enough for me, the shaved ice was kind of boring, the mango was nice though :)

Makanan Malaysian

I love food. I love to eat it, I love to cook it, I love everything about it.

 I think food is the great equaliser. Rich, poor, Muslim,Christian, Atheist, we all need to eat. Some of us feel more passionately about it than others, some people don't really care about what they eat, some people don't really have a choice in what they eat. For some, their religion dictates certain elements of their diet, for others they cant afford a choice. Thankfully I was privileged enough to have an opportunity to travel across the world and document the food I ate on my journey. It was a hefty task, one that I was not always up to, but I made the effort and along the way I think I managed to capture some of the unique culinary experiences that I was privileged to have across 3 countries and many cultures.

Our adventure across the Muslim world started in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur to be exact. And what a place to start, I have to say Malaysia had the best food on the tour, the combination of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures in KL adds up to an incredible diversity of flavours, smells and colours. A diversity to which i applied myself with gusto.

The first thing i had in Malaysia was a "Latte" from Dunkin Donut,  not exactly culturally significant I know, but it was hot and after a long flight just what I needed. Its worth noting  that mass produced American style coffee is vacuous and forgettable wherever you are. Its also worth noting that imported style food costs about the same regardless of where you are, for instance this coffee cost me about 10MR or 3 or 4AUD which is an incredibly hefty amount for a beverage in a country where a bottle of water costs about 1MR. To be honest, i doubt many Malaysians will be buying a Dunkin Donut Latte for breakfast.

 After arriving and settling in I set off with my partner in crime to find some food to soothe my savage hunger. Having never been to KL I had absolutely no idea where to go so we just walked around looking for something enticing. We walked past this place early on , it was grouped along a side street with a number of other stalls. These shops or "warung" are diverse and welcoming but Johno was still a a little tentative and decided he wanted something a little less intimidating. So off we went and he ended up having some kind of hideous KFC breakfast burger that looked like it was soaked in mayo. It was awful of course and I was completely vindicated and I decided to head back to "Warung Halim Tom Yam".

I didn't know it at the time but what we bought from our first stall was the quintessential Malay food "Nasi Lemak". The name translates as fatty rice and refers to the creamy texture of the rice that comes from cooking it in coconut cream. Nasi Lemak is basically rice with a series of curries, fried meat and condiments usually including some kind of seafood. I told the bloke in charge of serving  to load me up and sat down to prepare for the feast.

Not being a massive fan of seafood I went for the Potato Marsala, the lamb curry, the chicken rendang and the curried chicken livers. Now I don't want to offend any of my Malaysian friends but I have yet to be impressed with Nasi Lemak. In my experience the food sits in the bain-marie for way too long and it ends up being overcooked.  Warung Halims was no different, but it was my first Malaysian meal and my enthusiasm made up for its bad preparation. In particular the chicken livers were awful, so tough and rubbery they weren't even edible, but I'm glad I tried them. The rendang was a revelation, the flavours of garlic, chilli and various spices were so incredibly intense that despite it being dry and overcooked it was delicious. The lamb curry was fatty and tough, made from cheap chump chops, but well spiced and tasty. I think I'm going off lamb but that's a different matter altogether that I faced later on in Turkey. The potato curry was southern Indian in style and warung halims  masala hinted at the mild yet warming and tantalising Indian flavours in store for us in KL. All up I think my meal was about 10RM including drinks, the price of Nasi Lemak makes it pretty accessible for most Malays, but I doubt they would accompany it with two juices.

One thing Johno and I both loved was that Juice, apparently freshly squeezed, Orange Juice. I'm not sure it was fresh or entirely orange, it was frothy for a start, and not particularly orange in colour. It was however, delicious. I'm sure it had pineapple or something in it, probably just tropical fruit drink out of a can, but damn it was good. We tried many juices in KL but never again found that flavour. *sighs wistfully*