Eating street food from food carts and informal street side cafes is the best way to be introduced to the food culture of a nation. Informal eateries now dominate entire streets in many cities around the world and are sought out for their reasonably priced, flavourful food served in a social setting. The choice of food and beverages on food streets enable sampling a range of local dishes in a centralized location. Jalan Alor KL’s famous street food area is accessible by metro from Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral, one of popular 4 star hotels in Kuala Lumpur.
Foodies visiting KL need to head to Jalan Alor in Bukit Bintang that changes itself into a foodie paradise at night where the food stalls are a reflection of the country’s population that is a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian with Javanese, Sumatran, Japanese Thai and Arabian influences. Here foodies can linger over rice and noodle dishes, soups, satays in a mix of meats, omelets, hot and mild vegetable dishes, seafood and meat preparations, savoury rotis, rich dark coffees and tea served with sweet condensed milk, traditional sweets and desserts and cold beverages until the wee hours of the morning. As Malays seem to spend most of their time eating it is not a surprise that the variegated dishes available at street food stalls are some of the yummiest around. Coconut milk, a mix of herbs and spices, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, tamarind, ginger and galangal are the prominent tastes here. For anyone interested in learning what KL’s population eats, a visit to the Chow Kit Wet Market will be an eye opener. Other interesting places to taste street food typical of KL is Bukit Petaling, the heart of KL’s China Town, Jalan Sultan where street food stalls serve a eclectic mix of dishes, Jalan Tun Sambatahan in Brick Fields better known as Little India and Kampung Baru in the heart of KL that was originally established to preserve the Malay way of life where one can sample a traditional Malay buffet spread on a 20 meter long table.
Pushpitha Wijesinghe is an experienced independent freelance writer. He specializes in providing a wide variety of content and articles related to the travel hospitality industry.