Petaling Street & Central Market Part 1 saw us exploring the popular pedestrian shopping street in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia really early on a Sunday morning. Waking up early does have its perks, we got to experience the ‘real’ Chinatown for the local before the place gets taken over by tourists from noon. While the retailers were busy setting up their stalls, we turned our attention to stalls selling traditional local breakfast, a wet market and a make-shift hawker who surprisingly served lip smacking roast ducks.
Closer to noon, the shopping scene slowly stirred up from its slumber. Counterfeits bags, wallets and accessories are a plenty here.
For Singaporeans who frequent Bangkok, I doubt you will find anything of interest here. You will probably be able to get the same items at a lower cost at Platinum Mall. Similar to Bangkok these days, there was also little room for negotiation.
Behold the power of Korean influence – there is a mini Dongdaemun Market within Petaling Street too!
Petaling Street was not exactly a shopping paradise for us. It did not take long before we got distracted by 叶子楣大包 (Amy Yip Giant Pau / Meat Bun)!
The giant bun was named after Amy Yip, an sex symbol in the late 1980s who was known for her disproportionately large breasts. It’s not too hard to understand the connotation.
It’s almost as big as our face! It took 4 of us to make quick works of the bun which was packed with a juicy meat loaf with half an egg.
Anything that’s deep fried cannot go too wrong.
But unfortunately, we were too full to be seduced.
Before leaving the street for Central Market, we trooped over a shop that specialises in Tau Sar Piah!
Hot from the oven, they come in a range of flavours from Chocolate to Pandan. Delicious, presentable and affordable, these traditional Chinese pastries make the perfect travel gifts for relatives and colleagues back in Singapore.
Central Market & Kasturi Walk was just a short 15 minutes walk away from Petaling Street. You can’t miss the huge Kasturi Walk signage.
Kasturi Walk which ran alongside Central Market offered a casual, al fresco ambience with its interesting mix of retail, food and beverage kiosks.
There are numerous retail kiosks selling lots of trinkets and local souvenirs. It’s a highly touristy place, foodies can tantalise their taste buds with authentic kuih (Malay cakes), dim sum or grab freshly squeezed fruit juices along the walk. If you can’t stand the heat, the air-conditioned Central Market may prove to be a better option.
Central Market used to be an open wet market back in 1888. The current blue building that we see today was subsequently built to house the fast growing vendor community.
The building came under the Federal Government’s heritage program towards the end of 1970s and was transformed into a center for Malaysian culture, art and handicraft till today.
There were many shops selling Malay traditional costumes, artifacts and handicrafts.
And messy Chinese shops selling almost everything under the sun. The entire mall is like our Chinatown & Kampong Glam rolled into one which can get pretty boring for Singaporeans.
Of course, occasionally some quirky stuff do pop out.
There were also works of local artist on sales at some of the shops.
Overall, I really enjoyed my morning stroll at Petaling Street. You may want to check out Central Market & Kasturi Walk since they are just a stone through away. Non-Asian tourists may find these 2 places interest but Singaporeans generally will not be impressed with its offerings. To read Part 1, please click here.
Here are the full information for Central Market & Kasturi Walk:
Central Market & Kasturi Walk
Address: Central Market Annexe, Jalan Hang Kasturi, 50050 Kuala Lumpur.
Central Market Operating Hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm
Kasturi Walk Operating Hours: 10.30am – 10.30pm
Website: www. centralmarket.com.my
Telephone: 03-2031 0399 / 5399 / 7399
Email: [email protected]
You may also like to check out my posts on other exciting travel destinations here
