3 Great Places in KL to Get Delicious Soup

Food historians tell us the history of “soup” is probably as old as the history of cooking. The act of combining various ingredients in a large pot to create a nutritious, filling, easily digested meal makes soup one of the most versatile dishes ever. In Malaysia, despite the steaming temperatures, there is no end to the list of soups available. Here are some of the most popular joints in town, serving up a bowl of hearty goodness:

1. Maidin Sup Kambing At Lucky Garden

Nothing is as good or as comforting as some good soup, eaten either with freshly baked bread or plain rice, and Maidin Sup Kambing is one of the best in the business. Serving up a variety of soups that are hot and spicy, Maidin proves that there’s nothing quite like a bowl of piping hot chicken or mutton soup on a rainy day. The restaurant was established in the 1970s by Abdul Razak, and has been passed on to his son, who has continued retain the authentic taste of its dishes. The restaurant offers a variety of soups including sup kambing (their specialty), and sup daging rusa (deer meat soup). Sup kambing is a spiced mutton stew that is cooked for hours over a charcoal fire, filled with large chunks of mutton and caramelised onions to give it a special and unique flavour. The tender chunks of mutton, glide-off-the-bone ribs and rich broth makes this sup kambing worth every bite.

2. Rasam At Sri Ganapathy Mess

Popularity may not be everything when it comes to choosing somewhere to eat, but when a restaurant is bursting at the seams with customers, it must be doing something right. Set up like a mess hall, Sri Ganapathy is located in PJ Old Town, and offers one of the best banana leaf rice dishes in town. The array of steaming hot curries and hot fluffy white rice is a mouth-watering prospect but if you are looking for a meal with a twist, ask for their house specialty – crab rasam. Rasam is a South Indian soup traditionally prepared using tamarind juice as a base, with the addition of tomato, and chilli pepper, pepper, cumin, and other spices as seasonings. Available on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the crab rasam has bags of luscious flavours and has been touted as the best rasam this side of Chennai.

3. Yu Yi Bak Kut Teh At Jalan Imbi

Bak kut teh is soup consisting of meaty pork ribs simmered in a broth of with herbs and spices including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, cloves, coriander, and garlic. This dish dates back to the 19th century when Chinese immigrants working as coolies in Malaya used cheap pork ribs, herbs, and spices to boost their energy. If you are looking for the best in town, make your way to Yu Yi restaurant in Jalan Imbi. The owner of this restaurant came up with his own recipe (which is a resounding success) and has been whipping up dish after dish to many a hungry patron. Bak kut teh is usually eaten with rice, and often served with yau char kwai or twisted fried dough for dipping into the soup.

First published in The Expat, March, 2014