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The cocktails flow indeed at FLO - mainly familiar concoctions like Negronis and Whiskey Sours, served by a smiling bartender on this first-floor Ampang hideout. FLO AmpangFirst Floor, 24, Persiaran Ampang, Desa Pahlawan, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 017-641-1731

After becoming a stalwart of Singapore's healthy-eats landscape for a full decade, with more than a dozen locations in the island city-state, plus scores of other outposts in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and even Spain, SaladStop! has finally surfaced in Mala...

With a floral theme inspired by similar East Asian concepts, Viola Flower Cafe blooms with beauty, a photogenic space with a ceiling carpeted by natural dried flowers, encouraging customers to live life more slowly and savour their favourite moments.True to those philosophies, Viola Flower Cafe s...

A bastion for North Indian cuisine in downtown KL, 7TNine Kitchen & Bar weaves together a rich tapestry of South Asia’s culinary heritage, capturing the heady fragrances and heartwarming flavours that have swathed this region for centuries. With a brigade commandeered by both Indian and Pakis...

Punchy beef recipes make a mark in this modern Japanese-influenced restaurant that specialises in cooked meat. For a sink-your-teeth-into-this guilty indulgence, the deep-fried wagyu MB5 cutlet steak sandwich (RM99) reminds us that we need more kitchens in KL to offer katsu sando, while sixty gra...

From Crystal to Snowy Musang King mooncakes, the Blue Danube to the Luminare, Corus Hotel Kuala Lumpur's Ming Palace is lighting up the 2019 Mid-Autumn Festival with the fresh debut of four new mooncake varieties to bring the excitement back to this sweetest of seasons. If mooncakes are your irre...

There's practically no need to leave your hotel room to sample a smorgasbord of Egyptian traditional specialities if you're staying at Cairo's Kempinski Nile Hotel Garden City. The room service selection - branded as 'In Private' - includes crisp-skinned pigeon stuffed with scented freekeh, kabab...

Hot dogs prepared by The Yard pie-and-milkshake purveyors, with hand-crafted sausages by the Beard Brothers BBQ meat specialists: Bringing both the sausages and the sizzle to the Sedap TTDI food-truck haven, this is a smokin'-hot new stop for fans of sausages with a rustic, real-meat texture, pac...

With an Isan-origin chef commanding the kitchen, Krung Thep emerges as one of KL's few Thai restaurants that blast beyond culinary cliches, serving skilled interpretations of regional specialities that will make this a popular spot in Damansara Heights' new Republik F&B enclave.For the first-...

One of Colombo's most culturally intriguing restaurants, Kaema Sutra tackles Sri Lankan classic fare in contemporary fashion: Start with locally cultivated cashews, served boiled and roasted, followed by Galle Face oceanside-inspired prawn-topped vadai, tuna fritters with a core of runny-yolked e...

Hearty hoagies are the namesake of this cheerful new venue in The Gardens Mall, with no fewer than seven varieties of the submarine sandwich on the menu. True to its Philadelphia roots, the hoagie we had to try was the Philly-Me-Up (RM19.90; signature bun with sliced Philly steak, cheese, mushroo...

Now in his late sixties, Palanisamy “Sam” Muthusamy’s love for cooking began before he was a teenager, but his path in life took him in different directions for work for many decades, from driving a cab to delivering claypots. Now, he’s where he wants to be, making meals with his wife for friends...

Hartamas' new Hawker Hall celebrates a tradition of casual eats that leaps from George Town to Gangnam, spanning Penang char koay teow to Korean fried chicken.The CKT (RM12.90), however, misses the mark, without an enduring taste of wok hei, bearing cockles that prove so tiny, they can scarcely b...

Little Pig brings big, buoyant ideas to the Klang Valley's Spanish food scene, with chef Yong Yu Khim returning to Malaysia after honing his craft in recent years at Singapore's Barcelona-inspired FOC Restaurant. True to FOC's inspiration, traditional tapas are reinterpreted with 21st-century fla...

Seafood is the best bet on Sri Lanka's Hikkaduwa beach - lunch on local oysters and live-caught crabs with the ocean breeze blowing through one of the many seaside restaurants here.

Wolfing down Wall Street's bankable bites: Drop Exchange has rallied up a reputation as a blue-chip bar with a stock market theme for its beverages, but it's also worth being bullish about the food here, a portfolio of Indian and Persian fare that pays satisfying dividends. North Indian-origin ch...

Promising some enchanted evening, Tickets Bar takes inspiration from the bright lights of Broadway and wicked ways of The West End, emerging as a cocktail bar that'll evolve like a theatre, reshaping its repertoire as often as the Gielgud might change its latest production. Dress rehearsals have ...

Text by Chee Gee Ren Photos by Aiman AzriWhat do Dato’ Fazley Yaakob, Darren Chin and Janice Siew, three luminaries in the Klang Valley’s F&B landscape, have in common? Studying at Le Cordon Bleu marked a major turning point in their professional and personal lives, helping to propel them to ...

Ranked 35th this year among Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Ministry of Crab is crustacean paradise - Sri Lankan mangrove crabs come in sizes that weigh between 500 grams and two kilograms, cooked in preparations that include Garlic Chilli, with a blend of Sri Lankan chilli flakes, Italian olive oil ...

Playte brings exciting elements to the table: The clear-eyed skills of young Malaysian chefs with something fresh to offer. The imaginative use of regional produce, from belimbing to bamboo shoots, Bario rice to Vadouvan spices, to create recipes of ambition and adventure. The conviction to showc...

Mongolia is a landlocked nation, but some of its populace still enjoy sushi - Sakura is the top spot in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, for a meal of raw fish and other traditional temptations like unagi, flown in from Japan. Put in a nod to Mongolia by ordering local beef, teppanyaki-style, washed dow...

The Grand Imperial Group's 10th outpost scores close to a perfect ten on every level: Launched this past month in a sparkling setting on Pavilion Kuala Lumpur's sixth floor, fully refurbished with a stage backed by an LED screen, this is a banquet hall for all occasions, from birthday celebration...

Le Pont Smoke & Grill Bar turns the temperature up on Old Klang Road: In its open kitchen, the culinary crew brings the burn to succulent steaks and other charcoal-grilled cuts of meat and seafood while also tending to a wood-fired oven where crisp-crusted pizzas blaze bright as the shining s...

Grounded in the passion for baking and brewing, Damansara Utama's latest cafe tackles open sandwiches piled with plenty of potential toppings, from grilled cheese (RM11; a triple threat of cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella) to fresh pumpkin puree (RM9; soft and smooth), smoked salmon with avocado ...

When a freshly married couple choose their wedding date as the name for their newborn cafe, it's clear that this is a labour of love. Ray and Amy's first F&B venture marks a daring departure from their past work on movies and TV commercials, but their behind-the-scenes experience in art direc...

Iceland is blessed with fresh bounty from both sea and land, so it's no surprise that Japanese-influenced fare has a foothold here: Sakebarinn in Reykjavik is all about sushi (such as whale) and skewers (including horse meat), downed with Saketinis.

Meet Temu, Damansara Uptown's new casual kitchen for northern Malay cooking with rustic roots, including Kedah's nasi daging air asam, aromatic rice with grilled buffalo meat and a tangy dip, rounded out with thick, textured dalca (RM24 for a serving meant for two persons), Kelantan's ayam kerutu...

Steaming-hot flat whites made creamy with oat milk, revivingly cool espressos splashed with orange juice and tonic water: White-collar workers seeking their caffeine fix in Mutiara Damansara's new Menara Nucleus can go with this Flow.Bonus trivia: Flow Coffee relies on beans roasted by Sabah's Cr...

Escape the crowds of Prague with lunch at this unassuming Czech pub: The roast duck is delicious, irresistibly juicy, served with red cabbage and potato dumplings, while the deep-fried cheese fritter with cranberry sauce represents hearty, merry fare. Wash down with green-hued beer.

Text by Chee Gee Ren Long before contemporary cafes invaded the Klang Valley, kopitiams ruled our neighbourhoods, filled with stalls that serve comforting, cherished classics. Residents still flock for familiar fare at these kopitiams, many of which remain as popular as ever, with some stalls sel...

Cheap and cheerful Japanese tendon - tempura donburi - crops up in the city centre: A basic bowl of steamed rice starts at RM4.50, with plenty of customisation possibilities. Select as many or as few ingredients as you like - this hearty, piping-hot heap of six battered toppings (fresh prawn, chi...

Billy Angel Cake Company's rainbow-coloured mille-crepe cake is heaven-sent for fans of colourfully photogenic sweet treats.

Rentak Bar brings the beat and the buzz back to Chinatown; on a recent Saturday night, this first-floor shop-house space echoed hypnotically with everything from the Modern Jazz Quartet's 1950s chilled-out instrumental Cortege to Diana Ross' disco bop The Boss, as customers sipped cinnamon-laced ...

Skewers of chicken liver, charcoal-grilled to medium instead of well-done for a burst-in-the-mouth lusciousness, accompanied by other cuts of chicken neck meat, chicken oyster meat and chicken tail meat (RM5-RM7), followed by batter-fried oysters and Japanese-sourced sweet potatoes: For fans of y...

Kitchari is one of Bangladesh's dishes to try, a mix of ghee-laden rice cooked with lentils, as comforting as it sounds, served in numerous restaurants throughout the country's county of Sonargaon.

Rice bowls, ramen and much more: Rolling out a range of Japanese-inspired favourites with fun flourishes, this friendly venue is worth visiting for donburi topped with tenderly grilled pork belly with the caramelisation of char siu, sprinkled with crunchy bits of pork lard (RM24), noodles with pl...

With a name like Umai, it's no surprise that this Sarawak-inspired restaurant's top temptation is the namesake Melanau traditional delicacy - lime-marinated raw prawns, juicy and tangy (RM6.90). You'll also find other hearty highlights that channel the spirit of Sibu, Bintulu and Kuching, includi...

One of Dhaka's best-known names for biryani, Haji Nanna offers the Bangladeshi version that's strongly seasoned with herbs and spices, intensely aromatic, complemented with choices of protein that range from chicken to goat meat.

Essere buono come il pane, le dolce vita: If the love of loaves and craving for cakes consume your food-fuelled imagination, Dough & Dolce could be your next delightful date with oven-baked destiny, winning our hearts with warm meals coupled with fresh bread in a lively setting where The Supr...

This new lounge offers an open-air, second-floor rooftop view of Bukit Bintang, in a much calmer setting that most bars in this neighbourhood. Its cocktails are basic, ranging from Long Island Iced Teas to Old Fashioneds, but on certain nights, you'll also find a smattering of African fare, from ...

As insects march toward their inevitable destiny as food of the future, Thailand's Hiso Snacks brand rallies its invertebrate troops with crisply munch-worthy silkworms and crickets - both feature earthy-gritty flavours and textures, but we prefer the plumper silkworms to the scrawnier crickets, ...

A taste of honey: City Coffee offers its own take on the Spanish cafe con miel, which is basically coffee with milk and honey (RM8.50 for 8oz). This friendly, fuss-free caffeine bar currently serves two coffees for a total of RM10, so it's worth ordering a second cup, perhaps a caffe mocha.City C...

Nasi katok is one of Brunei's most popular dishes, widely available, often costing only one Brunei dollar per plate (RM3) for a hearty helping of rice with fried chicken and sweet-savoury sambal. But if you can, search also for nasi belutak - fried rice laced with tamarind-tinged beef meat and te...

Showcasing cherished kampung classics that crisscross peninsular Malaysia, Rasadesa's cooking is fit for kings and kenduris, from Negeri Sembilan's itik salai masak lemak cili api (RM28; meaty smoked duck in spicy-milky gravy, aromatically simmered with turmeric and daun asam gelugur) to Kelantan...

Considered Brunei's national dish (but also available across Sabah and Sarawak), ambuyat might be an acquired taste, a starchy-sticky substance extracted from the pith of the sago palm's trunk. Roll the gooey ambuyat around a pair of prongs, then dunk it into a sauce that balances out its blandne...

Don Martin tries to transform dim sum from teahouse treat to pub-grub pleasure; the restaurant remains open till past midnight, so you can continue munching on shrimp siu mai (RM6.50) and century egg dumplings (RM5.50) long after sunset, washing these plump, steaming-hot snacks down with cider an...

Munich flocks to the sprawling headquarters of Europe's biggest delicatessen business for cold cuts, chocolates, cakes, cheeses and more - even if you're not buying, it's worth browsing at the three-century-old Alois Dallmayr before taking in the sights at the Marienplatz square, preferably from ...

Penang-raised restaurateur Emily Chen opened her first steakhouse in the English city of Derby in 2008; nearly a dozen years later, the KL chapter of Emily's Steakhouse promises solid steaks in the city centre, a companion venue to another recently launched outpost in George Town.Char-grilled bee...

Shopping for sweets? We've come to the right city - Bologna is a treasure trove of sugar-loving spots, including historically significant venues like Majani, which has been selling chocolates in the heart of Bologna for more than two centuries (since 1796, in fact!) ... ... and Paolo Atti, a bake...

The Sultanate specialises in a distinctive diversity of Russian and Mongolian cuisine, plus a splash of Middle Eastern fare. Traditional broths might be the ideal introduction - Solyanka is the soul-warming, spicy-sour Russian soup, robust with smoked beef sausage slices, pickled cucumbers, oliv...