“You wanna try some poop?” I asked the mister, getting a whiff of the foulest-smelling fruit on Earth. That fruit, not so endearingly referred to as “crap,” was the durian. We are not adverse to the stench of durian, as it’s sold in various ethnic markets in the LA area. However, it’s usually concealed so that the smell is not overwhelming. In Kuala Lumpur, durian is sold readily and openly by street vendors, thus permeating the surrounding area with the smell of molded shit.
Poopfruit Durian. Once you get a whiff…you’ve had enough.
The durian would mark the precipice of our culinary journey in Kuala Lumpur. Luckily, none of the other dishes and foods we tried had the same negative affect on our senses. In fact, all the food we tried was delicious. Malaysian food, it seems, is a mix of centuries of varied migratory and cultural influences. It’s a cuisine readily accepting of outsiders’ culinary expertise. It caters to everyone. It’s a flavor that can be enjoyed by all. Most importantly, it’s a cuisine that preserves and even defines their cultural background.
Take, for instance, the Hutong food court in the basement of Lot 10. The entire basement is an ode to the former streethawker culture of Kuala Lumpur. For decades, vendors cut the cost of the four-walled middleman known as the restaurant and sold their delicious food to passerby’s. The area where Lot 10 stands was streethawker home to families of Chinese immigrants. In an effort to preserve the culture, they were moved indoors and provided luxuries like air conditioning and seating in exchange for selling food. Hutong sells Chinese and Taiwainese-style dishes at various stalls. We partook in beef and noodles on a couple of occassions and even cooled down with some shaved snow.
Hutong Food Court
Mango Shaved Snow
Then there’s the food court at Menara Maybank, which was discovered totally by accident one extremely hot afternoon. At the food court, we were privy to Malaysian food lackadaisically dolled up on trays, modestly beckoning hungry patrons. Dishes like rice with scrambled eggy pancakes, naan, fried chicken, green vegetables and starchy basics toppled over each other. There was no design to the chaotic delicatessans, just trays of the basics. For 6.00 USD for the both of of us, we filled up on these malaysian delights and downed them with freshly-made dragonfruit smoothies.
Malaysian Fried Chicken
If there was one thing we loved about Malaysia, it was the fruit. Fruit, it seems, is much more ripe, much more colorful and much more flavorful in Asia. Fresh-fruit smoothies are found everywhere and are richly delicious, much unlike the smoothies found in the sterilized styrofoam environment of say, Jamba Juice.
Fresh Fruit smoothies leave us seeing stars.
Snacks, on the other hand, left us craving more. We love food on a stick (but who doesn’t) and that seemed to be the most popular kind of snack at Jalan Masjid India. Food was decoratively cut to look like hearts and stuck in trios on skewers. Orange-breaded items waited to be purchased and fried fresh. We snacked on a fried hotpocket-looking food with chicken (ayam) inside, while perusing the outdoor market. But, the best part about our skewered snack experience was that we weren’t charged an arm and a leg to purchase it. It was decently-priced for the amount of food we received, which is an endearing quality we don’t exactly find in the States.
Food on a stick
Ayam flavored HotPocket at the Jalan Masjid India Outdoor Market
It one were to travel to Malaysia, they can enjoy a cuisine that has been delicately groomed for generations. It has a little something for everyone and that merely adds to Malaysia’s ability to capture and preserve their culture despite their ever-increasing important role as a major financial world player. Malaysian food can be enjoyed by all and that’s a pretty amazing quality about Malaysia.
We promise our next adventure will only have a little poop. Join us via email! Go nuts!
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