No nonsense guide to survive in Kg Baru on a Rm10+/- per day
Since I’m on budget and frequently I’ve heard about how affordable is kg baru food stalls/restaurants is and I assure you, if you are a very fussy eater like me, the choice is fair and limited.
I’ve been living at several states in Malaysia and outside food rarely nice for me since I prefer mom’s food or my aunts’ foods or my grandma’s and I still miss my late-grandparents’ signature dishes.
Because of university, I was thrown in an apartment in kg baru for three years now and I know the nooks and croony and the pros and cons of this famous kampung in the middle of urbanities.
*some facts about me*
- I prefer eating alone if its about food.
- I never eat out much since I prefer the comfort of my room while watching “Fringe”.
- I do eat in the restaurants and hawkers but rarely a) for safety reasons b) I hate strangers staring at me while I’m eating (which annoying, a lot of them do… hey, I do have insecurities especially when munching stuff)
- In Kg Baru, all open stalls are a haven for fat sewer rats (This made me think about all the Wistar/Sprague-Dawley rats that I’ve been killing for my lab reports and research and how lucky these free-living rats are) and I cringe whenever I saw dead rats splat flat on the road and fats rats coming in and out of these open kitchens and from the nuclear-like sewer. I never got used to it even when people here seems to be used to it. Ewww….
- Fish are very overprice here. If you need cheap, cook it yourself.
Good good!
Rosdet Tom Yam Restaurant
- There’s around atleast five thai restaurants that are accessible from Jln Raja Abdullah but their Tom Yam and Pattaya is the best in Kg Baru and I’m a regular there and my m.o. is “Nasi putih + Tom Yam Ayam” which is for rm5 and the people know my face already so I don’t really have to say “bungkus” after ordering.
- If you put it in portion, you can survive one day with a pack of tom yam and its spicier than the rest, so you don’t really need to heat it up. (But if you do this, make sure you take the kaffir lime leaf and the veggies/mushrooms from the soup to decrease the expiry rate)
- It open from 5pm to late late night.
Wong Solo
The sets are rm10.90 but its one of the best indonesian restaurant in kg baru. Since considering most of the hawker stall here would be either local or non-local (east coast ppl usually) and thais and indonesians but this is one of the best indo food shop that I’ve tasted (there’s a Garuda near the cross traffic like, the Minang beside this restaurant and Padang restaurant near the Jln Raja Alang). Its not that cheap and the portion is so so but the hotness is enough to make you feel full and still begging for more. This is one restaurant that I would spend an entire day allowance in for food.
Ram’s Cafe *next to K5 and PenjaRah*
Cheap stuff. Friendly staff (occasional handsome staff hehe) and good outdoor place to eat in (no rats here but sometimes there’s some roaches but the owner often keep the place clean).
As a regular since 2008, its a good place to crash if you’re hungry. Kak Som’s fried banana with sesame seed is the best too (my mom never find the sense in putting sesame seed on it but I beg differ) and Kak Som’s still the best thai cook in the shop. I always avoid the male cook since their Tom Yam tasted off.
Nasi Ayam Meletup @ parking lot in front of Plaza Rah
Rm 4 for decent Nasi Ayam with huge portion of its kawah soup. Good place compared to Singapore Chicken Rice next to Plaza.
Average
Medan Selera HKL
Average is average. They often sell nasi campur stuff during bazaars and the selection is boring. I prefer faculty food but this it will do on average days. But I almost never go there during lunch time because of the crowd and the flies hovering there. Err….
Johan Seafood
Average thai restaurant. Same price with Rosdet but much larger. But if its late, the staff won’t bother with you and act as if you didn’t exist until you are seated long enough for them to notice you so –> ROSDET!!
Hale’s Kitchen
I’m in between since I live here and the place itself is nice. I had the member cuts so it does not really hurt when I want to splurge on food. Leave off the spaghetti and chops. Good stuff are Cordon Bleu and steaks and the desert drinks. Price wise – ok, but no wifi since they didn’t fix their box, if they did, good surfing place for some alone time and not crap like Starbucks.
update 4/3/11 : The malay food is superb~~ 5 out of 5~~~! if you are in need of a good caterer, Hale’s Kitchen is one of the best malay food that I’ve eaten in kg baru (which is btw, next to mom’s food ftw)…. their Kurma Kambing is so decadent and delicious…. their briyani rice seems to be vibrant (I think they put saffron in it) and their ayam masak merah is *kiss fingers*~~~~ I think they changed their chef from western cuisine to malay cuisine because from before, their western are average but their malay cuisine seems to be their specialty… and cheap too… rm5 I think on average meal.
Char Kuey Teow stall that have undergone alot of reno but barely staffed in
I love their Char Kuey Teow compared to the Penang’s CKT near the Tarzan Msia stall nearby. But sometimes I notice the owner who cook the CKT that I like is frequently absent from his shop. So it fell into this category. Shame
Bad bad!
Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa @ Kg Baru
one of the most overpriced Nasi Lemak in Kg Baru and some of the place I never recommend people to eat there (go to the left side of the road from the shop and there’s a house that sells nasi lemak in their home)
a) rats (its not a publicity stunt but since I always walk by the road every single week , I deserve to say the undeniable truth. And thats the reason, I’ve been avoiding the place for most of the time)
b) I had to spend rm7 for nasi lemak + ayam and both the rice and the chicken are hediously dry and tasteless and wasn’t even nice. And rm2.80 for nasi lemak + a boiled egg is overdrive (because normally, its rm1.50 for one egg and their plain ones doesn’t have eggs but a lot of dry rice). And they are stingy with their tasteless sambal. Its popular with the tourist but the taste is so tasteless.
c) the seats are on the uneven pavement (I hate this pavement, who make it deserve to get shot!) which are under a sewage which give off some weird heat wave over 4 feet. Need to say more? Its creepy and unhygenic
d) If anyone from that shop read this, pls pls pls, make a decent nasi lemak and fix up your Kg Baru stall. Extend it to the second floor or what since its soo unhygenic as it is.
Minang shop near Wong Solo
Not so tasty small-portioned ayam kampung and average dishes. Small space and decent regulars but the menu is boring. Because of the taste, its a bit pricey for me. I don’t even like the green sambal they had.
The WiFi Restaurant in front of Rosdet, Johan and the other thai shop
The orders taste bad, the buffet priced badly and its like hospital cafe. Better yet, just go to the hospital.
Chop and Steak
I know some regulars would kill me because of this but even if its cheap, the roaches, the dark dark interior and cliche design is unfortunately boring and tasteless and deserve a full makeover.
Fortunately, the food have its seasons when its good and not good…. but generally, I cook western food which taste a lot better than this. Some of the bad food that I had was : Golden Blue and Lamb Chop and Macaroni and its thyme sauce… people, pls use worcestershire in your sauce. Good stuff…. : ? depends on the chef.
If the taste is bad enough, wait for the crowd and the money sucking road valet. The road is an average kampung road with less decent parking space but its still residential area. Do you need to hog the road for you shop when you could just build some 5 storey parking lot and charge people with the same rate?
p/s: Will put photos and edit this list. I had time.
Take Me To The Circus 
