Malaysia was the last country we visited on our summer 2024 trip. We spent a few non-consecutive nights in Kuala Lumpur, in between trips to other parts of the country. Our meals were a bit haphazard – some Malaysian dishes, some from other cuisines. But generally, they were tasty!

Sala – Avenue K

On our first night we wanted something quick and easy close to our hotel, so we tried this place. Dr HH got a pulled jack burrito and enjoyed it. It contained BBQ jackfruit and well-spiced beans that gave a really good flavour. There was a good zingy flavour from the salads and sauces as well. Dr HH always complains with burritos that when you bite into the side with the hot fillings everything is nice and warm, but then the salad side is ice cold. Has anyone worked out a way to solve this? The crispy bits of fried bread on the side were a nice addition.

I was in the mood for something local, so I got the laksa and it was excellent. The sauce was creamy, spicy, and really well seasoned. It was a little bit too spicy for me, but Dr HH thought it was great as he slurped down my leftovers. It was well filled with lots of noodles, vegetables, and tofu.

We got some lemon cake too and this was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t very lemony and the texture wasn’t great. It was a bit dry and not quite the sticky moist cake we were hoping for.

All in all, it was a fast food place in a mall and we got what we expected, more or less. It was a handy place for a late meal after being on the go for a while.

Kusa Japanese Vegan – Bukit Bintang

This is a stylish looking vegan restaurant with extremely attentive service and a fairly long menu of Japanese dishes. We didn’t necessarily want Japanese food in Malaysia (though there was quite a lot of it around!), but this was close to where we were staying and convenient.

We shared a couple of starters, the popcorn mushroom and crunchy tempura. The popcorn coating was not very crispy, unfortunately, but it has some decent flavours from the mushrooms and seasoning.

The crunchy tempura was extremely lightly battered and did not appear to be seasoned at all. The dipping sauce was also extremely bland. It’s hard to mess up tempura, but they just about managed it.

I had the jjajiang ramen, but my expectations were not met when it was served as a plate of noodles with mushroom sauce. The lighting in the restaurant was too dark for me to see in the photo in the menu that it was brothless. I should have paid more attention, but I didn’t even know that brothless ramens existed! The sauce was very tasty and absolutely packed with mushroom flavour, but it really wasn’t what I was in the mood for, unfortunately. I still cannot accept this dish as a ramen!

Dr HH had the kusa ramen, and was happier with his dish, which was an actual ramen with broth. The noodles were good. The broth was creamy and spicy, but really the chilli overwhelmed any other flavours. The toppings were fine but a bit unexciting and didn’t really add any flavours.

Overall, it was not really for us. It has consistently great ratings on Happy Cow, so perhaps we were just unlucky with some of the seasoning not quite being right on the day.

Minf Houze Vegan Cafe

This vegan restaurant is on the top floor of a quite small and slightly run-down mall. We were the only guests when we visited for an early dinner on a weekday, but it is well reviewed on Happy Cow so presumably business picks up later. Staff bring menus and an ordering slip (and pencil) to your table. You mark your choices on the paper, then take it up to the counter to place your order and pay. They bring the food to your table when it’s ready.

We shared a couple of the snacks, and really enjoyed them. The satay Malaysia didn’t look too appetising to me with its weird strands, but actually the taste and texture were really good. The satay sauce was fantastic too, with a good nutty flavour and decent but not overwhelming chilli kick.

The fried vege yuba maki rolls were even better. The rolls were quite crispy and the meaty texture inside was great. We liked the occasional crunch of water chestnuts. The dipping sauce here was just ok, we preferred dunking them in the satay sauce.

For my main, I had the nasi lemak special, which was blue rice, pickled cucumber, roasted peanuts, mushroom bits, poppadoms, and some sauce, with a pot of potato curry on the side. It was a fantastic array of tastes and textures. Everything was nicely seasoned, but not too spicy. I would definitely order this again, and went on to order nasi lemak in other places at every opportunity I had!

Dr HH had the asam laksa soup and was not so keen. It had pineapple in it, which he had overlooked on the menu, and it was quite a dominant flavour which he felt didn’t enhance the dish at all, unfortunately. The noodles were a bit overcooked. The fishy tofu was excellent though. Even though it wasn’t the dish for him, he said he would happily return and try something else.

This was our first proper Malaysian meal of the holiday, and overall we really enjoyed it. It really inspired us for the rest of the trip to come.

Activities in Kuala Lumpur

We didn’t spend too much time sightseeing in Kuala Lumpur, but we did take in a few spots. We visited the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, which was a nice change from the other places of worship we’d seen on our long trip. It was colourful and had lots of interesting details in the artwork.

We also visited the Islamic Arts Museum, which was impressive. It was quite large so we ran out of steam a bit, but we enjoyed what we saw, especially some beautifully illustrated and written old texts. Again, it was quite different from the sights we’d seen earlier on our trip, so a very welcome change.