Located just down the road from Kampung Baru LRT station along Jalan Raja Muda Musa, this bazaar is probably one of the more popular ones in the city centre, but we were surprised to see that it wasn’t as overly crowded as expected on our visit yesterday. Passing cars and motorbikes may make it a pain to walk from stall to stall keeping as close to the side as possible, but the available deep fried goodies on offer are good enough to brave the oncoming traffic. Here are some highlights:
Roti John black pepper, RM4.50 per loaf (pictured above)
How we love our Roti Johns. A staple during Ramadhan, it’s a treat that’s easy to make but hard to master; some are stingy on the meat, some are too dry and some just lack that certain oomph. This Roti John stall is one of the first you’ll see if you come from the LRT station, and their take on the classic fried-egg-and-bun combo hits all the right spots. Loaded with beef and coleslaw, the homemade black pepper sauce gives it a unique spicy kick. We can get full on this whole loaf alone.
Briyani Gam Kampung Baru, from RM4.50 per pack
The Kampung Baru bazaar seems to lack main course choices, but this stall further down from the Roti John stall claims to serve ‘the best briyani in Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur’. Each pack comes with fried chicken and sweet chilli sauce – other lauks have to be bought separately. We found the addition of the chilli sauce rather odd, but together with the fried chicken and rice they go really well together. While authenticity is questionable (regular rice is used instead of the usual basmati), the rice is moist with a strong chicken flavour; we didn’t even need to add on any curry. The fried chicken is the star.
Roti Goreng McGyver, RM3.50 per piece
We’re not sure what association the popular ‘80s TV character has with this deep fried bread stuffed with meat but it was enough to catch our attention. A similar concept to the more common roti goreng Farina, these McGyver (sic) babies spent just enough time in the pan to come out nice and crispy. What sets it apart from Farina is the filling. Available in sambal sardine, chicken and beef black pepper, we went for the beef and chicken and here’s what we think: it sure can fix anything. Except maybe your cholesterol level.
More to try:
Otak-otak, RM3 for five sticks
It's not the best, but the grilled otak-otak packs in a lot of flavour with very little burnt bits too.
Deep fried prawns, RM2 per stick
These prawns are so crispy that you can pop the whole thing – head, tail and all – into your mouth.
Kebab ayam, RM3
Continuing Kampung Baru's stream of good bread treats, this kebab is more of sandwich than a kebab, but they're generous on the tasty grilled chicken filling. Tastes like a satay sandwich.
As for dessert, there's a famous stall serving good apam balik here but unfortunately it was closed on our visit. Other dessert options include the usual agar-agar and kuih fare.
This bazaar stretch is located at Jalan Raja Muda Musa, Kampung Baru, KL. Look out for more Ramadhan bazaar reviews in the coming days.
