Street Food @ Jalan Alor, KL

by Holly

After visiting the Museum of Illusions, we got out on the street in Kuala Lumpur at about 6pm, a perfect time to be outside in Malaysia. Not so hot or so bright as during the day, but still light out. We walked down Jalan Bukit Bintang, which was crowded with pedestrians and shops.

We stopped in at a Sports Direct to pick up a pair of safety shoes for me to use at work. These are Dunlop brand and despite having steel toes and toughened sole look like cute trainers. My coworker bought some the other week and I thought they looked sharp, so I wanted to get a pair to replace the too large pair of Oscars I had been wearing. RM 209! These would probably have been three times more expensive at home.

We then headed to Jalan Alor, which runs parallel to Jln. Bukit Bintang. This is a street famous for street food carts and basic streetside restaurants. There were also numerous carts selling fruit, drinks, and ice cream.

Here we are at the beginning of the street

There were many carts selling durian, which perfumed the area. The scent of durian entwined with barbecue, roasted nuts, cigarette smoke, and motorbike exhaust overwhelmed Child 2 quickly. You can see her above putting her shirt over her face and preparing to have a mental breakdown. The thing that pushed her over the edge was seeing a stack of skewered frogs in one of the stalls.

There were a few dumpling and fish ball stands that looked appealing.

Buster got a lemonade made with fresh sugar cane juice, pressed out by this machine linked by V belt to a little gas engine.

After canvassing the street most of the way down, we decided to go for this skewer bbq place.

The model is that you put all the skewers you want on a dish, then they cook them for you and bring them to your table. We got some marinated ribs, okra, bok choy, enoki mushrooms wrapped in chinese bacon, chicken skewers, tofu, and eggplant.  At the table, there were three sauces to try: spicy, sweet, and bean. The bean sauce was tasty. I think it was some kind of fermented soybean based sauce.

Child 1, Becky, and I enjoyed our dinner very much. Child 2 was having a mental breakdown and hiding in her shirt, weeping. Buster was a little put off by the scene and felt bad for Child 2, so he didn't eat anything either besides the lemonade.

A gecko was hanging out on the wall by our table.

Our bill was tallied by counting how many of each color skewer were left on our plates at the end. 

On the way out, I got an outstanding coconut ice cream topped with coconut milk in a half coconut shell. Becky bought a fruit cup for dessert.

Child 2 recovered her senses during the Grab ride home. I really enjoy the bustle, sights, smells, and foods at a place like this, but it is clear the kids are not exactly loving it. Child 2 says she would much rather go to one of the perfectly good malls which are around in such abundance!

As street food places go, Jalan Alor was pretty good, but obviously mainly patronized by tourists. Most of the street traffic was tourists, and the prices are not that cheap. Our dinner for three people was about 75RM. We've had plenty of meals for 5 for under 50. The upside of it being mostly a tourist spot is that it was not as crowded or filled with sketchy foods and vendors as a more locally oriented place would be. I figured that would be the best case scenario for the kids, but it didn't work out. Oh well, plenty of good food to be had at restaurants too.