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| Durian at Jalan Alor, Kuala lumpur |
All of you know that we're the foodies. We like to have a culinary trip, and try the authentic food of the new place that we visit. Malaysia offers many kind of food that looks delicious for us. But among them all, there's one food that we really love, and want to try it at its origin country - durian. Durian a.k.a King of Fruit is our favorite fruit. We love the creamy texture and sweetness of this fruit. We have durian in Indonesia. However, Malaysia is very popular with its durian, especially in June - which is durian season. At this month, you'll find many variant of durian, and all of them are the best one. Among all, there's 1 type of durian that everybody knows as the best durian. Yes, it's Musang King.
Musang King is different with other durian. It has small seeds - more "meat" of course. It also has a "deep" yellow color - not the pale one. Musang King has a small size which only around 1,5kg - 2kg each. For you who don't like a strong smells of durian, you still can try Musang King because it doesn't have strong fragrant like other durian has. However, the price is quite expensive. Usually it costs RM60 - 70 per kg. If you want to get it at cheaper price, you should come at durian season at June - July. At this months, Musang King's price will drop into half price, around RM 30 per kg. That's a very good deal.
As usual, I always do research before doing a trip. Based on my research, the best place to eat durian in Kuala Lumpur is at Durian SS2 which also very recommended by a Grab driver and other locals. At this place they offer good quality of durian with cheap price and even you can also have "All you can eat" durian. However, it's located at Petaling Jaya which needs 1 hour car ride from the city center of Kuala Lumpur - Bukit Bintang. Since we stayed at Bukit Bintang and thought it's too far only for eat durian, we decided to just find a good place for eat durian around Bukit Bintang. We stayed for 4 nights in Kuala Lumpur, and spent 3 nights for durian hunting. Here it is, 3 places at Bukit Bintang area where you can find durian -Musang King-, based on my experiences :
1. Jalan Alor
Jalan Alor (Alor Street) is a very popular street among tourists. It's located right at Bukit Bintang area, and it makes this place become easy to be visited. Seems like every people that visit Kuala Lumpur will go to this place to have dinner or just snacking at night. At this street market, there are plenty of street food, including durian. We visited this place at the first night and found some stalls selling durian. We chose 1 stall which looks promising and they wrote the price for Musang King only RM38 per kg. It sounds cheap for us so we decided to take it.
Since we like durian with sweet flavour - without any bitter taste in it, we asked the seller to choose the sweet one with the medium texture. Not too dry and not too creamy. Well, it's our first durian and its very disappointed. First, it's very bitter. Second, it's too dry. Third, it has big seeds when usually musang king has a very small seeds. After eat, I asked her about this durian.
Me : What type of durian is it? (As I know there are many types of durian such as D24, D13, Red Prawn, Black Thorn, and many more)
She : (no answer. Just be quiet.)
Me : Is it D24 or what?
She : No. It's durian from Pahang. We don't have D24 in here. Durian from Pahang is cheaper. Musang King expensive.
Well, it explained that it's not Musang King. Just like Ivan first thought - Alor Street is tourist trap area. At the end, we paid RM60 and it's too pricey for this durian.
Address : Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Open : daily 24 hours but mostly at night.
2. Imbi
Imbi is not a popular area, and if you're a tourist, maybe you'll not recognize this place. Imbi is a local area which located next to Bukit Bintang, around 1km away. We found this place while we having dinner at Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh, a popular restaurant for having bak kut teh in Kuala Lumpur. In front of this restaurant, there's a durian stall and it also written "Musang King". They sell Musang King for RM40 per kg, not much different with the one we had at Jalan Alor. This time I asked the seller to choose the sweet one (without any bitter taste) and little bit creamy.
Well, this time we got the real and a good Musang King. It sweets and the seed was also very small. They gave us exactly the same with what we wanted. It also not too dry and we enjoyed it very much. However, there were some parts which has a little bit bitter taste and the seed was also big - just like the one we had in Alor. Overall, it's not as disappointed as the one in Alor. At this place, we also paid RM60 for the whole durian.
Address : 37, Medan Imbi, Imbi, Kuala Lumpur. Open : Mon - Sat 7AM - 11PM, Sun 8AM - 11PM
3. Cendol Durian Runtuh
It was the last place that we visited for durian hunting. Not because we got bored, but because this place gave the best durian for us. Actually this place is not a durian stall like we had before. As you can read, this place sell "Ice Cendol" with durian. To satisfied their customer, they used many variety of durian. Starts from the "regular", D13, D24, Red Prawn, and even Musang King. This place is very famous and very recommended among durian lovers. However, to reach this place you need a car ride because it's quite far from Bukit Bintang. It's located at Chow Kit which is around 2-3 km from KLCC.
We took a Grab ride to go to this place and the driver stopped at the end of the street. He told us to continue our way by walk because the traffic at this street will never end. At the time we walked, we realized that this area is a traditional night market. We came at 10PM and seems like they just opened. It was very crowded and it's quite hard for us to walk at this situation with stroller. We hope it's worth it with the food.
Once we arrived, we were welcomed by a long queue. All the tables were full. I took a line immediately and Ivan found an empty table. That place was really hectic and we felt uncomfortable. When it's my turn to order, I looked at the menu and knowing they have 3 kinds of menu for Es Cendol durian.
1. Ice Cendol with Regular Durian - where they just put a low grade durian at the top of es cendol
2. Ice Cendol with Durian Kawin - where they use a high grade durian but not Musang King. At this menu, they serve durian separately with Es Cendol
3. Ice Cendol with Musang King - yes, they use Musang King which also served separately
We chose the 2nd option because their Musang King wasn't look good at that time. It has a yellow pale color and only have 1 plate to choose. I was hesitated with it so I just go with Durian Kawin which looks more promising with a deep yellow color. I asked him the type of that durian but he didn't really know. Well, I just trust my instinct and chose the one that has deep yellow color with creamy texture. After that, I brought them to the cashier and pay RM20 for a portion of es cendol and durian kawin. (Notes : If you use musang king, it gonna be RM40)
The ice cendol was just so so. It's not sweet, like the one we had in Indonesia. However for the durian, I gave all my thumbs up for it. It was the sweetest and the best durian I ever had in my life. The texture was also very wet and creamy, it's our favorite. Not forgetting the seed that was very small, only around half size of my finger. Since one portion is not enough, we asked them whether we could just buy the durian. And the answer is yes!! It only costs RM17 for a portion of this high grade durian. At this time we fulfill our desire for durian by eating as much as possible. By found this place, our durian hunting has over - because we've found the best place for eat durian at the downtown area of Kuala Lumpur.
Address : 57, Lorong Raja Bot, Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Open : Sun - Fri 12PM - 3AM, Sat 12.30PM - 3AM
Those are our first experiences for durian hunting in Kuala Lumpur. Next time I'll try go to local place and eat musang king not at the tourist place. Durian SS2 gonna be our first option for the next trip because it was strongly recommended by locals. I just remember when I was on another Grab ride in Kuala Lumpur. While we're passing Alor street, I told him the story about durian that we had there. He just laugh and said "You will not get the real musang king at Alor street. It's a tourist trap area. If you want to eat musang king, you should go to Durian SS2. It's the best place to eat durian in Kuala Lumpur." Well, I gonna visit this place next time, for sure.
Musang King is different with other durian. It has small seeds - more "meat" of course. It also has a "deep" yellow color - not the pale one. Musang King has a small size which only around 1,5kg - 2kg each. For you who don't like a strong smells of durian, you still can try Musang King because it doesn't have strong fragrant like other durian has. However, the price is quite expensive. Usually it costs RM60 - 70 per kg. If you want to get it at cheaper price, you should come at durian season at June - July. At this months, Musang King's price will drop into half price, around RM 30 per kg. That's a very good deal.
As usual, I always do research before doing a trip. Based on my research, the best place to eat durian in Kuala Lumpur is at Durian SS2 which also very recommended by a Grab driver and other locals. At this place they offer good quality of durian with cheap price and even you can also have "All you can eat" durian. However, it's located at Petaling Jaya which needs 1 hour car ride from the city center of Kuala Lumpur - Bukit Bintang. Since we stayed at Bukit Bintang and thought it's too far only for eat durian, we decided to just find a good place for eat durian around Bukit Bintang. We stayed for 4 nights in Kuala Lumpur, and spent 3 nights for durian hunting. Here it is, 3 places at Bukit Bintang area where you can find durian -Musang King-, based on my experiences :
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| Aurelia doesn't like to eat durian but since we're in Malaysia, she decided to give it a try |
1. Jalan Alor
Jalan Alor (Alor Street) is a very popular street among tourists. It's located right at Bukit Bintang area, and it makes this place become easy to be visited. Seems like every people that visit Kuala Lumpur will go to this place to have dinner or just snacking at night. At this street market, there are plenty of street food, including durian. We visited this place at the first night and found some stalls selling durian. We chose 1 stall which looks promising and they wrote the price for Musang King only RM38 per kg. It sounds cheap for us so we decided to take it.
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| A tourist bought a lot of durian at Jalan Alor and asked the seller to pack it with aluminium foil |
Me : What type of durian is it? (As I know there are many types of durian such as D24, D13, Red Prawn, Black Thorn, and many more)
She : (no answer. Just be quiet.)
Me : Is it D24 or what?
She : No. It's durian from Pahang. We don't have D24 in here. Durian from Pahang is cheaper. Musang King expensive.
Well, it explained that it's not Musang King. Just like Ivan first thought - Alor Street is tourist trap area. At the end, we paid RM60 and it's too pricey for this durian.
Address : Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Open : daily 24 hours but mostly at night.
2. Imbi
Imbi is not a popular area, and if you're a tourist, maybe you'll not recognize this place. Imbi is a local area which located next to Bukit Bintang, around 1km away. We found this place while we having dinner at Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh, a popular restaurant for having bak kut teh in Kuala Lumpur. In front of this restaurant, there's a durian stall and it also written "Musang King". They sell Musang King for RM40 per kg, not much different with the one we had at Jalan Alor. This time I asked the seller to choose the sweet one (without any bitter taste) and little bit creamy.
Well, this time we got the real and a good Musang King. It sweets and the seed was also very small. They gave us exactly the same with what we wanted. It also not too dry and we enjoyed it very much. However, there were some parts which has a little bit bitter taste and the seed was also big - just like the one we had in Alor. Overall, it's not as disappointed as the one in Alor. At this place, we also paid RM60 for the whole durian.
Address : 37, Medan Imbi, Imbi, Kuala Lumpur. Open : Mon - Sat 7AM - 11PM, Sun 8AM - 11PM
3. Cendol Durian Runtuh
It was the last place that we visited for durian hunting. Not because we got bored, but because this place gave the best durian for us. Actually this place is not a durian stall like we had before. As you can read, this place sell "Ice Cendol" with durian. To satisfied their customer, they used many variety of durian. Starts from the "regular", D13, D24, Red Prawn, and even Musang King. This place is very famous and very recommended among durian lovers. However, to reach this place you need a car ride because it's quite far from Bukit Bintang. It's located at Chow Kit which is around 2-3 km from KLCC.
We took a Grab ride to go to this place and the driver stopped at the end of the street. He told us to continue our way by walk because the traffic at this street will never end. At the time we walked, we realized that this area is a traditional night market. We came at 10PM and seems like they just opened. It was very crowded and it's quite hard for us to walk at this situation with stroller. We hope it's worth it with the food.
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| You can see Petronas - The Twin Tower from Cendol Durian Runtuh |
1. Ice Cendol with Regular Durian - where they just put a low grade durian at the top of es cendol
2. Ice Cendol with Durian Kawin - where they use a high grade durian but not Musang King. At this menu, they serve durian separately with Es Cendol
3. Ice Cendol with Musang King - yes, they use Musang King which also served separately
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| These are not musang king. He said it was D13 but look at that beauty "deep" yellow color |
We chose the 2nd option because their Musang King wasn't look good at that time. It has a yellow pale color and only have 1 plate to choose. I was hesitated with it so I just go with Durian Kawin which looks more promising with a deep yellow color. I asked him the type of that durian but he didn't really know. Well, I just trust my instinct and chose the one that has deep yellow color with creamy texture. After that, I brought them to the cashier and pay RM20 for a portion of es cendol and durian kawin. (Notes : If you use musang king, it gonna be RM40)
Address : 57, Lorong Raja Bot, Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Open : Sun - Fri 12PM - 3AM, Sat 12.30PM - 3AM
Those are our first experiences for durian hunting in Kuala Lumpur. Next time I'll try go to local place and eat musang king not at the tourist place. Durian SS2 gonna be our first option for the next trip because it was strongly recommended by locals. I just remember when I was on another Grab ride in Kuala Lumpur. While we're passing Alor street, I told him the story about durian that we had there. He just laugh and said "You will not get the real musang king at Alor street. It's a tourist trap area. If you want to eat musang king, you should go to Durian SS2. It's the best place to eat durian in Kuala Lumpur." Well, I gonna visit this place next time, for sure.
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