We'd heard so much about the food scene in Malaysia and were chomping at the bit to check it out. While officially a Muslim country, Malaysia truly embraces multiculturalism and inclusivity, and this is definitely reflected in the cuisine.
Our first several days in KL, we didn't bother figuring out ahead of time what we felt like eating or which restaurant to go to. Instead, we would just wander around until we saw an eatery that appealed, and plop ourselves down at a table to discover whatever wonders might appear before us. This wasn't at all hard to do, given that restaurants, small eateries and food stands of all sorts are everywhere.
By a stroke of good fortune, our accommodation was a short walk from Jalan Alor, a lively night market located along a half kilometre stretch of street by the same name. The street starts to close to traffic at dusk, which is when the market starts to come alive.
With open air tables, food stalls, and a few permanent restaurants for good measure, it's lively, bustling, and all a bit overwhelming especially if you've just finished a 20+ hour journey from half way around the world. But we were up for the challenge.
In fact, our first night in KL this is where we headed to find something to eat. After walking up and down the street taking in our options and sampling a few small items, we settled on getting some supper at a place by the name of Grand Sky, which advertises simply "Asian food." Gerry ordered the local beer, Tiger, while I went with a boring old club soda because I was too tired to figure out which of the non-alcoholic options most appealed.
We were a bit overwhelmed at the menu choices, as it seemed like there were literally hundreds of items to choose from. One thing we did know though, was that we were really missing our veggies. To say that airplane food doesn't lean heavily in that direction is a bit of an understatement. I recall that the "salad" portion of one of my in-flight meals consisted of literally a bite sized piece of lettuce, a single cherry tomato, and a small wedge of mini-lime.
So we relished the opportunity to indulge in an entire platter of kai lan, another of some kind of spicy green beans, and for good measure we added a plate of noodle something-or-other with prawns to satisfy Gerry's hankering for seafood.
The food was delicious, but we were so tired that we didn't realize until halfway through our meal that the waiter had given us forks and spoons instead of chopsticks. I guess they assume all of us western looking folks prefer it that way. But since then we've managed to get access to the correct eating utensils for each type of food. More on that in a later post...
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