Kuala Lumpur - Food Tour - February 24

Today we met our guide Danny in the Chow Kit section of Kuala Lumpur and quickly headed into the wet market...seafood, meat, vegetables, fruits both exotic and common.  

Malaysia is a multicultural country with large populations of Chinese (20%), Indian (6%), and Malay or indigenous people (62%).  The foods available in the market reflect the many cultures.  This particular market is located in a section of the city with a large Indonesian population.  

Along with traditional cuts of meat, there were cow heads, tongues, intestines and hooves for sale.   saw both goat and sheep heads for sale also.  Danny told us that the meat of the hooves was very tender and gnawed off the bone.

We saw a fish being descaled, coconut prepared and both yellow and white skinned chickens for sale.

Among the vegetables to us were stink beans, so named because they leave a very pervasive odor in your mouth and on your body for a couple of days and like asparagus, your urine also smells. They are consumed throughout Southeast Asia and despite their smell they are delicious and healthy, supposedly.

Four-sided beans

We had also never heard of four-sided (or winged) beans, so-called because of their shape.

Danny would buy different fruits for us to taste including rambutan or hairy fruit which comes from a tree native to Southeast Asia (it tastes similar to lychee).  

After leaving the market, we stopped at a small bakery and tried their pastry and Danny bought other traditional snacks.  We went to a small street stand where they split and coconut and we shared the coconut water.

We went to a Chinese restaurant and had soup and a noodle dish. 

After that we went to a Malay restaurant and had Nasi kerabu which is a Malaysian rice dish with blue rice.

Other dishes in the Malay restaurant.

We ended the tour walking across the Saloma Link Bridge.

Chris in in the middle of the bridge.