Malaysia: Restoran Kim Lian Kee

Scared by Melaka, CK and I booked a hotel in Kuala Lumpur before we arrived.  Armed with the address, we hopped onto a cab at the bus station in KL.  

But of course things couldn't go smoothly for us.  Oh, no.  We had a hotel this time...we just couldn't find it.

It took a while, but we finally figured out that D'Oriental Inn is located INSIDE the heart of Chinatown on Jalan Petaling, which is pedestrian only during business hours (basically the entire day).  

We made it to the front desk, only to be told that our reservation wasn't in the system.  We were asked to put down a deposit, but between the two of us, we didn't have enough ringgit to cover it.  The lady at the front desk sent us on a wild goose chase to look for an open currency exchange on a national holiday.  Finally, she let us pay the deposit in American dollars and we were given our room key.

Whew.

The next dilemma was where to eat dinner.  There's no lack of options on Jalan Petaling, but therein lies the rub.  How do you pick when there's so much to choose from?  We went with the tried and true method of seeking out the place with the longest line.

Restoran Kim Lian Kee covers two street corners and reaches the second floor of this building:

The wait at one of the corners was so long that one of the servers advised us to try our luck inside.  No wait there.

Fruit juice is a must.  It's hard to go wrong with watermelon:

Every table, both inside and outside, had a plate of hokkien mee gracing it, so of course we had to give it a go:

Thick noodle, yummy black sauce, and fatty pork...what's not to like at slightly over $2 a small plate?

The salted fish fried rice was much less impressive in comparison:

I don't think I tasted any salted fish at all.

The veggies were oily to the point of being almost inedible:

The hokkien mee, definitely worth it.  Skip everything else if you have to.

On a completely unrelated side note...HOORAY GIANTS!!!


Restoran Kim Lian Kee
49, Jalan Petaling
50000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
+60 3-2032 4984