Having been successful with our Google search of restaurants which led us to the delicious Soong Kee beef noodle, we were determined that we could replicate our success for another meal. This time, a search for breakfast options yielded a kedai kopi with the name Lai Foong, and specifically, two stalls in the food court. And so, armed with some small change and very hungry stomachs, we set off for two famous, but very different bowls of noodle soup.

We started with Lai Foong Beef Noodle, a long-running stand that has been operating for more than 60 years. We ordered the normal bowl, which set us back RM10 (US$2.50), a noodle soup consisting of rice noodles and all the cuts, including tendon, tripe, and muscle meat. The meat and noodles are blanched quickly first before being combined in a bowl with the soup, and topped with a sprinkling of spring onions.

The bowl was pricier than what we were used to in Penang and Ipoh, but boy was it BIG. Comparable to the size of one of our heads, it was a bigger portion than what we’d expected, but we didn’t mind it at all. The broth was strongly beefy, accompanied by a slight sourness that seemed to round off the flavour. It had the familiar slippery rice noodles that slurp up so easily, making it for unexpectedly easy eats.

Furthermore, all of the meat was deliciously tender, lacking the chew you’d normally fight with a badly-cooked piece of tripe. The meat wasn’t melty, but it gave way to a bite with little effort. Mmm. It was hearty, and made for a great breakfast to start the day.

Of course, a breakfast for two meals two dishes. Lai Foong’s lala noodle stand easily rivals the beef noodles in its popularity – and its size. At only RM11 (US$2.75), the bowl was easily as large as the beef noodles, filled to the brim with rice vermicelli, clams, and piping hot broth. The lala noodles require a little more patience as portions are cooked to order. In the morning the clams are cleaned, and as the hungry customers flood in the clams are cooked with ginger before being served with the noodles and broth.

We had no idea what to expect, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It was steaming hot and also warming and spicy, from a combination of the cooking alcohol, ginger, and what seems to be a little bit of chilli in the broth.

The soup had the flavour of the sea – a combination of perfectly salty and a slight bitterness that you’d find with oysters or mussels, though not off-putting at all. Contrary to our expectations, the ginger was not overwhelmingly fragrant, balancing the flavour of the shellfish and the richness of the alcohol nicely. Unexpectedly the noodles carried the broth well, despite the thinness of both. Part of it was due to the strong fragrance of the dish, which definitely aided the flavour.

Perhaps disappointingly, many of the clams didn’t open during cooking. We pried a few anyway, and most flopped open without too much stress. There were no digestive repercussions, so we suppose it was fine to have done so.

Both dishes were so large that by the end, we were fighting to feed each other the last scraps of protein. Surprisingly rich, both make for a very hearty breakfast that are sure to keep you going for the rest of your day sightseeing! We didn’t have the opportunity to try the other stalls, but all of them seem very popular. So if you have a chance to visit, we definitely recommend trying any that seem deliicious

Kedai Kopi Lai Foong
138, Jalan Tun H S Lee, City Centre, 50050 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mon-Sun 6.30am-9.30pm (individual stalls have independent opening hours)