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Visiting Malaysia in 2026 – Here are some Local Dishes that you need to try!
Malaysian food has a reputation for amazing, delicious and varied dishes- and for good reason. Malaysia is ethnically diverse with large populations of Bahasa Malaysians, Baba’s and Nonya people, Chinese Malay and Indian Malaysians. Each culture brings its own unique heritage and cuisine. Malaysian food is wonderfully cheap and readily available on pretty much every street corner.
Malaysian food can be found in hawker stalls – these are centres with lots of small stalls preparing a wide range of fresh and tasty dishes. Guests sit to eat in a shared seating area and they normally bring dishes to your table. Most local Malaysian food is pretty cheap with dishes typically costing between RM5 – RM15 (depending what you eat and where you eat). Seafood can be a little more expensive. A large fish is likely to cost around RM20 – 30 in a hawker stall – but again this depends on location, availability and the type of fish. In this epic guide to Malaysian food we will share some MUST TRY dishes.
ALSO don’t miss our full guide: The BEST places to eat in Penang
Important things to know about Malaysian Food
- You can find food almost everywhere in Malaysia – it seems like there are street side stalls and hawker centres all over the place. These often open at particular times throughout the day so always check in advance.
- Malaysian food is normally grouped together – so you will tend to find lots of Chinese food together, lots of Indian food together and lots of Malay food together.
- The cheapest Malaysian food is probably Roti Chanai (around RM2) and Nasi Lemak banana leaf (also around RM2)
- Timings are everything. Some Malaysian food places are open in the morning. Others are open at lunch. Some are open in the evening. And others are open all day. Common morning foods include Chinese food and Roti. Nasi Champur is a common lunch food. Malaysia has a strong evening food culture with hawkers open late into the evening. Nasi Kandar places also tend to open late (Indian Muslim food)
- Watch out for closed days (many shops and restaurants close on mondays). Also be aware, if you are travelling in Malay areas during Ramadan it can be hard to find food during the day time.
1 Char kway teow (Chinese Malay food)
Char kway teow Chinese is a fried noodle dish with crunchy vegetables and prawns and or egg. It is an absolute classic Malaysian food. It is normally prepared with thick noodles, egg, Lap Cheong Sausage, shrimp and bean sprouts. It is normally slightly spicy (you can request your spice level when you order it). The noodles are normally fried in pork fat to add extra flavor. Char kway teow may also be prepared using duck egg to give it a subtly different flavor. This may not be the healthiest dish you ever try but it is pretty darn tasty!
Price: Char kway teow generally costs around RM5-10 depending on the size, location and ingredients (big prawns normally add several RM to the price)
Where can you find the best Char Kway Teow? It is normally found at Hawker stalls – especially around other Chinese food stalls.
2 Assam Laksa (Nonya Malaysian food)
If you’re looking for unique Malaysian food – Asam Laksa is a must try food. This unique noodle soup is an absolute taste explosion! The soup stock is made up from a thick fish broth normally with an oily fish like mackerel. And the flavors are carefully balanced between sour, salty, sweet and spicy. Assam laksa is normally made using spices such as tamarind, galangal, and fresh turmeric.
Asam Laksa is made with thick noodles (similar to Udon Noodles). The stock is thrown onto the noodles and then the soup is then garnished with fresh mint, red onion, chillies, pineapple and torch ginger. They also sometimes add prawn paste to give the soup an extra salty distinctive kick. Love it or hate it you cannot deny this really is a unique dish.
Price: For such an intensely fascinating dish Asam Laksa is pretty cheap normally costing around RM5 – 6
Where can you find the best Asam Laksa? Penang is the best place to find Assam laksa – especially around Penang Road and also in Air Itam.
3 Nasi Champur (Bahasa Malaysian food)
Nasi Champur is classic Malaysian food. It is normally found around lunchtime streetside stalls. Nasi campur translates “mixed rice” and this captures the dish perfectly. When you order Nasi Champur you are normally given a plate of rice and then choose additional dishes to go on top.
Additional dishes normally include things like sambal fish, curried cabbage, egg, squid, shrimp, Fried Chicken and a range of very tasty and delicious curries. The best way to enjoy Nasi Champur is to try small amounts of many different dishes. It may cost more, but this Malaysian food is all about variety.
Price: A plate of Nasi Champur will normally cost in the range of 5 – 15 ringgit depending on how much you decide to eat and where you order the Nasi Champur from.
Where can you find the best Nasi Champur? Nasi Champur is normally sold in small streetside food stalls, especially in Malay communities.
4 Banana leaf lunch or dinner (South Indian food)
Banana leaf rice is traditional South Indian food. You may wonder why we have included it an an article on Malaysian food? Malaysia is culturally diverse and banana leaf is now a classic Malaysian food. As the name suggests, banana leaf is distinctive due to it being served on a banana leaf. Apparently this provides a clean antibacterial surface and aromatic compounds in the banana leaf stimulate hunger. Banana leaf restaurants are found in towns and cities around Malaysia. When you go to a banana leaf restaurant, you order a banana leaf set and then request additional curries to be served with the banana leaf rice. The dish is presented as rice on a banana leaf with additional currys, vegetables, and other condiments. You then order additional curries to be served with the banana leaf set. For example, you can get chicken curry, fish curry, mutton curry and more.
Banana leaf may also be served with condiments like papadoms or Indian Breads like Thosai, Roti Chanai or naan breads. If you go for banana leaf, we highly recommend ordering Teh Taric to drink with your banana leaf. Teh Taric translates “pulled tea”. It is a traditional Indian tea made from powdered tea leaves, spices, and sweet condensed milk. It is then poured between cups to cool and aerate the tea and leave a sweet frothy foam on top.
Price: The price of a banana leaf set depends on where you buy it and how much you order. Expect to pay in the range of RM5 – 15
Where can you find the best banana leaf restaurants? You can find Banana Leaf restaurants around Malaysia, especially in Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Melaka. If you are in Penang check out The Garden Banana Leaf and if you are in Kuala Lumpur try Bala’s banana leaf.
5 Chendol (Chienese Malay with Javanese origins)
Chendol is a Chinese Malaysian dessert. Chendol is made from shaved ice, coconut milk, panda noodles, beans and cane sugar or Melaka Gula. Chendol is a beautifully refreshing, unusual and sweet dessert. One of the things that we love about Chendol is the way the flavors change and merge as you eat the dish and the ice begins to melt.
You find the palm sugar gradually mixes with the coconut and the beans and noodles also begin to mix through the dish the more you eat. So the flavor and consistency of the dish changes as you eat it. A few similar Malaysian food dishes include Ice Kachang and Bur Bur Cha Cha.
Price: Chendol normally costs around 5 or 6 ringgits for a bowl.
Where can you find the best Cendol? You can find Chendol at many Hawker centres around Malaysia and in Chinese street food districts. One of the most famous places to try Chendol is on Penang Road.
6 Chee Cheong fun and Dim Sun breakfast (Chinese Malay food)
Chee Cheong Fun is a noodle dish served with sauces, oil and sesame seeds. The Chinese fun noodles are distinctive wide rice noodles. We have found that Chee Cheong Fun varies significantly depending on where you are in Malaysia. If you try Chee Cheong Fun in Penang they use prawn paste which has a strange salty favour and then they add a dark sweet sauce. In Kuala Lumpur Chee Cheong Fun tends to be a slightly sweet dish and it is sometimes served with a sweet red sauce and they add a very small amount of an additional spicy sauce. Chee Cheong fun is a traditional breakfast dish for Chinese Malaysians and it is well worth a try if you are traveling in Malaysia. If you are trying Chee Cheong Fun you will probably find Dim Sun (steamed snacks) and Pao (steamed buns) nearby. We recommend getting a full selection of these must try Malaysian foods.
Price: You can normally find Chee Cheong Fun for around RM5
Where can you find the best Chee Cheong Fun? In our opinion THE BEST Chee Cheong Fun can be found in Kuala Lumpur. Try some of the food stalls around the Jalan Petaling walking street in ChinaTown Kuala Lumpur.
7 Chinese chicken rice
Most Malaysian food includes chicken of some form or the other. Chinese chicken rice is another classic. You will see whole chickens hanging up with a beautiful brown roasted color. These roast chicken stalls tend to serve rice with chopped chicken, egg and a variety of very tasty, tangy, sweet sauces. At chicken rice stalls you can also find pork dishes such as Bak Su which is roast fatty pork or Char Siu which is stripped of sweet marinated roast pork. If you order chicken rice you can also ask for additional meats mixed together or if you are all about the pork just order pork rice. When you order from a chicken rice stall they will often provide an additional bowl of soup free-of-charge.
Price: A plate of chicken rice will normally cost around 5 – 10 ringgit in Malaysia.
Where can you find the best Chicken Rice? Chicken rice stalls can be found all over Malaysia especially on streetsides around Chinese communities.
8 Nasi lemak (bahasa Malay food)
Last but not least you must try Nasi Lemak in Malaysia. Nasi Lemak translates “coconut rice” due to the fact that the rice is boiled in coconut milk. Nasi lemak is an absolute classic in Malaysia and is widely regarded as Malaysia’s national dish. Nasi lemak comes in all shapes and sizes. You can find small rice parcels of nasi lemak on the street corners. They look like small pyramids of banana leaf. Inside you will find the classic rice boiled with coconut milk, egg, fish and some spicy red sauce. However, you can also buy nasi lemak at Hawker stores, cafes and restaurants. If you buy a plate of Nasi Lemak it is likely to be a little bit more expensive and will also be served with more garnishes and condiments. A more expensive Nasi Lemak is likely to be served with peanuts, egg, pickled vegetables and maybe even poppadoms. The rice is sometimes coloured using local plants such as butterfly pea to give it a distinctive, interesting and floral hint of blue.
Price: Small banana leaf parcels tend to cost RM 1-2. From a cafe or restaurant expect to play around RM10 for a high quality Nasi Lemak.
Where can you find the best Nasi Lemak? Nasi Lemak is super common all over Malaysia. If you are in Kuala Lumpur try the Old China Cafe.
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