While we are in KL I am on the look out for Burmese restaurants. There are many Burmese stores and restaurants in the area around Kota Raya shopping mall near Central Market, also know as Little Burma. The restaurants here are very discrete; a few upstairs with signs written only in Burmese. It is not for people like me who have to spend a few minutes trying to recall the Burmese alphabet and decipher what it said! I really need to brush up on my Burmese…
After a quick search on the web, I find Paradise Palace on the 6th floor of Sogo – the Japanese department store. It is an unexpected location for Burmese food but I am keen to try the restaurant.
The menu is vast; we choose their signature dish ‘Foget-me-not hilsa fish’ which is nga thalout baung. I remembered eating this in Rangoon with my cousins in 2006 and it was absolutely amazing how the bones just melted in the mouth. Here you get the whole fish with lots of tomato sauce, easily enough for four people. I cannot resist but order the Roselle leaves, ching baung kyaw, which is spicy and sour. Delicious! We order a chicken curry, with an Indian-influence of cumin and coriander seeds served with plenty of rice.
There is a small shop attached to the restaurant, which sell arts and crafts from Burma as well as what I am looking for, laphet. Read more about the restaurant at masak-masak.
Paradise Palace
Lot 1, 6th floor
Sogo Shopping Centre
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
Kuala Lumpur
The dishes we ate there were quite good but far too salty. I like the clean and friendly atmosphere though.