Since I've already started talking about the culinary capital, let me tell you about Malaysian food in general. The cuisine here really depends on the region. Penang is very different from Kota Kinabalu. But I can't say I was super impressed overall. There are so many variations of fried rice and similar dishes everywhere. It's tasty sometimes, but not every single day.

Chinese and Arabic restaurants really save the day. You can find some good stuff there. The dim sum at this place and that place were absolutely divine. And at one spot they even had something very similar to peremyach. Though there was way too much oil in it.

On the bright side, the coffee is pretty solid. At a café in the Chinese quarter, the espresso was just perfect. And here is good too. At Arabic places, you can find some really solid Turkish coffee.

What really made me laugh was how shops sell "water" (that's literally what they write) with Russian and Georgian names: Sochi, Moskovi, and other Kavarchi. 30-40 proof stuff.

I stumbled upon a Kazakh restaurant somewhere in the back alleys of KL. The beshbarmak was absolutely incredible. Felt like I'd just come back from Kazakhstan. By the way, it's not far from Central Asian countries from here. I regularly saw ads for tours to Tashkent (which was unexpected).