Exploring Jalan Alor: Malaysia’s Buzziest Night Market and How to Recreate It

We stumbled on Jalan Alor by accident, but it quickly became the heart of our Kuala Lumpur adventure. From grilled skewers and garlic-slicked noodles to rainbow jelly on a stick, it was street food heaven — and a memory I immediately wanted to recreate as soon as we got back home. In this piece, I share what we ate, what surprised us, and the dishes we still dream about (with a couple of recipes to recreate the magic too).

Jalan Alor Night Market

Jalan Alor felt like Disneyland, but better and without the queues. We didn’t even plan to go there. My mum flew in to meet us in Kuala Lumpur and was ravenous when she arrived, so I ordered a Grab and typed in “food street Bukit Bintang.”

When we got there around 1 pm, it looked like a fairly ordinary street lined with restaurants. We grabbed some coconut water straight out of one of those gigantic coconuts at the top corner of the street and sat down for lunch. It was good. Really good. But we were full after that and didn’t think much more of it, so we wandered off towards KL’s shopping district.

The Vibe

We came back the following night and I was stunned. The place had transformed. It was as if someone had flicked a switch and turned on the magic. The neon lights were buzzing, the air was thick with the scent of sizzling meat, and the street was absolutely alive.

The kids were the first to spot the dessert carts. Giant bubble waffles drizzled in chocolate and topped with nuts, sprinkles, and every sweet you could imagine. Next to them, rainbow jelly balls carefully stacked on skewers like edible jewels. They looked almost too pretty to eat.

But first, dinner.

The Savoury Stuff

Jalan Alor was packed with stalls offering prawns, scallops, squid, beef, pork, chicken, fish, octopus — all skewered and grilled on open flames. This was an instant hit with the kids. It’s the perfect kind of food to eat as you wander, hot and smoky and easy to grab.

For a sit down meal, there are plenty of options to choose from. That said, the restaurateurs on Jalan Alor mean business. They do not slack on customer acquisition. Each establishment has a team of waiters tasked with sourcing as many customers as possible - expect to have menus placed in your hands as you walk past, conversations started about the best selling dish should you make eye contact with an eager waiter. Also, expect to find yourself seated at a table and then scrambling to order something because you felt obliged to take a seat - the waiters are very good at their jobs!!

So if you’re one to easily say 'yes' to things, you can easily find yourself sitting down at all the restaurants on the street. Luckily, the food is so good pretty much anywhere and the dishes can be quite similar too - so low risk even if that were to happen. Except perhaps for your wallet but, compared to the West, eating in KL is so cheap that you will find yourself feeling like royalty. 

One night we chose a restaurant that had big water tanks full of live seafood — fish, lobsters, oysters, clams, even geoduck. I have to admit, it felt a bit strange watching your dinner swim around before it ended up on the plate. A little unsettling, but fascinating too.

A dish that my daughter and I absolutely loved was this beautifully cooked fish served with greens in soy sauce. It was simple, savoury, and so deeply satisfying that we both still talk about it now. We had it with plain jasmine rice (and some French fries too, because who can resist French fries?!)

We tried so many different dishes over the course of our visits. There was one that became a fast favourite: minced chicken thigh with garlic and Thai basil, served with jasmine rice and a fried egg on top. This dish, also known as Pad Krapow Gai, became a bit of an obsession. I usually ordered it with garlic kailan, which is a leafy green a bit like pak choy. If you love garlic, this will be your heaven.

We also had prawn fried rice, made in a Cantonese style that was full of flavour and very different from what we get in the UK. The chicken fried rice was also a big winner, especially with the kids. The garlic fried pork belly was one I had high hopes for, but it turned out soft and quite fatty. Not what we expected, and not a dish we went back to.

I had some incredible dim sum at one of the smaller stalls too. Tiny steamed parcels of joy, each one different from the last. And the noodles — soft and slippery, tossed with chicken, crunchy bean sprouts and these seed-like garnishes that gave an unexpected texture. A big step up from the average chow mein.

The Snacks

There were long, curled potatoes on a stick, proper tornado fries, and these extra-long, thin fries that looked almost too perfectly uniform to be hand-cut. I’m pretty sure they were made from reformed potato, but they were crispy, salty, and totally moreish. The kids loved the fried chicken stall and made a beeline for it more than once. They also couldn’t get enough of the corndogs, popcorn chicken, and chicken strips — classic comfort food, Jalan Alor-style. 

A standout snack was by far the pani puris. I had never tried them before but had heard great things about them. Bearing in mind that I was pretty full by that point and wasn't sure I'd be able to enjoy anything else - the Pani puris blew my mind. I’d never tried them before and those were divine - the combination of flavours - salty, tangy, sweet - and textures, crispy puri shell, crunchy shredded carrots, soft potato. Oh my. Explosion of flavour.

The Sweet Stuff

The dessert carts were irresistible. My daughter gravitated towards the marshmallows on a stick. It’s sweet how we tend to reach for the familiar, and marshmallows are one of the most nostalgic symbols of childhood I can think of. We all tried the jelly skewers too — so colourful, they looked like tiny pieces of stained glass. We ended up creating a little inspire from the book “Jelly on a plate” as we wandered down the street, "Jelly on a stick, Jelly on a stick, wibble wobble, wibble wobble, Jelly on a stick!".

And then, the bubble waffle. Oh my. Crispy on the outside, soft and cake-like on the inside, with a delicate vanilla flavour. Each bubble could be filled or topped with your choice of treats. We went for a mix — dark chocolate, white chocolate, strawberries, nuts. It was pure joy. Definitely a core memory. If you’re wondering how to make one yourself, I’ll share the recipe further down. You can also jazz up your bubble waffle batter in lots of fun ways. Try adding crushed biscuits, matcha, or cocoa powder to the mix. It's fun to experiment with different textures and flavours. A sprinkle of colourful toppings adds a lovely crunch and a pop of colour too.

The Unexpected

If you’ve been to KL, you’ll know that afternoon rain is almost guaranteed. Most days, the heavens open sometime between 4pm and 6pm. Watching the rain pour down over Jalan Alor was an experience in itself. The stalls were prepared, with awnings and pergolas that snapped into place as if by magic. I even started to enjoy walking through the rain — a welcome break from the heat and a good excuse to grab another drink or snack while we waited it out. Umbrella hawkers appeared instantly, of course. They were part of the rhythm of the place.

A Little History

Today, Jalan Alor is one of the most popular street food destinations in Kuala Lumpur, drawing around 10,000 visitors a day. But it wasn’t always known for food. In the early 20th century, it was part of KL’s red-light district and had a reputation for its nightlife and vice. Over the years, especially in the 70s and 80s, as nearby Bukit Bintang became more retail focused, Jalan Alor began to reinvent itself. Late-night hawkers set up shop and word spread.

Locals began to call it “Wai Sek Kai,” which means Glutton Street in Cantonese. The name stuck, and by the 1990s and 2000s, it had become the street food heart of the city. For many Malaysians, it’s a nostalgic spot, a place where food memories were made long before Instagram existed. It’s rare to find a place that feels both distinctly local and widely welcoming, but Jalan Alor manages it.

Bringing it Home

Street food is about more than just the food. It’s the energy, the spontaneity, the way your senses feel lit up with every step. I wanted to keep a little piece of that feeling alive after we got back home, so I found ways to recreate it in my own kitchen.

It started with Pad Krapow Gai, of course. It’s ridiculously easy to make, and don't worry if you can't find Thai Basil, normal basil will bring you close enough to recreating the flavours. The fish sauce is the magic ingredient.

Pad Krapow Gai (Thai Basil Chicken)

You’ll need:

• 500g minced chicken thigh
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (feel free to double up if you love garlic)
• 2 stalks of spring onion, chopped up
• 2 red chillies, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use a combination of light and dark soy sauce(
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar (Demerara, ideally)
• 1 handful of Thai basil leaves (or normal basil leaves)
• Cooked jasmine rice
• Fried egg (for topping)

How to make it:

1. Heat a bit of oil in a wok or frying pan.
2. Fry the garlic, spring onion and chilli for about 30 seconds.
3. Add the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through. Break the mince up into small pieces as it's cooking.
4. Stir in the sauces and sugar. Cook for another couple of minutes. Taste and add more of the sauces as you see fit.
5. Toss in the Thai basil right at the end and stir until wilted. (If, like me, you have no idea where to source Thai basil, normal basil works too!)
6. Serve over hot jasmine rice with a fried egg on top.

Top tip: For a delicious side dish to go with it, flash fry some pak choy with loads of garlic and a dash of soy sauce, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

Bubble Waffle at Home

I got so obsessed with these that I ordered a bubble waffle maker as soon as I got home. It’s not exactly the same as the ones in KL, but it’s close enough to bring the joy back.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp custard powder (for extra richness)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 tbsp melted butter or normal vegetable oil
• Toppings: whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate sauce, crushed Oreos, whatever else you fancy

How to make it:

You can also jazz up your waffle batter in all sorts of fun ways. Try adding crushed biscuits, matcha, or cocoa powder to the mix. It’s fun to play around with textures and flavours. A sprinkle of colourful toppings adds a lovely crunch and vibrant colour too.

1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl.
2. In another, mix the wet ingredients.
3. Combine and whisk until smooth.
4. (Optional) Add in crushed biscuits. I love adding Oreos.
5. Preheat your bubble waffle maker and spray cooking oil (do not skip this step, this is what prevents your bubble waffle from sticking to the bubble waffle maker and, most importantly, gives it that beautiful golden crisp(
6. Pour into your bubble waffle maker and cook until golden.
7. Load up onto a plate (or roll into a cone), add your toppings and enjoy!

The Magic of Food

Making these dishes at home doesn’t recreate Jalan Alor in full, but it does bring a little of that spirit into our everyday. It reminds me of wandering through this incredible night market with my family, cheeks flushed from the heat, happy bellies and sticky fingers.

And even though the dishes don’t taste exactly the same, they're pretty close enough and they bring back that same spark. That same joy. That's the magic of food, isn't it?

If you've been to Jalan Alor too, I'd love to know your favourite dishes. If this made you want to visit, absolutely go for it - the energy there is exceptional!

About me...I'm Lorna Rose and, by day, I work in the tech industry, but in my heart of hearts, I've always been fascinated by the story that food tells. The magic of a well-cooked meal, the way a simple dish can bring people together, spark conversation, and create lasting memories. On Happy Bellies, I set out to explore and find hidden gems, so that I can indulge in telling stories around food that will make you want to go out and create your own foodie adventures.