Best Halal Food Kuala Lumpur: Arabic Grill, Laksa, Hakka Cuisine and Halal Chinese Food
Reposted from the web
Summary: This Kuala Lumpur halal food guide issue 3 maps Malay, Chinese, and international halal restaurants, including Arabic grilled meat, laksa, Hakka cuisine, Cantonese-style tea food, seafood, French food, Japanese ramen, hot pot, Chinese dishes, and Paris Baguette.
Kuala Lumpur has a surprising number of halal restaurants. If you do not know where to start, you can choose from the three categories I have divided them into. The first category is Malay food, or Southeast Asian cuisine, which includes Thai food. Malay people are spread widely across Southeast Asia; they live not only in Malaysia but also in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and Thailand. The second category is Chinese food, or Chinese cuisine. This is mainly halal food made by Chinese people who moved south to Southeast Asia, based on Fujian and Guangdong styles with some improvements. The third category is foreign restaurants. The most common ones here are Japanese and Korean food, followed by Western food, South Asian restaurants, and Middle Eastern restaurants. There might be some niche halal restaurants, but they basically fall into these three categories. The number of halal restaurants here definitely exceeds that of Beijing, but in terms of variety, it is still not as diverse as Beijing. Beijing's halal Chinese food and foreign restaurant categories still lead the world.
The restaurant information for this issue is as follows:
1. WRAP'NROLL (Arabian grilled meat)
2. AH CHENG LAKSA (Malay food)
3. Maifenju (Hakka cuisine)
4. FRIDAYS (North American style food)
5. Samtai Yamch'a (Cantonese-style tea restaurant)
6. TWO SONS (seafood, afternoon tea)
7. BACHA COFFEE (coffee shop)
8. TEA ROASTERY (Japanese matcha)
9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar (French food)
10. Teppanyaki (tieban shao)
11. Shrimp Noodle Bar (Japanese ramen)
12. The Fish Bowl (light meals)
13. Cili Kampung (Malay cuisine)
14. Fresh (airport light meal fast food)
15. Tengyu (Chinese food, hot pot)
16. Paris Baguette (Western pastries and bread)
1. Wrap'nroll
This is an Arabic fast food restaurant on the B1 floor of Avenue K mall. People call this mall AK. It sits just across the street from the north side of the Petronas Twin Towers. The B1 floor has many halal fast food shops.
You can eat Arabic specialty desserts like kunafa and baklava here.
Address: By the elevator on the B1 floor of AK mall
2. Ah Cheng Laksa
Laksa is a specialty of Malaysia. It is a type of noodle soup that comes in many varieties and flavors. Because many Malay people live in Singapore and Indonesia, you can find laksa there too.
The broth for this noodle soup has many ingredients and a wide range of flavors. I did not quite understand the taste, so I just ordered the signature laksa. I could not finish it after two bites. If you have a conservative palate, be careful when ordering.
Address: AK Mall, B1
3. Ma Fen Ju
This is a small Hakka restaurant. You can probably only find halal Hakka food in Southeast Asia, and this was my first time trying it.
The menu says no pork. In Malaysia, getting an official halal certification costs over 50,000 Malaysian ringgit. Small shops cannot afford that, so they just write no pork instead of paying the fee.
Sambal okra (yangjiaodou) is just okra.
Dried shrimp tofu with minced meat rice, which is a little spicy.
Address: AK Mall, B1
4. FRIDAYS
This is an American-style halal restaurant. You can tell by the decor that it has a Western cowboy vibe.
American restaurants are known for large portions and high calories. I chose this place because my son cannot eat spicy food, but the black pepper in the American dishes still has a bit of a kick.
Fahim took one bite of the salmon and stopped, so I ordered him a kids' meal instead.
Tomato pasta is his absolute favorite.
Address: 4th Floor, KLCC
5. Samtai Yamch'a
This is a halal-certified Cantonese dim sum restaurant.
They have freshly made dim sum available for takeout.
The restaurant is in the newly opened TRX Mall and is very busy with many Malay customers, but I don't think it is as refined as the dim sum in KLCC.
Spicy wontons in chili oil (hongyou chaoshou) and their signature hand-pulled noodles (lamian).
Fresh shrimp rice noodle rolls (changfen).
Custard buns (liushabao).
Chicken barbecue pork buns (chashaobao). I still think the ones from the Hui Muslim restaurant in Guangzhou that split open at the top are better.
Address: Concourse Level, TRX Mall
6. TWO SONS
Two Sons is a seafood afternoon tea restaurant on the third floor of TRX.
You order by scanning a QR code here, and they serve tea and coffee.
The main meals focus on seafood, which tastes fresh and delicious. You often have to queue for a table, but waiting in line to eat is very common in Kuala Lumpur.
Address: 3rd Floor, TRX Mall.
7. BACHA COFFEE
This is a very popular cafe that also has locations in Hong Kong. It is known as the Hermes of the coffee world, but the prices are not actually that high. A pot of coffee costs about 30 to 60 Malaysian Ringgit.
We visited the branch on the ground floor of KLCC, and I also saw one in the TRX mall.
They have hundreds of coffee varieties, and the menu is as thick as a book. I do not have any specific recommendations, but keep in mind that one order is a whole pot, which is enough for two people. We accidentally ordered two pots, but luckily they were not filled to the brim, so we managed to finish them.
You can pair the coffee with cream and desserts, which are of excellent quality.
Address: Ground Floor, KLCC, near the entrance by the musical fountain.
8. TEA ROASTERY CHA-BA-SHI-RA
A new Japanese matcha shop just opened at the entrance of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.
The owner is Malaysian. He went to Japan to learn the art of matcha, and because he loves it himself, he came back home to open this shop.
I have tasted matcha in Hokkaido, where it was smooth and rich, and the quality at this shop is also very good.
Address: Exit of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.
9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar
This is a very luxurious French restaurant located just a few hundred meters from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
You can only find this kind of halal French dining in Kuala Lumpur. I saw one in Dubai, but it was ridiculously expensive at 3,000 yuan per person. This place is about 500 RMB per person.
The restaurant is on the 66th floor of the building, offering a panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur with the Petronas Twin Towers visible in the distance.
They charge per person, and you choose your items from the menu. The dishes are served in order, and the whole meal takes about an hour.
They serve TWG brand tea bags, which cost over a hundred yuan online.
The first dish was raw oyster sashimi. The taste was very average and a bit fishy; I still don't like eating raw oysters.
The two of us chose different set menus, and the other one was salmon sashimi.
Seafood soup with scallop meat, large shrimp, and mussels.
Creamy vegetable soup.
This is a French-style duck dish. The meat is quite tender and very lean.
The French-style pan-seared lamb chops taste good. It is a pity I did not get to eat French escargot here; I will have to wait until I am back in Tianjin to eat snails.
The coffee and desserts are high quality, but the main dishes taste very ordinary and a bit rough. They do not seem to match the decor.
Address: Level 66, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
10. Teppanyaki
A Japanese teppanyaki restaurant. I remember the last time I had halal teppanyaki was in Hokkaido.
A chef cooks the meat for you, then you eat it with vegetables and rice. The meal comes with jelly and edamame.
Address: 52100, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Taman Kepong, Jalan Metro Prima, F28, L1, AEON Mall, Metro Prima
11. Shrimp Noodle Bar
This is a Japanese-style shrimp broth ramen shop.
Their shrimp soup is incredibly rich and authentic, made with real, quality ingredients. The shrimp tails are already peeled, which is a perfect touch.
12. THE FISH BOWL
This is a light meal shop on the fourth floor of KLCC. After living in Malaysia for a while, you will really crave this kind of light, healthy food. This shop is also halal certified.
Their drinks are all fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices.
You order by selecting your ingredients on a piece of paper.
If you cannot read the menu, you can also choose a set meal by looking at the pictures.
13. cili kampung
This is a Malay restaurant on the fourth floor of KLCC. It is a chain store that is very popular, so you will need to wait in line.
The large shrimp and squid are delicious. The salty and spicy flavors go perfectly with rice; the two of us ate a whole bucket of it.
Address: 4th Floor, KLCC
14. FRESH
This is a fast-food restaurant located after the international security checkpoint at Kuala Lumpur Airport.
There are not many good food options after security. Besides McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut, this is the only healthy restaurant worth visiting.
Address: After international security, Terminal 2, Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
15. Tengyu Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant
Tengyu is a hot pot restaurant in Kuala Lumpur opened by Hui Muslims from Xi'an. They also serve stir-fried dishes.
The restaurant has a nice, spacious environment and even includes a prayer room.
They use traditional copper pots with charcoal fire, and the taste is very good.
Their stir-fried dishes are prepared in the Sichuan style and go very well with rice.
Fermented glutinous rice soup (laozao tang)
Shredded pork in sweet bean sauce (jingjiang rousi)
Fish with pickled mustard greens (suancai yu)
Address: 83-G PLATINUM WALK NO 2 JALAN LANGKAWI SETAPAK, KUALA LUMPUR. (Next to the side entrance of Setapak Central)
16. PARIS BAGUETTE
A halal Paris Baguette store in Kuala Lumpur.
They have bread, light meals, and coffee.
Address: Level C, The Exchange TRX mall
Summary: This Kuala Lumpur halal food guide issue 3 maps Malay, Chinese, and international halal restaurants, including Arabic grilled meat, laksa, Hakka cuisine, Cantonese-style tea food, seafood, French food, Japanese ramen, hot pot, Chinese dishes, and Paris Baguette.
Kuala Lumpur has a surprising number of halal restaurants. If you do not know where to start, you can choose from the three categories I have divided them into. The first category is Malay food, or Southeast Asian cuisine, which includes Thai food. Malay people are spread widely across Southeast Asia; they live not only in Malaysia but also in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and Thailand. The second category is Chinese food, or Chinese cuisine. This is mainly halal food made by Chinese people who moved south to Southeast Asia, based on Fujian and Guangdong styles with some improvements. The third category is foreign restaurants. The most common ones here are Japanese and Korean food, followed by Western food, South Asian restaurants, and Middle Eastern restaurants. There might be some niche halal restaurants, but they basically fall into these three categories. The number of halal restaurants here definitely exceeds that of Beijing, but in terms of variety, it is still not as diverse as Beijing. Beijing's halal Chinese food and foreign restaurant categories still lead the world.
The restaurant information for this issue is as follows:
1. WRAP'NROLL (Arabian grilled meat)
2. AH CHENG LAKSA (Malay food)
3. Maifenju (Hakka cuisine)
4. FRIDAYS (North American style food)
5. Samtai Yamch'a (Cantonese-style tea restaurant)
6. TWO SONS (seafood, afternoon tea)
7. BACHA COFFEE (coffee shop)
8. TEA ROASTERY (Japanese matcha)
9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar (French food)
10. Teppanyaki (tieban shao)
11. Shrimp Noodle Bar (Japanese ramen)
12. The Fish Bowl (light meals)
13. Cili Kampung (Malay cuisine)
14. Fresh (airport light meal fast food)
15. Tengyu (Chinese food, hot pot)
16. Paris Baguette (Western pastries and bread)
1. Wrap'nroll
This is an Arabic fast food restaurant on the B1 floor of Avenue K mall. People call this mall AK. It sits just across the street from the north side of the Petronas Twin Towers. The B1 floor has many halal fast food shops.
You can eat Arabic specialty desserts like kunafa and baklava here.
Address: By the elevator on the B1 floor of AK mall
2. Ah Cheng Laksa
Laksa is a specialty of Malaysia. It is a type of noodle soup that comes in many varieties and flavors. Because many Malay people live in Singapore and Indonesia, you can find laksa there too.
The broth for this noodle soup has many ingredients and a wide range of flavors. I did not quite understand the taste, so I just ordered the signature laksa. I could not finish it after two bites. If you have a conservative palate, be careful when ordering.
Address: AK Mall, B1
3. Ma Fen Ju
This is a small Hakka restaurant. You can probably only find halal Hakka food in Southeast Asia, and this was my first time trying it.
The menu says no pork. In Malaysia, getting an official halal certification costs over 50,000 Malaysian ringgit. Small shops cannot afford that, so they just write no pork instead of paying the fee.
Sambal okra (yangjiaodou) is just okra.
Dried shrimp tofu with minced meat rice, which is a little spicy.
Address: AK Mall, B1
4. FRIDAYS
This is an American-style halal restaurant. You can tell by the decor that it has a Western cowboy vibe.
American restaurants are known for large portions and high calories. I chose this place because my son cannot eat spicy food, but the black pepper in the American dishes still has a bit of a kick.
Fahim took one bite of the salmon and stopped, so I ordered him a kids' meal instead.
Tomato pasta is his absolute favorite.
Address: 4th Floor, KLCC
5. Samtai Yamch'a
This is a halal-certified Cantonese dim sum restaurant.
They have freshly made dim sum available for takeout.
The restaurant is in the newly opened TRX Mall and is very busy with many Malay customers, but I don't think it is as refined as the dim sum in KLCC.
Spicy wontons in chili oil (hongyou chaoshou) and their signature hand-pulled noodles (lamian).
Fresh shrimp rice noodle rolls (changfen).
Custard buns (liushabao).
Chicken barbecue pork buns (chashaobao). I still think the ones from the Hui Muslim restaurant in Guangzhou that split open at the top are better.
Address: Concourse Level, TRX Mall
6. TWO SONS
Two Sons is a seafood afternoon tea restaurant on the third floor of TRX.
You order by scanning a QR code here, and they serve tea and coffee.
The main meals focus on seafood, which tastes fresh and delicious. You often have to queue for a table, but waiting in line to eat is very common in Kuala Lumpur.
Address: 3rd Floor, TRX Mall.
7. BACHA COFFEE
This is a very popular cafe that also has locations in Hong Kong. It is known as the Hermes of the coffee world, but the prices are not actually that high. A pot of coffee costs about 30 to 60 Malaysian Ringgit.
We visited the branch on the ground floor of KLCC, and I also saw one in the TRX mall.
They have hundreds of coffee varieties, and the menu is as thick as a book. I do not have any specific recommendations, but keep in mind that one order is a whole pot, which is enough for two people. We accidentally ordered two pots, but luckily they were not filled to the brim, so we managed to finish them.
You can pair the coffee with cream and desserts, which are of excellent quality.
Address: Ground Floor, KLCC, near the entrance by the musical fountain.
8. TEA ROASTERY CHA-BA-SHI-RA
A new Japanese matcha shop just opened at the entrance of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.
The owner is Malaysian. He went to Japan to learn the art of matcha, and because he loves it himself, he came back home to open this shop.
I have tasted matcha in Hokkaido, where it was smooth and rich, and the quality at this shop is also very good.
Address: Exit of the B1 supermarket in Isetan Department Store.
9. Arte 66 Restaurant & Bar
This is a very luxurious French restaurant located just a few hundred meters from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
You can only find this kind of halal French dining in Kuala Lumpur. I saw one in Dubai, but it was ridiculously expensive at 3,000 yuan per person. This place is about 500 RMB per person.
The restaurant is on the 66th floor of the building, offering a panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur with the Petronas Twin Towers visible in the distance.
They charge per person, and you choose your items from the menu. The dishes are served in order, and the whole meal takes about an hour.
They serve TWG brand tea bags, which cost over a hundred yuan online.
The first dish was raw oyster sashimi. The taste was very average and a bit fishy; I still don't like eating raw oysters.
The two of us chose different set menus, and the other one was salmon sashimi.
Seafood soup with scallop meat, large shrimp, and mussels.
Creamy vegetable soup.
This is a French-style duck dish. The meat is quite tender and very lean.
The French-style pan-seared lamb chops taste good. It is a pity I did not get to eat French escargot here; I will have to wait until I am back in Tianjin to eat snails.
The coffee and desserts are high quality, but the main dishes taste very ordinary and a bit rough. They do not seem to match the decor.
Address: Level 66, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
10. Teppanyaki
A Japanese teppanyaki restaurant. I remember the last time I had halal teppanyaki was in Hokkaido.
A chef cooks the meat for you, then you eat it with vegetables and rice. The meal comes with jelly and edamame.
Address: 52100, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Taman Kepong, Jalan Metro Prima, F28, L1, AEON Mall, Metro Prima
11. Shrimp Noodle Bar
This is a Japanese-style shrimp broth ramen shop.
Their shrimp soup is incredibly rich and authentic, made with real, quality ingredients. The shrimp tails are already peeled, which is a perfect touch.
12. THE FISH BOWL
This is a light meal shop on the fourth floor of KLCC. After living in Malaysia for a while, you will really crave this kind of light, healthy food. This shop is also halal certified.
Their drinks are all fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices.
You order by selecting your ingredients on a piece of paper.
If you cannot read the menu, you can also choose a set meal by looking at the pictures.
13. cili kampung
This is a Malay restaurant on the fourth floor of KLCC. It is a chain store that is very popular, so you will need to wait in line.
The large shrimp and squid are delicious. The salty and spicy flavors go perfectly with rice; the two of us ate a whole bucket of it.
Address: 4th Floor, KLCC
14. FRESH
This is a fast-food restaurant located after the international security checkpoint at Kuala Lumpur Airport.
There are not many good food options after security. Besides McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut, this is the only healthy restaurant worth visiting.
Address: After international security, Terminal 2, Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
15. Tengyu Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant
Tengyu is a hot pot restaurant in Kuala Lumpur opened by Hui Muslims from Xi'an. They also serve stir-fried dishes.
The restaurant has a nice, spacious environment and even includes a prayer room.
They use traditional copper pots with charcoal fire, and the taste is very good.
Their stir-fried dishes are prepared in the Sichuan style and go very well with rice.
Fermented glutinous rice soup (laozao tang)
Shredded pork in sweet bean sauce (jingjiang rousi)
Fish with pickled mustard greens (suancai yu)
Address: 83-G PLATINUM WALK NO 2 JALAN LANGKAWI SETAPAK, KUALA LUMPUR. (Next to the side entrance of Setapak Central)
16. PARIS BAGUETTE
A halal Paris Baguette store in Kuala Lumpur.
They have bread, light meals, and coffee.
Address: Level C, The Exchange TRX mall
