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Being born in the city known for its pretty girls and delicious hard-water bean sprouts, food in big cities like Kuala Lumpur never impresses me. I was brought up believing food in Kuala Lumpur is too focused on commercialisation, thus sacrificing the fine important flavors that distinguish the many coffee shops that serve the same main dishes.

In a small city like Ipoh, it is not a surprise that many cooks have tried to imitate the Claypot Chicken Rice from K10 in Bercham but have failed miserably when it came to attracting the crowds to their coffee shops. People here are willing to wait for 30 minutes for their Chicken Rice to arrive than having a quicker alternative at their competitor’s coffee shop.

Madam Kwan’s at KLCC have always been the talk in my family as the best Nyonya food you could get in Kuala Lumpur - sometimes the rest of Malaysia. Though it may not be the most economical option to go for lunch there everyday, it is definitely worth the money if food quality is in your demand list.

Madam Kwan at KLCC

Madam Kwan is located at the highest floor of the Suria KLCC Shopping Centre, at the same level of Petrosains and alongside with other Asian dining cuisines. My family and I had a late lunch then due to the sudden thunderstorm. At 2:30pm, Madam Kwan was pretty packed, though there were still some available tables. The other restaurants adjacent to Madam Kwan were deserted, probably due to the long weekend break that everyone has gone back to their respective hometowns to be with their family.

Mum has repeatedly recommended me to try Madam Kwan’s infamous Nasi Lemak, which I obediently ordered when the friendly waiter served our table. Dad excitedly ordered his Fried Rice, while Mum tried their Nasi Bojari, a surprisingly popular dish in almost every table at that time. Mango juice has always been my favorite drink, and it’s just depressing not having this drink served widely in Australia.

The mango juice was one of the most awesome mango juices I’ve drank in my life. It was concentrated and you could still taste a little bit of its mango puree-pulp when you sip it through your straw. You can be assured that mangoes were actually thrown into the juicer, and not just made from mere syrup which you could easily purchased from any grocery markets.

After a surprisingly fast 20 minute wait (taking the crowd into consideration), the Nasi Lemak arrived, followed by the Fried Rice and finally the Nasi Bojari.

Madam Kwan’s Infamous Nasi Lemak

A small plate of ajat (pickled vegetables) came with the Nasi Lemak I ordered, which by the way tasted good. I was not a big fan of ajat then, but I definitely enjoyed eating this one. Before I dive my fork and spoon to mix everything up, I sampled every food individually in the plate. The rice boiled in coconut milk was fragrant and simply delicious. The generous serving of the Nyonya-style curry chicken was simply irresistable. The spiciness was bearable, though I wish it was a tad more. The usual anchovies in sambal sauce was close to heavenly though I wish they provided a little bit more gravy (oil), but it was just my own liking. The half-boiled egg is a usual side you get in every Nasi Lemak, good or bad. Madam Kwan cheekily included sambal heh bee (dried prawns) to finish off the twist to a complete Nyonya-style Nasi Lemak dish, which goes well along with the main repertoire.

Nasi Bojari

My mum enjoyed the banana leaf-served Nasi Bojari very much. I only managed to grab a few pieces of fried chicken and a piece of beef from its beef rendang and a miserable tiny assam prawn. She didn’t let me have the Indonesian colored rice, which I believe was good. I could conclude briefly that the beef was tender and fully-flavored by the rendang curry; while the prawn tasted more like sambal udang. I might be wrong, as it was just a poony miserable prawn. The fried chicken, however was a little overfried, thus explaining its tough-and-dryness. Also, the chicken was a little blend to my taste. It might be due to the variety of spiced-flavored food I was having at that moment.

Fried Rice

Although this is one of the lower-priced (but still expensive) dishes in the menu, you will be surprise how a simple dish like this could look satisfyingly beautiful. The salted fish flavor seemed to enbody the entire dish, which considerably mellowed the flavor of other ingredients that were fried along with the rice. However I still found it enjoyable. Most importantly, my dad loved it.

Below are the break-down prices of the dishes we ordered:
Nasi Lemak - RM13.20
Nasi Bojari - RM19.00
Fried Rice - RM12.60
Mango Juice - RM8.00

Though the dishes in the menu are a little bit overpriced, but one could not argue the quality and taste of the food served in Madam Kwan. I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed her Nasi Lemak very much. It may be some time before I next visit Madam Kwan again, but I will definitely not miss her out in my next trip back to Kuala Lumpur. I may try her most expensive dish in the menu - Indonesian Assam or Curry Fish Head (RM73) and I could only pray that she doesn’t increase her prices by then.

For Reservation:
Madam Kwan’s
Lot 420/421 Level 4
Suria KLCC
50088 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603 2026 2297