Kuala Lumpur Day 2

The cooking class from this trip is through New Malaysian Kitchen. The cooking class took place at a house outside the city center. I was aware of this, but I misread the directions and was waiting at the wrong station. Based on the previous cooking class, I was expecting the pick up location to be near the city center.... I guess this is a new type of class run by an individual rather than by a company. Because of that, I was late by more than one hour but the chef still let me cook all 4 dishes and a drink (when I booked the class, I chose 4 dishes from the list).


The house had a nice size garden and her family grows a variety of herbs.

Welcome amuse bouche. Nicely acidic with rice vinegar. 

Also, she served a tea made with the flower (shown behind the tea) from the garden. The photo doesn't show it unfortunately, but it's a nice blue drink. I've seen purplish drinks but this was really blue and no artificial color added.

Now the cooking class began. The class was very informative. She started to explain Belacan, which is a key ingredient to many of Malaysian foods. Belacan is fermented shrimp. Shrimp paste is used in most southeast Asian countries with different names. But it seems shrimp paste is more popular in Malaysia. Original shrimp paste is quite stinky, so it's fried to reduce the stickiness and increase umami. In addition, the product below is dried - the chef recommended this type because it's easy to use and also keeps for long time. I was planning to buy a few to bring back home but I forgot.... I hope I can find it at the local Asian Market.

The chef gave me options to grind ingredients, either by food processor or mortar & pestle. Of course I asked more more traditional method, which is mortar & pestle although it takes longer. She told me this particular mortar & pestle is made from stone and it's not made anymore.

This is my most favorite dish of the 4, Kerabu Okra. The topping is the ground belacan, chili and other seasonings along with shallot. We made two versions, cooked and uncooked. I thought I would like the cooked version because of the cooked shallots and more cohesive flavors. But surprisingly, I much prefer the uncooked toppings because of the freshness.

Another interesting dish is the dessert, sweet potato and coconut balls. The ball is made with rice flour so that this is gluten free. I don't care if my foods are gluten free or not. But many Asian dishes are naturally gluten free.

Here are the 4 dishes and a drink (Teh Tarik) I made. The other 2 dishes included Chicken Rendang (stewed chicken) and Char Koay Teow (Stir fried noodle). They are both very popular dishes in Malaysia. Beef Rendang is better known but it wasn't on the list, unfortunately. Teh Tarik is a black tea mixed with condensed milk.

The seasoning and flavors are more modest compared to the neighboring countries, such as Thailand, India and Indonesia. Normally the seasoning tend to be heavy in the tropical to sub tropical area because of the heat. I would have liked a bit more kick while I'm in such hot and humid place, though.

I'm flying to Singapore tomorrow. Using the 10 hours of layover, I'm going to join another food tasting tour.

Kuala Lumpur Day 1

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from Malaysia. Unlike the neighboring countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, Malaysian foods are not as distinctive. Malaysian cuisine consists mostly of Malay, Indian and Chinese foods. Malay foods are supposed to be indigenous to Malaysia and Indonesia, but it seems that the Indonesian versions of Malay foods have stronger flavor. Aside from food, much of the tourism in Malaysia depends upon beach resorts, which I am not into. So Malaysia has never been on the top of my list. But I decided to give it a shot because I found a good airfare.

Via Singapore, I arrived at Kuala Lumpur a little bit after noon. It's hot and humid... traveling between the airport and hotel, I'm already soaked in sweat. As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I took a shower and rested a bit. Then, I left the hotel for a street food tasting tour. It's early evening but still very hot...

The tour was just for me. From the meeting point, we headed to the famous street for street foods, called Alor Street. The street was getting packed. First I thought I smelled rotten veggies but I soon realized that's the smell of durian....

This is Malaysian bacon (left) and sheeted meat (right). Sweet and salty but more sweet. 

Fried jackfruit - It's somewhat like fried banana. But this is definitely jackfruit. 

Karipap - Curry Empanada

It looks identical to a South American empanada. The texture of the dough was exactly like an empanada. But the filling is made with curry powder based seasoning. It does taste more Asian.

Nasi Lemak - One of the national dishes in Malaysia

This is the simplest version of Nasi Lemak without any protein. Some of the lemaks come with chicken, dried fish, peanuts, etc. The rice is cooked with coconut milk and the sauce on top of the rice is sambal. I asked for spicy sambal but it wasn't that spicy compared to Thai and Indonesian hot sauces.




Almost every country in Southeast Asia has satay. Malaysian satay seems a little sweeter. The guide advised me that I should eat all the pieces of meat on the skewer in one bite (instead of eating piece by piece)

This is a Malaysian style lemonade. There are two types of lemon in Malaysia, key lime and calamansi. Calamansi is a lot less acidic than key lime and this juice is made with calamansi. I saw calamansi a lot in Vietnam. 

The last stop of the tour is at an Indian open air restaurant. This is roti served with dal and sambal. Most Indians living in Malaysia are Tamil from South India. However, the spice level is not even close to that of South India... The Sambal was more sweet than spicy.

Malaysia consists of different ethnicities, Malay, Indian and Chinese, and different religions, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian. It is amazing that such different people coexist in a country without any major conflicts. The guide told me that Malaysians respect people from different backgrounds and I did see that. People are very kind and polite. The foods represents their melting-pot culture. There's no distinctively unique flavor/style in Malaysian cuisine but a mixed culture created dishes to accommodate all the nations.

Bulgaria - Day 3 (Sofia)

Since I came back to Sofia late last night, I had a slow start to the day. After a lazy morning, I headed to a market tour that I booked. When I went to the meeting point, the guide was confirming the number of guests and calling a few eateries to make an appointment. That sounds promising that I get to eat at more than one place (unlike the breakfast tour that I joined two days ago, with just one food stop....). 

The first stop is Skara Bar. Casual modern restaurant.

Here, I had kyufte. Very flavorful. Unlike kefta that I had in Morocco, which includes onion and herbs, it seems to be made with just meat (The waiter told me that it's beef and pork). They must have mixed the meats really well because it had very homogenized texture.

Next, we stopped by Supa Star. Supa means soup and that's the specialty of this casual restaurant. They serve 4-5 different soups every day. It's funny that I was thinking about coming to this eatery before the the tour. I thought this could be the perfect place for a light snack. I just didn't have enough time. I'm so glad that I didn't....

Besides, the soup that the guide chose is the one I wanted to have, which is tarator, cold yogurt soup with cucumber and dill. It wasn't as tangy as I thought. Very light and refreshing.

This is the first market that we stopped, called Central Market Hall. Although this is supposed to be a "Market" tour, we didn't really spend much time there. Just walked through because a half of the vendors were closed.

Here's the second market. It's outdoors and pretty big, called the Women's Market. From its name, I was expecting a market for women's clothing or accessories. It is more like farmer's market, in fact.

The last stop is Hadjidrabanov's Houses. As soon as I saw this unique name of the restaurant, I realized this is a sister restaurant of the one I went to on the first day. The decor of the restaurant was very similar.

Welcomed by a soda made with elder flower syrup. 

Panagyurski egg with yogurt and white cheese

This is the only restaurant that I booked before arriving in Bulgaria. The restaurant is called Cosmos. It's a good blend of high-end and hip place. I chose a tasting menu - 6 courses (Approximately US$45) with wine pairing (additional US$31-ish). I'm sure this is considered as pretty expensive for locals.

The first drink wasn't a wine but a bloody mary. But this is made with Rakija, a type of brandy made in Balkan regions. Unlike a regular bloody mary made with vodka, which is pretty clean, it was adding some unfamiliar flavor. It was very unique. I liked it a lot.

Tomato salad

Trout - Nice and crispy skin.  Because the fillet was pretty thin, it was a bit dry. 

Duck heart and tongue -  The flesh of the duck was cooked to perfection. However, the skin was not rendered well so that it was very chewy.

Beef cheek was on the dry side and didn't have much flavor. However, all the sides and sauces were very tasty. By eating them together, it made sense.

Aronia Sorbet with mint foam. (Aronia is a type of berries)

Cheese mouse with layers of crispy thin dough. I guess this is their version of napoleon?



The foods are very sophisticated. However, the execution is not quite there yet. The quality of the waiter who took care of the table was a bit questionable. But everyone else was reasonably nice so that I believe I was just being unlucky. Based on the wine price that I saw from the wine tasting tour yesterday in Plovdiv, the wine price in Bulgaria is very reasonable from US$5-15. The wine pairing seems a bit too expensive but their selection was excellent (all local wines)


For sure, Sofia is the grumpiest city I have ever been to. I'm so glad that I went to Plovdiv yesterday. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had many good memories from this trip. This is one of the ex-communist countries. I'm sure the history has a lot to do with the culture of the country. Nonetheless, I would say I've had a valuable experience from this trip.

Bulgaria - Day 2 (Plovdiv)

Before getting on the bus at 8:00 am, I went down to get the breakfast at the hotel. Many vegetables with 7-8 kinds of olives. Despite the variety, there are only two kinds of cheese, yellow and white. Since cheese is a major ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine, I was expecting a bunch of different types of cheeses. The white cheese is like feta and the yellow cheese is like a very mild cheddar cheese. Less salty than cheddar, though.

Also, there weren't that many yogurts. The picture below is plain yogurt with fig jam. Compared to Greek yogurt (I'm not sure if so-called-Greek-yogurt is consumed in Greece or not, though), it contains more water and is not as smooth. I also see the strained version, which resembles Greek yogurt. Bulgarian yogurt is slightly tangier than Greek yogurt.

After breakfast, I left from the central bus station for Plovdiv, which is just 2 hours away. It was pretty foggy so that I couldn't see much from the window. But it seems there wasn't much to see, anyway.

I reserved a wine tasting tour from Bulgaria Wine Tour. There are several wine regions in Bulgaria but this tour takes me to the Thracian Lowland, which is Southern Bulgaria. This tour company is owned by the tour guide and his wife. Our guide has studied in the US and Sweden so he has a certain Western hospitality. Very nice and sincere person.

Wine making once was a major state-run industry in Bulgaria but it declined as Communism collapsed in the late 80s. Because of communism, the wine was mostly mass produced basic quality wine. However in recent years, wine production has re-emerged with better quality.

The first stop is Villa Yustina. The owner of the winery also owns a stainless steel tank business. Therefore, many of their wines are aged in stainless steel tanks (whether partially or entirely).

The sommelier of the winery showed us around. The winery offers monthly wine pairing events with different type of food options.

I tasted 5 kinds of wines. The tasting was accompanied by white/yellow cheeses and salami. The most unique grape varietal in Bulgaria is Mavrud, which is tannic and spicy. This grape is originated from Bulgaria. The grape is pretty dark (Mavro in Greek means "black") thus the wine is pretty dark in color. I tasted an interesting Mavrud / Rubin blend.

The second stop is Todoroff Wine Cellar. Also, the winery owns a restaurant and we decided to have a lunch before wine tasting. The menu is pre-fix with 4 options for each course.

Snezhanka (Similar to Tzatziki but it's much thicker)

Ruska salata - Potato Salad

Grilled trout - very clean taste

Pork dish

It's called Chocolate souffle but it was molten lava cake actually. 

A sort of bread pudding

After the lunch, the winery gave me a tour followed by tastings of 5 wines, including Mavrud, along with a Muscat / Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon / Shiraz Rose, and two Cabernert Sauvignon variants.

Very nice looking tasting room

After visiting two wineries, the guide gave a short walking city tour of Plovidiv. In Sofia yesterday, I saw quite a few ruins in the city. But Plovidiv is even more unique. They keep discovering more ruins after the commercial facilities are built. This ruin is found in the basement of a shopping mall.

This amphitheater is located right next to a school. It's very funny to find something like this in the middle of the city.

I was lucky to be in the city of Plovidiv in the week of the Bulgarian version of Beaujolais Nouveau. More than 40 wineries in the region brought their new wines and displayed them in booths at various locations, such as private homes and churches. It seems that it's ok to drink in public in Bulgaria. Also, I found many liquor stores are open 24 hours everyday. The guide told me the legal drinking age is 18 years but even that is not very strict in Bulgaria. The guide got me tokens (8 tastings). That was more than enough after visiting 2 wineries.

The wine event was not a part of the tour. So, now we are at the last stop, a wine bar operated by the Bendida winery. Since it's a very small bar, we sat outside. It was pretty chilly but felt very cozy with a blanket. Another selection of 5 wines accompanied by snacks were served here. Again, a wine from the Mavrud grape was served.

All the wines were much better than what I expected. Many wines are a little more tannic and pretty bold for European wines.

Also, I did enjoy the city of Plovdiv a lot more than Sofia because the people are more laid back. Still, the people are not super friendly but they seemed to smile a bit more. I'm glad to know that not all Bulgarians are grumpy.

Bulgaria - Day 1 (Sofia)

Bulgaria is not particularly known as a foodie city, nor as a tourist destination. I had some Bulgarian foods when I visited Chicago and I loved them. Since then, I have always wanted to visit Bulgaria. The uniqueness of Bulgarian cuisine was the use of dairy ingredients, specifically yogurt.

I arrived at Sofia late last night. I have heard that Bulgarians are not known as the friendliest people. Although I was ready for some sort of grumpy people, I was still surprised by the very unfriendly staff at the currency exchange and taxi dispatcher. I was hoping that this would be the worst point of the trip....

The morning started with a breakfast tour. I was expecting to stop by at several places to try different breakfast items. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a city walking guide tour with just one stop for breakfast. The name of the tour is misleading..

Nonetheless, we stopped for banitsa, which is a savory pastry with layers of eggs and cheese between filo dough. The guide told me that Bulgaria's specialty is pastry. As he told me, I saw quite a few pastry shops. This banitsa is freshly prepared and very filling. It's about the size of a quarter of a medium size pizza.

The guide also brought two drinks. The first one is airan, which is a drink made with yogurt and a hint of salt. Not sweet at all. Very well known drink in Turkey.

This drink is called boza. It is fermented wheat drink, which contain small amount (less than 1%) of alcohol. It's salty, sweet and sour, which confuses my taste buds. Very much an acquired taste.... It tasted a little soy saucy, though.

Dinner is at the restaurant recommended by the guide. Even the guide found it difficult to say the name of the restaurant, Hadjidraganov's Izbi. It's just off the main shopping street, Vitosha Boulevard. Although this street is considered the most touristy area, the guide mentioned the food is great.

There are several appetizers that I wanted to try while I'm in Bulgaria. Luckily, I found a platter including most of them. The center is Shopska, which is "THE" salad in Bulgaria. Just tomato, cucumber and cheese. Three dips include Kyopulu (eggplant) and Snezhanka (yogurt & cucumber). Kyopulu is Bulgarian version of babaganoush without tahini. Snezhanka is pretty much like tzatziki. The only difference is the yogurt is much thicker than that of tzatziki.

The bread that came with the appetizer platter is a whole loaf... Very fluffy. Wish it had a bit more salt, though.

This is not a great picture. Pork platter for two, Kyufte on right (seasoned ground meat shaped around the stick) and Kebapche on left (pork kebab). Pork is the most consumed meat in Bulgaria. The platter came with sausages. The seasoning is on the light side. I had to sprinkle additional salt or "rainbow" salt on the table, which is a mixture of different spices and salt. I tasted cumin for sure. Later I found this is called Sharena sol. 

 Yogurt made from Buffalo milk, topped with walnut and drizzle of honey. Very thick.

Creme brulee. Compared to French creme brulee, it seems thickened by some sort of starch


I rarely saw smiling faces, even between locals. I never heard anyone laughing throughout the day. I've read in some articles that Bulgarians get grumpier as it gets colder. It was a pretty cold day. I'm going to Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria, tomorrow. Usually people in a smaller city are more laid back. I hope tomorrow is a bit more uplifting.