We’ve been flinging ourselves around Malaysia for the past two weeks and after all the commuting of the past week in Thailand I’m (somewhat ironically) looking forward to relaxing in Kuala Lumpur and enjoying some of my Malaysian favourites one last time.

It’s day 2 in Penang, despite the sheer variety of food available to us here our trip isn’t all about the food (shockingly), we’ve got a packed day ahead of us with temples, more temples, durian, snacking, food courts and the occasional naps we manage to squeeze in between.

I’ve been looking forward to Penang, knowing that it’s closer to the ocean I’ve foolishly assumed that the weather will be cooler. I’ve never been more wrong in my life. The humidity is almost punishingly heavy and I’m sweating within seconds of leaving the car, my hand-held fan my only salvation.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been traveling for barely been a week on our Food Blogger Trip and we’ve somehow managed to hit Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and the Cameron Highlands on the way to Ipoh. We’re off in search of breakfast again and Billy taken us to Ipoh Old Town in search of a famous coffee house.

Once again we’re tackling the winding roads from the Cameron Highlands down towards Ipoh, it’s a place close to Billy’s heart, he’s lived here for most of his life and a lot of his family is still in the area.

It’s a somewhat quiet morning, we’re starting on the first major part of our road trip, heading up to Cameron Highlands. Stomachs are obviously still suffering from the abuse the previous day and our breakfast plates are noticeably smaller.

Anyone who has been to Malaysia will know that while Kuala Lumpur is shiny, apart from shopping and eating there’s not a hell of a lot to do there. We decided early on in our planning to hire a van to drive us around Malaysia, road trip style!

Welcome to the first of my Malaysia Mondays posts! Rather than subject everyone to a barrage of Malaysian posts I’ve decided to space them out a little and post weekly updates. Be warned the posts are heavy with text, an inappropriate amount of rambling and yes, a truly ridiculous amount of food.

I remember in my younger years, Istana was a regular restaurant joint for my family… delicious chicken rice is all I can recall of this place. Even now, Istana is STILL known for it’s hainan chicken + rice. Strangely, just before my trip to Hong Kong and Singapore, I had a craving for CRAB (I think it was from all the food research I was doing…) My last visit to Istana was a few months back and I had an absolute FEAST!!

Ever since Mamak opened, it has been our destination of choice for a quick bite to eat if we are in town after midnight. I think my body is starting to reject kebabs once it hits midnight, must be a result of the copious amounts which I consumed when I was younger. Though the good news is, I have replaced my late night kebab fix with a hearty dose of Mamak who open until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.

I find that one of the worst thing to do on a beautiful saturday evening is to be cooped up at home, in the kitchen cooking dinner for the family. Obviously, Howard’s mother shares the same sentiments, as she suggested we try a relatively new Malaysian restaurant – Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Cuisine, located in the heart of Parramatta.

Look no further for chilli mud crab My personal belief is that once you’ve had the pleasure of tasting Singaporean/Malaysian food served at hawker stores, there’s no turning back. Whenever I have cravings for Singaporean/Malaysian food, we look back at the photos of our gastronomic adventures in Singapore and Malaysia and thank god for our [...]