It was, in a way, a risk. Most of my friends said Kuala Lumpur (KL) wasn't really as spectacular as the other cities in South East Asia. It's just like a cleaner version of Makati City. Finally, after much contemplation, I made my decision. I'd bring Mom to KL for her 78th birthday. It turned out to be a wise decision. KL exceeded our expectations the moment we got off our plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
We fell in love with the Malaysian capital. And the food? Lovely, adventurous, lavish. We tried everything from street delights to fine dining specialties. The taste... "Truly Asia."
Our first taste of Malaysian food was a room-service dinner at the InterContinental. We arrived late in the evening so we couldn't explore the nearby streets for our meal. The food was not pricy for a five-star hotel, surprisingly. We had Hainanese chicken rice (top photo) and curry noodles (bottom photo).
Ice cream didn't escape our taste buds, Mom being an ice cream enthusiast for that matter. Left: Durian ice cream from Beryl chocolate factory and ice cream kiosk. Yours Truly had coconut ice cream. We had the more uncommon flavors. Malaysian ice cream had just the right degree of sweetness. Hindi nakakasuya. (Beryl Cocoa Boutique) Right: A large serving of the conventional dessert banana split with a variety of candy toppings and chocolate syrup. (The Petronas)
It's a birthday-eve dinner at the food court of the Malaysian world-famous landmark The Petronas Towers. See that giant prawn? That was worth MYR 25 (PHP 350). Mom loved shrimps so the moment she saw it, I knew I had to order it for her. The shell was crunchy and tasty so we almost consumed the entire prawn.
As had always been claimed, authentic lutong-bahay food could only be experienced in the cheaper establishments. After a tour of KL proper, we asked our driver/tour guide to bring us to an authentic Malaysian restaurant for lunch. We didn't actually expect that he would bring us to this karinderya style food court. But after tasting the food, it was only then that we realized why he brought us there. This place served the best-tasting chicken rice ever!
Happy 78th birthday, Mommy. A big birthday surprise was waiting for her. A buffet dinner in a fine-dining restaurant high up in the Malaysian sky and with full circumferential view of KL -- the Revolving Restaurant in the KL Tower. Top: The location of the Revolving Restaurant, 420 meters above ground (red arrow). Bottom: A delightful stop at the Observation Deck of the KL Tower before proceeding to the restaurant. The Revolving Restaurant was so called because it was literally revolving.
Top: Posing in one of the food stations -- Mom's favorite area, desserts. She went back to this area four times just so she could taste all the sweets and ice cream. There were four food stations scattered throughout the restaurant, each with its own theme, ie, appetizers/hors d'oeuvre, entree, Malaysian dishes, desserts. Bottom: The Birthday Mom with a very picturesque view of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers. (Revolving Restaurant, KL Tower)
We got hungry while waiting for our flight back to Manila, so we decided to have a snack in this coffee shop/restaurant -- Old Town. They served kopi tiam -- traditional Malaysian breakfast and white coffee. I had the white coffee because it intrigued me. It appeared lighter than the usual black color, but it had a very strong kick. (Old Town White Coffee, KL International Airport)
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