Food Fling in Malaysia: Day 2

This is part two of my multi-day food binge in Kuala Lumpur.  You can read part one here.

Day one, by all accounts, was a roaring success.  Inspired by an excellent day of eating,  I woke up this morning eager to get down to breakfast and start day two of my culinary odyssey.  

Breakfast

For breakfast, I went with the same as the day before: the King Chicken breakfast complete with a chicken patty served on an English muffin with a side of eggs, salad and this time, hash browns.  As was the case yesterday, the food was savory but not too heavy; exactly what I was looking  to start my day with.  

I opted to go with tea instead of coffee as a) the British setup tea plantations here during their colonial rein and b) they only serve Nescafe and I'm done with bad coffee for now.    Inspired by the hotel blend, we went out to a tea and coffee shop in the Central Market towards the city center.  I ordered an iced tea with milk and Nathalie took a Teh Tarik, which is a hot black tea with condensed milk.  It's considered the national drink of Malaysia.  Both were immensely refreshing. 

Ice tea on the left, Teh Tarik on the right

Lunch

Today was more of the same in terms of walking around the city and after working up an appetite, we settled on eating Chinese for lunch.  Malaysia, as it turns out, sits just above the equator.  This means that its constantly hot and constantly humid.  In order to make life more hospitable, many restaurants are located in buildings (go further north in southeast Asia where the humidity is more manageable, and you'll find many more eateries either outside or with large open air verandas).   Underneath one nondescript shopping center laid a food court dedicated to Chinese cooking.   

The signs outside the food court advertising the establishments below

Most Americans would associate a food court with name-brand fast food joints that cook processed, over-fried foods.  I'm happy to report that there was no Panda Express to be found in this basement.  Rather, it was complete with tiny booths selling different subsets of Chinese cuisine.  There were tiny stands dedicated to different squid dishes, a duck hut, a stall selling only pork products (the guy working behind the counter was fairly insistent that I eat there), a dumpling/dim-sum depository, and various other food bars selling a variety of Sino-licious cuisine.

Cantonese-style mixed wok

After walking around for a good ten minutes (mainly due to being overwhelmed by the number of choices), I settled on a Cantonese-style mixed chicken and vegetables mini-wok.  This dish came with rice and was stir-fried to order in a single portion-sized wok.   The meal was satisfying, but not exceptional but in any case, it hit the spot.  Plus, it was light-years ahead of McDonald's so there's that.  

Dinner 

Nathalie and I felt like Indian food for our last meal of the day.  Lucky for us, Kuala Lumpur not only has at least one Indian restaurant, it also has at least one Indian district, complete with plenty of places to sample some of south Asia's famous cuisine.  

We wound up going back to a place we went to a month ago when we were first in Kuala Lumpur for our extended layover.  Moghol Mahal was recommended to us by the receptionist at the hotel we were staying at at the time.  We went there for dinner on our first night and it didn't disappoint.  We took the 20-minute monorail ride (they have those here) to the KL Sentral district and then walked around the corner to the restaurant.  

Happy to see a familiar place, we refreshed our memory with the menu and ordered four plates for us to share.   They consisted of: chicken breasts marinated in yogurt and coriander/cilantro then grilled and served on a hot plate, minced chicken served in a cheese sauce (it was a bit like vol-au-vent), curry-fried cauliflower, and finally a side of fresh vegetables.  We also ordered garlic naan bread to go along with everything. 

One bite in, and my mouth had died and gone to Indian-food heaven.  Taking the time to enjoy each bite, we were fairly quiet during the meal meaning that our attention was focused on the heavenly meal in front of us.  

We left the restaurant full but not stuffed and with a grin of satisfaction draped across our faces.  We slowly made our way back to the hotel where we've taken refuge on the bed (and where I'm writing this now).   Here's to a good night's sleep in anticipation of day three of the Food Fling!