What is in season in Kuala Lumpur. and what to order when the market changes.

Spring

  • Pineapple and watermelon: Both are year-round in Malaysia but peak in the March to July and March to May windows, so the cut-fruit carts at Chow Kit and the rojak stalls are cheapest and sweetest now.
  • Jackfruit (nangka): The main crop runs May to July. Look for it raw in plastic tubs at market stalls, deep fried as goreng nangka, and folded into cendol and ice kacang.
  • Ciku: The first of two ciku crops runs March to May. It is a market fruit rather than a restaurant one, sold soft and brown-skinned by the kilo at Pudu and Chow Kit.
  • Ramadan bazaar food: The fasting month moves about eleven days earlier each year, so it drifts through this window and out of it. When it falls here, Kampung Baru and Jalan Masjid India fill with ayam percik, murtabak, kuih and bubur lambuk stalls from mid-afternoon.

Summer

  • Durian: The main crop runs June to August, which is the one season that changes how Kuala Lumpur eats. Roadside stalls in Bangsar, along Jalan Gombak and around TTDI set out Musang King, D24 and Black Thorn to open at the table.
  • Mangosteen: June to August, the traditional cooling counterpart to durian. Sold from the same stalls and the same trucks, usually by the kilo and eaten on the spot.
  • Rambutan: June to August, with a smaller December crop. Market vendors sell it on the branch; the sweeter clones peel clean away from the seed.
  • Cempedak: June to August. Smaller and stronger-smelling than jackfruit, and at its best deep fried in batter as cempedak goreng from an evening cart.
  • Langsat and duku: July to September. Translucent segments under a thin skin, sold in bunches at wet markets and gone again by October.

Autumn

  • Mooncakes: Mid-Autumn falls in September or October on the lunar calendar. Hotel lobbies and Chinatown bakeries run mooncake fairs for about six weeks before it, and Thean Hou Temple hangs lanterns for the night itself.
  • Nine Emperor Gods vegetarian food: For nine days in the ninth lunar month, usually October, temples in and around Ampang and Sentul and the stalls beside them serve strict vegetarian food, and ordinary shops put up yellow flags to say they are cooking it too.
  • Deepavali sweets: Brickfields lights up for Deepavali in October or November, and the sweet shops along Jalan Tun Sambanthan sell laddu, murukku, jalebi and ghee-heavy halwa by the box.
  • Pomelo: August to January. Sold whole and pre-segmented at markets, and the standard offering fruit through Mid-Autumn and into Chinese New Year.

Winter

  • Second durian crop: A smaller run between November and January refills the stalls after the mid-year glut. Prices are higher and the selection is narrower, but the good clones are still there.
  • Yee sang: The raw-fish prosperity salad is a Malaysian and Singaporean invention rather than a Chinese import, and it appears on almost every Chinese restaurant menu in the city for the two weeks around Chinese New Year in January or February.
  • Bak kwa: Grilled sweet pork jerky, sold all year and queued for in Chinatown in the fortnight before Chinese New Year, when Petaling Street shops run the charcoal grills outside on the pavement.
  • Kuih bakul and CNY biscuits: Steamed glutinous nian gao, kuih kapit love letters and pineapple tarts take over bakery counters and market stalls from mid-January, then vanish.
  • Star fruit: Available all year but at its peak September to February. Juiced at kopitiams and sold cut with sour plum powder from cart vendors.

Book food experiences in Kuala Lumpur

Taman Negara Tour with Lunch★ 4.5 (5)

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Taman Negara Tour with Lunch

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