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Da Bao is the da bomb: This is the modern mantou maker we've been waiting for in KL, stuffing steamed buns with beautiful ensembles of intriguing ingredients, yielding sumptuously rich, satisfyingly nuanced Asian flavours. Each bao is fully loaded enough to be a meal on its own (RM15 each). The s...

Coffee that's crafted with real hands-on effort, affordably starting from RM4 for an Americano, with cool Asian-flavoured iced coffee beverages also in the mix: Daily Potion is ready to cause a caffeine commotion at its neighbourhoods in Bangsar, Bandar Sunway and Shah Alam. Step in for a glimpse...

A comfortable hideout for a healthy bowl - grilled chicken cooked with hints of yogurt and curry spices, rounded out with brown rice, alfalfa sprouts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, chickpeas and cherry tomatoes, splashed with roasted sesame sauce, for a lun...

Dal.komm Coffee dials up the decadence with this New Year's trendiest beverage, the Golden Salted Egg Lava Shake, plus other lit, limited-edition drinks and desserts dedicated to salted egg.These rich, creamy signature creations make for an irresistible treat that's well worth celebrating - a mus...

Hidden like a secret Zen garden, the newest outpost of Farmer's Bar could be the Klang Valley's most beautiful craft beer bar. Tucked within Subang Parade, this is a soothing, spacious retreat that feels like it's in a lush park instead of a mall.It's easy to imagine enjoying the evening here, pe...

Taman Desa's new playground for pastries is a promising place with plenty of pleasant treats, cool corners and warm service.Even for those of us who typically wade away from tuna sandwiches, Kews Patisserie's is tasty, not too fishy but well-balanced with briny flavours from the sea and crisp veg...

Transformed into an Opulent Garden for this Lunar New Year, 163 Retail Park and its restaurants promise a splendid selection of celebratory specialities, from char siu yee sang to poon choy and even bak kwa pizza. Usher in the festive season with exciting menus at these eateries in Mont Kiara's h...

Mishkak is one of Oman's favourite street snacks - barbecued lamb, richly seasoned, tenderly cubed, consumed on its own or folded in flatbread with tomatoes and lettuce.

Hartamas' latest hangout for Thai fare feels very much part of this neighbourhood already; its nicely conceived interior with easy-on-the-eyes flourishes is a magnet for customers.Of the food we ordered, our favourite is the Cameron Highlands sweet corn salad, its chilled sweetness balanced by cr...

With the 'H' standing for Healthy, The H. Temptation was born of the efforts of two sisters who sought to prepare wholesome meals for their ill father. That dedication permeates this cafe's menu, resulting in not-too-sinful indulgences like Nasi X Lemak Fried Rice (RM22; brown rice with coconut o...

One of Oman's most respected traditional restaurants, Bait Al Luban is our best bet in the capital city, Muscat, for a meal of shuwa, a classic celebratory dish of goat marinated in a spiced date paste and roasted in an underground firepit for over six hours, for robust chunks of gamy, fleshy mea...

Chef Norikazu Shibata's genuine joy in his work makes Sushi Kazu an experience that KL's omakase enthusiasts will savour. Chef Shibata has been working with sushi since he was 16, wielding nearly four decades of professional wisdom that informs each slice of his blade and stroke of his nikiri br...

Queen Beans Cafe begins its reign in Cheras with crowd-pleasing cheesecakes and chocolate cakes, fresh and indulgently creamy enough to merit the calories. Wash down with rose-tinged beverages, fizzy or caffeinated.Queen Beans Cafe127 Block P/A, Taman Yulek, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. Daily, 12pm-10pm.

Eco Wine's kitchen takes customers on a tour of East Asia - start with the Hong Kong-inspired, Stephen Chow-loving three-egg rice, soft, slick and sweet with soy sauce and sausages (RM11.90), then spice things up with Thailand's Mama instant noodles, heartily portioned with plenty of tender chick...

Kitchen Vibe Bistro could be Vientiane's best bet for contemporary Laotian cuisine, showcasing everything from frog legs to duck hearts, super-spicy beef tenderloin laab to wild-caught chitala fish balls stewed with pork fat. End with an elegant iced bua-loi, brimming with sweet potato, taro and ...

Jonesing for East Asian comfort fare? Jen Cafe's Shanghai-inspired noodles is slicked up with scallion oil for slurp-worthy comfort in a bowl, rounded out with a fried egg and bok choy (RM10), while its mantou comes stuffed with a warm folded omelette, melted cheese and fluffy chicken floss for a...

Promising 'Malay banana leaf' rice, Ayam Kampung Uptown puts a traditional Nusantara village twist to the South Indian staple, drenching its Set Daun Pisang with kuah masak lemak, kari ayam and Padang-style kalio rendang, complete with acar and tempeh (RM6). The ensemble tastes unmistakably more ...

Ka-Tib-Khao could be Vientiane's perfect place for a porcine lunch - minced pork cooked with fish sauce and Lao herbs in banana leaf, pork jerky soup, and pork sausage wraps, washed down with the country's own Beerlao.

This florist's studio, hidden on the fourth floor of a shop-lot, is also a dessert-and-coffee parlour by reservations only, run by the friendly duo of Daniel and Justin. It's worth the effort to text Flos Cafe to make a booking for freshly baked, freshly brewed fare.Limited servings are available...

Roti & Kopi House roars into Damansara Uptown with modernised locally inspired specialities like the Roti Tiger (RM9.90; house-baked panini-style toast, crispy-creamy with butter and kaya, plus cheese and roasted almond bits, like eating bread with an apam balik stuffing) and the Kopi Harimau...

On a sweltering afternoon in Vientiane, seek relief at Haute & Cold, with locally inspired gelato and sorbet flavours like cempedak or ginger chestnut, plus gelato-blended cocktails.

Helmed by a founder from the former Hezhou, known as 'the little Mecca of China,' He Zhou serves Chinese Muslim recipes that showcase centuries of culture and heritage, making this an intriguingly distinctive destination for dining in KL that marries Chinese and Islamic inspirations.He Zhou is th...

A cafe that specialises in pineapple tarts, with inspirations from both Mom and Taiwan? Count us in: Baker Dave pays homage to his mother's recipe, which he recalls helping to meticulously prepare at the age of nine, now transformed at his eatery into Taiwanese-influenced square-shaped pineapple ...

Slovenian char fillet, trout consomme and tolminc cheese make for a fine lunch at Bled town's Vila Preseren (an elderflower-flavoured Hugo cocktail by the side won't hurt), the prelude to exploring Predjama Castle (a Renaissance-style structure built against a cliff-side) and Postojna Cave (24 ki...

True to its name, Toss N Curry spices up its menu with fusion fun: Curry laksa comes with spaghetti instead of conventional kopitiam noodles, heaped with princely prawns (RM18.90), while burgers are stuffed with thick, fairly tender slices of chicken tikka for a roasted Indian twist (RM20.90). Se...

Havana Dining has serious Cuban credentials: This restaurant on the rooftop of NU Sentral launched on Nov. 16 this past year, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Cuban capital's founding, in a ceremony officiated by the Cuban ambassador to Malaysia.Its menu, however, takes equal inspiratio...

True to its name, this bar serves plenty of whisky and wine, but since everything's sold only by the bottle so far, casual drinkers seeking only a glass or two have to choose beer.Tokyo Whisky & Wine BarPJ Midtown, Jalan Kemajuan, Section 13, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Open Mon-Sat, 4pm-1am.

Encircled by the Carpathian Mountains, Romania's Transylvanian city of Brasov is a beauty of baroque buildings and cobbled courtyards, with intriguingly atmospheric restaurants like Sergiana, which serves traditional Transylvanian specialities such as pork pot roast with chicken liver, smoked sau...

Patisserie Royale's plated desserts seem fit for a queen, elegantly elaborate, decadent in their flavours and sumptuous in texture. The selection of French-style gateaux includes a take on the St. Honore cake, a choux pastry puff made luscious with whipped salted caramel (RM23), a Mont Blanc of m...

TTDI's sleek new Japanese restaurant promises plenty of polish from start to finish. Whet your appetite with umami-spiked kanpachi carpaccio, lusciously sliced (RM48), and karashi mentaiko, a punchy way to savour pure, solid pollock roe (RM38), then sample yakimono specialities like salt-seasoned...

Fans of top-flight cafe fare should move fast to Slow Coffee, which pours plenty of confident culinary effort into its food. Open-face sourdough sandwiches come layered with beetroot-flavoured hummus, avocado, ricotta, parmesan crisps and sun-dried tomatoes for bright, vibrant flavours and rich, ...

With 70 types of thosai recipes in its repertoire, Thosai Cafe totally lives up to its name, masterminded by a mix of friends from both Malaysia and India, specifically Bangalore. Try the Paneer Mysore Masala Thosai, flavourfully packed with housemade cottage cheese, potato masala, freshly grated...

OUG's new Korean restaurant on the block promises porcine fusion playfulness: Crisp-crusted, cheesy-creamy pizzas come coated in mildly tangy slices of kimchi, showered with pork lard croutons for a hog-loving crunch (RM19), while ramyun is served with siew yuk for steaming-hot satisfaction (RM21...

Not many people have their dreams haunted by gourd and goat meat. But when Yogesh Upadhyay tosses and turns in bed, his wife, Natasha Ng, hears him sleep-talking, mumbling about recipes struggling to break free from his subconscious. Some of those recipes might even make it to the menu of FLOUR, ...

Dedicated to Bulgarian cuisine and culture, Moma is beautifully outfitted with artwork that pays tribute to the people and handicraft of this country. Dinner here in the capital, Sofia, might consist of butter-roasted duck hearts, fried nettle fritters, and the piece de resistance of oven-baked s...

For those of us bringing home a feast for 2019's year-end festive season, French Feast's offerings throughout Christmas and the New Year are well worthwhile: A five-kilogram turducken, deboned and wrapped in bacon, tender and meaty; porchetta prepared with garlic and rosemary, complete with ultra...

Seafood carpaccio with cured egg yolk flakes; pork knuckle meat with sage; duck hearts with crispy chicken skin; halibut with kohlrabi; king crab with chanterelles; cauliflower with almonds; carrots with pistachios; and honeyed plum flan to cap the meal - with food that's this good, we're absolut...

It's 8pm on a bustling Wednesday night, and plates of pasta are flying out of a'Roma Dinings' kitchen, as customers look forward to their orders of bucatini with slow-braised pork cheeks, tagliolini with potatoes and pine nuts, and ravioli with lamb ragu. Beside the counter, restaurant founder K...

Evolving into an enticing restaurant with far-reaching Japanese inspirations, Humble Nana now explores everything from yummy yakitori to soulful seafood, rice bowls to ramen, with a few fun surprises on this voyage. Here's a look at what to hanker for at Humble Nana, plus a peek at its Holiday Me...

With Carrie Underwood and Chris Stapleton playing on the speakers, The Texas BBQ is hankering to bring a cowboy-friendly slice of the Lone Star State to KL, with smoker-to-table servings of brisket, ribs and more, meant to make y'all come back now.The marquee attraction is the beef brisket (RM19 ...

Trois does three things pretty well - coffee (with almond milk as a non-dairy alternative), alcohol (the house Shiraz starts at RM15 per glass, while Mojitos come in variations of fresh fruits like grapefruit, with sugar choices that span caster to brown or honey) and snacks (the truffle fries ar...

When we first visited Dou in November 2018, its eclectic menu featured everything from risotto with foie gras to yakiniku-style pork tongue. Fast-forward one year later, and Dou is now a pure pizzeria.Dou's wood-fired selection is temptingly topped with everything from Russian-inspired kolbasa sa...

KL-based pasta makers Bella & Luca now have their own cafe, after starting out six years ago as a home-based business that marketed fresh ravioli, hand-cut pappardelle, capsicum-infused fettuccine and more to restaurants and supermarkets.Tucked inside Bangsar's Tivoli Villas, Bella & Luca...

If KL’s Chinatown could conjure a bar into existence, Jann might be the result, marinated in reverence for this neighbourhood’s heritage. This new cocktail parlour in Four Points by Sheraton Kuala Lumpur soars over the streets, but it’s built on a bedrock that’s grounded on generations of tradesp...

Check out our video below on celebrating Christmas at Sunway Velocity Mall!

Coffee fans who find themselves in Brunei should check out Kofe Bar, a caffeine bar that takes its work seriously while also coming up with contemporary concoctions like a Ketocreme latte with almond milk and an iced shaken espresso with avocado crema.

For nearly four years now, Quartet has reigned as NU Sentral's reliable bet for grab-and-go coffee and meals. Whether they're shopping in this mall, shuffling off to work near Brickfields or shuttling toward their next train in KL Sentral, customers keep returning to this concourse-level cafe whe...

Step aside, Willy Wonka: Malaysia now has its own chocolate factory that'll take children and cacao lovers of all ages on tantalising tours, bringing you on a voyage from bean to bar, tracing how chocolate makes its way from cocoa farms to dessert shops.This enjoyably educational exploration is h...

One of Bandar Seri Begawan's best-known cafes, Piccolo is popular for its playful pleasures - fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes are served savoury as well as sweet, layered with chicken ham and bechamel sauce in a twist on croque monsieur, while lattes emerge in flavours like onde-onde, spiked wit...

Make your day with this friendly alfresco cafe's Malaccan-influenced specialities, creatively cooked by a chef of Kristang Straits-Portuguese heritage. Devil's curry chicken finds its way into a fulfilling sandwich layered not only with galangal-spiced chicken but Japanese-style tamagoyaki rolled...