Kuala Lumpur is home to a few night markets. Some, like the famed Jalan Alor, are open every day, whereas many smaller, local night markets operate once a week on alternating nights, with some of its vendors following the rotation as it spans the city.

Due to our vicinity to its location, we decided to visit Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR) night market, which runs weekly on Saturdays. The stretch of stalls is distinguishable by its bright yellow canvas roofs, starting from the little alley between Harrison’s and the Campbell Complex and spanning several hundred metres down much of Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Expectedly, such a long stretch allows for a huge number of stalls, and an incredible number of them too.

Jalan TAR offers both things to eat and items for sale, such as clothes and household items. Not surprisingly, we went for the food, which they provided in swathes. Covering everything from snacks and meals to drinks and sweets, there were all kinds of cuisines too, such as Chinese, Indian, Malay, and Western food as well.

Possibly to our luck, the Saturday that we visited was a little drizzly, so the crowd thinned out a bit and was reduced to predominantly shoppers with umbrellas. We decided to forego meals for the snacks on offer, which would otherwise have been difficult to source in such a condensed area, starting on the south side of the market and heading in a generally northward direction.

Murtabak – WKAA Martabak Mini

Right near the entrance of the southern side of the night market was a stall that had built itself quite the queue, and for good reason. Unlike many stalls whose food is pre-cooked, ready to be packaged and sold, this stall was making single portions of murtabak fresh to order.

A classic dish found in Malaysia derived from Arabic roots, murtabak is comprised of a thin crepe wrapped around eggs beaten with onions and other seasonings and shallow-fried to golden-brown perfection.

At only RM1 (US$0.25), there was no way we would pass one up, even if it meant a 20-minute wait. The little package was so fragrant of spices and onions, and while the skin wasn’t incredibly crisp as we’d imagined, it was tender. The egg was still soft in texture, filled with onions and very flavourful. Perhaps it needed a little more salt, but there was little else to gripe about when you’ve got freshly cooked murtabak.

Skewers in Sauce

Forgive the ambiguous name, as many stalls in the market aren’t labelled so clearly. This stall was distinguishable by huge platters of skewers drenched in a red sauce. Nibbles such as sausages, prawns, and fishballs, were all waiting on sticks going for RM1 each. You select the skewers and put them in a bag to be topped off with more red sauce.

We went with a skewer of three seafood balls, which we unfortunately cannot recall if it had been crab or prawn. The sauce wasn’t spicy at all, but instead sweet, a little sour, and a little savoury, akin to the sauce of Korean ddeokbokki rice cakes, or like a mild, homogenous sweet chilli sauce. They were moreish, and a total steal for their price. Getting 10 more would have been a no-brainer, but there was still the whole night market to explore!

Lekor – Fried Fish Cakes

Fish paste snacks, as foreign as they may sound, are commonly found all throughout Asia and in many different forms. Unlike the more-familiar fishballs, lekor is a fishcake that is firmer in texture and deep-fried in several styles. Several stalls all throughout the night market offer these fishcakes, at generally similar prices. The one we stopped at allowed us to pick 8 pieces for RM2 (US$0.50).

The keping, another word for the thin form of lekor, had a nice solid crunch. Thicker slices or some of the centre slices can unfortunately yield a tough, chewy texture. The other pieces on offer were either sliced in tubes or on the diagonal, both of which had a similar firm chewiness.

The lekor was savoury from the fish without being unpleasantly fishy, with a little sweetness and saltiness from the seasoning. We were also given a packet of red sauce for dipping, which was sweet and savoury, much like the sauce of the skewers we’d tried just before. Noms preferred the thin, crunchy keping, whereas Jos was a little more particular to the chewy lekor. Both of us loved the sauce.

Gula Melaka Doughnuts

This one piqued our interest as a food item that only appeared once throughout the whole night market. Five hefty doughnuts were sold for only RM3 (US$0.75). Gula melaka, otherwise known as palm sugar, has a rich molasses-like flavour that was present in the dense doughnuts.

Its surface was crunchy from the crystallised sugar, and its centre was dense, but not at all mushy. It was not as sweet as we’d expected, balanced from the complex flavour of the palm sugar and the flavour of the sweet potato that we later learned that the doughnut had been made from.

The doughnuts were a surprisingly good pick, and a recommended choice if you’re looking to experience a common Malaysian flavour without venturing too far into the unknown.

Popiah

Popiah is another Chinese-influenced dish, and is comprised of a mix of vegetables and crushed nuts wrapped in a thin flour crepe. The stall near the north end of the market offered both soft and fried versions at RM6 (US$1.50) for 4 pieces, though they let us have one of each for a total of RM3.

The filling is mostly of cooked vegetables, though is a little sweet from seasoning and nutty from, well, the crushed peanuts. The fried popiah had a very solid crunch, perhaps a little too hard from having sat out for who really knows how long.

The soft one was a little doughy – the ratio of skin to filling for both was a little uneven, but the flavour made up for it. They were topped off with the ever-present red sauce, which again lent that delicious sweetness. While not the best popiah around, it was a good price, and still enjoyable nonetheless.

Mango Susu

Translating to mango milk, this refreshing beverage is made by blending fresh mango with condensed milk and ice. This particular stall also added a touch of syrup and some mango flavouring, which we weren’t against – it boosted the mango flavour, making a drink that was creamy and sweet and very easy to drink. Perhaps a little too easy. This was downed in an embarrassingly short time for two people who really weren’t that hungry at all by the end.

Some might turn their nose at the addition of sugar and flavour, but a drink at that size for only RM5 (US$1.25) is really nothing to complain about. It was also topped with a spoonful of fresh chopped mango, making this much more of a full-on dessert course than a drink to accompany your dinner.

Jalan TAR night market was a great experience, both for the food and for the atmosphere. There was nothing in our choices that we couldn’t recommend, and a huge selection of other food which all looked so good. We couldn’t even begin to cover the kuih or the char kuey tiao, to name even just a couple. It’s a good alternative to the tourist-y Jalan Alor, so if you have a Saturday evening free in Kuala Lumpur, it’s most definitely worth a visit!

Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman Night Market
Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman
Saturdays only 5pm-10pm