Verified in 2 cities.
Nasi kandar is a signature dish of Malaysia; we have verified places to eat it in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Steamed rice flooded with several curries, poured together over fried chicken, squid, fish roe or okra.
Steamed rice flooded with several curries, poured together over fried chicken, squid, fish roe or okra. Kuala Lumpur's Indian Muslim nasi kandar counters stay open late, some around the clock.
Nasi kandar is an Indian Muslim dish from Penang, named for the kandar, the shoulder pole from which early hawkers hung their baskets of rice and curry. Tamil Muslim cooks built it around a counter of pre-cooked curries that the server mixes and pours over the rice, a practice called banjir, or flood, when the plate is soaked. The format moved south to Kuala Lumpur as restaurants that trade late into the night, and chains and family shops along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang and Bangsar keep the trays full, the Jalan Ampang and Bangsar counters around the clock. Customers point, the server ladles, and the price is set at the till by eye.
Where to eat in Kuala Lumpur:
Where to eat Nasi kandar in Kuala Lumpur: the editor picks
Steamed rice flooded with layered curries, banjir style, and paired with fried chicken, sotong or okra, served fast from rows of pots at Tamil Muslim canteens.
Nasi kandar takes its name from the kandar pole Tamil Muslim traders used to balance rice and curry pots as they walked George Town's docks in the 1800s. Hameediyah moved the trade indoors on Campbell Street in 1907 and is recorded by the Malaysia Book of Records as the country's oldest nasi kandar restaurant, while Line Clear's open-air alley off Jalan Penang, running around the clock, made the format a national obsession. Ordering is a spoken art: name your rice, your protein, and say banjir if you want every curry to flood the plate.
Where to eat in Penang:
Where to eat Nasi kandar in Penang: the editor picks
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