The Best Places To Eat In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Last Updated on 8th January 2023

This post about the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur contains affiliate links.

best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur on a budget

I’m sure you’ll all know by now that one of my favourite things about travelling to new places is getting to eat all the delicious and local cuisines of that place. Our time in KL was no different and today’s post is all about the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur and all the dishes you need to try!

I’ve already talked about why I love Kuala Lumpur so much and all the top things you need to see and do while you’re in the Malaysian capital city, but now it’s time for the best part; the food!

It’s clear to see that I’m no food photographer, but I like to think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to trying out new dishes in a new place and I’m excited to share all the best eats in Kuala Lumpur with you guys!

Here’s your ultimate guide to the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur and all the dishes you need to try!

1. Tapak Urban Street Dining

Tapak Urban Street Dining Night Market is one of the most popular places in the city to eat.

Regardless of the time of year, the weather situation or any kind of holiday, Tapak is always absolutely teeming with both locals and tourists from all over the world.

We actually visited Tapak Urban Street Dining on three different occasions during our three weeks in KL and if I’m being perfectly honest; it wasn’t nearly enough.

Think deliciously cheap cuisines from places all over the world. You’ll largely find Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese and Thai market stalls and dishes, but there are also a lot of Mexican and Italian vendors too.

We ate here twice with Matt’s mum when she flew over to meet us for a couple of days, and then we headed back again just us two because we just had to try out a few more stalls before we left.

Below, you can find numerous dishes that we ate at different stalls at Tapak Urban Street Dining.

Basically, it’s a foodie’s absolute dream come true, which is probably why we loved it so much!

2. 8th Street Cafe

8th Street Cafe serves some of the best burgers I’ve ever had in my life.

There’s a choice of chicken, beef or pork (I think!) and you can order fries as a side or mac n cheese.

I went for the chicken, cheese and bacon burger (14rm – £2.59) and OMFG it is heavenly; I can honestly still taste it right now…

The melted cheese was thick and heavy and it covered the chips and the burger; the chicken was cooked deliciously and was served in the softest bread bun.

Matt and his mum did have a good laugh watching me tackle this however as it’s incredibly messy to eat; the fillings kept coming out because it was so heavy!

The only slight complaint I have about 8th Street Cafe at Tapak Urban Street Dining is that the queue always seemed to be incredibly busy every time we were there and I had to wait a good 20 minutes to collect my order.

However, I guess that just goes to show how good it is and it was absolutely worth the wait!

3. Western King

Another place that we loved at Tapak is Western King; a Mexican-style place that sells numerous spicy dishes and sides.

We went for the Cheezy Chicken Chips (12rm – £2.22) which were smothered in sauces and spices.

Before we started travelling, I was never that much of a fan of lots of sauce or spices, but I’ve since learned to love them and the Cheezy Chicken Chips at Western King certainly provided the goods!

4. Macxito

Another Mexican-style stall that we ordered from on different occasions was Macxito.

It serves numerous Mexican dishes such as tacos, quesadillas and nachos and it was pretty good, although not my personal favourite.

Matt went for the Cheezy Burrito (16rm – £2.96) the first time we went and he said that it was absolutely delicious. I totally forgot to take a picture of it though as we were too busy stuffing our faces (which is actually a common theme throughout this post as I forgot to take pictures of a lot of things…)!

On the last time we went to Tapak Urban Street Dining, we ordered the Queso Albondiga (12rm – £2.22) which looked like a meatball wrap from the picture on the food truck but was in fact just a load of cheesy meatballs on top of some lettuce…

However, it still tasted delicious and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to you guys if you’re in the mood for some yummy Mexican food while in Kuala Lumpur.

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5. Chinatown – best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur

I spoke about how much I loved Chinatown in my travel guide for Kuala Lumpur and even though the food we ate there wasn’t mind-blowingly amazing, it was still very good.

Chinatown best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur

I can’t actually remember the name of the place we ate at in Chinatown as a lot of the places are just little food stalls and many of them don’t have names.

We ordered mixed BBQ pork and charcoal pork (20rm – £3.70) and a plate of noodles (12rm – £2.22) to share as we weren’t starving hungry when we went, but we were in the mood for a little snack!

I’d highly recommend having a little wander around Chinatown and browsing the different food stalls and restaurants if you have an hour or so to spare while in KL.

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6. Jalan Alor Night Market

Jalan Alor is a mega-long street full of the most incredible and varied food stalls you can imagine.

There are plenty of Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian stalls to choose from, as well as numerous other Asian cuisines too.

Again, I can’t actually remember the name of the place we ate at as we were a little drunk when we visited but I can remember that it was one of the best Asian dishes I’ve ever had!

I had the sweet and sour pork with fried rice (15rm – £2.78) and it was honestly one of the best meals I’ve had since travelling.

There are so many stalls selling pretty much the same thing in Jalan Alor so you really shouldn’t struggle to find something you like!

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7. Gravy Baby – the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur

One day when Matt’s mum was visiting us in Kuala Lumpur, we’d just spent the entire day exploring the city and we were all so hungry and desperate for something hearty and carbolicious.

Enter Gravy Baby.

Gravy Baby is definitely a more Western restaurant and it largely sells typical British pub food. Think hearty pies, bangers and mash and fish and chips.

We all ordered the steak pie with mash or chips and while we never normally order the same meal, I’m so glad that we did because it was bloody beautiful!

It was pretty reasonably priced at just 32rm (£5.93), and we also ordered a berry lemonade (14rm – £2.59) for me and a Strongbow Dark Fruits cider (22rm – £4) for Matt.

If you’re in the mood for some good and hearty pub grub, definitely add Gravy Baby to your list of places to eat in Kuala Lumpur!

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More of the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur

As I mentioned above, oftentimes I was either a little too tipsy or I simply just forgot to take a picture of the food but I didn’t want to not include them in my guide of where to eat in Kuala Lumpur so I’ve included some of my favourite other places to eat in KL below.

8. Suzi’s Corner

Suzi’s Corner was actually located just around the corner from our Airbnb in KL and we ate here on our first night in the city once Matt’s mum had arrived.

It’s kind of like a Hawker Market in that there are numerous food stalls/restaurants to choose from and then you can sit in the large courtyard area outside.

We all ordered some variation of a meat grill or steak dish and it was less than £5 each.

I’d definitely recommend eating at Suzi’s Corner if you’re around that area while in Kuala Lumpur.

9. Seetha Ram Curry House

This place is located in Little India and unfortunately, I didn’t manage to snap any pictures of our curries before we tucked in!

There are not actually that many places to eat in Little India which surprised us somewhat but Seetha Ram Curry House was pretty good and very affordable.

10. Sow Pad Krapaw

This place was actually part of the Tapak Urban Street Dining food trucks but again, I just forgot to take a picture of my food!

I ordered my absolute favourite Asian dish from here; Maggi Goreng Ayam which is essentially fried noodles and chicken and if there’s one thing that I can recommend you try when you’re in Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore, it’s this!

The Maggi Goreng was also only 8rm (£1.48) so it would just be rude not to 😉

11. Fanada Food Truck

Fanada Food Truck was yet another place that was located within Tapak Urban Street Dining and the dish that we ordered from there was Nasi Goreng Chilli Padi (7rm – £1.29) which was a spicy rice dish.

I wasn’t particularly the biggest fan of this but Matt and his mum really enjoyed it so I’ve got it on good authority that it was good!

As you can see, Kuala Lumpur is home to some truly incredible places to eat; I just wish I would have taken more pictures of my food to show you guys!

Keep an eye out for my ultimate food guide to George Town in Penang that’ll be going live in the next week or so as that includes plenty of pictures of good food! 😉

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Pin for later – the best places to eat in Kuala Lumpur

Have you ever been to Kuala Lumpur? Which food dish above sounds the most appealing to you? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @imjustagirl_16.

*All prices are accurate due to the currency exchange rate as of January 2019.