10 Legendary must-try authentic local food at Imbi Market in ICC Pudu (Kuala Lumpur)

Written by Candice Neo

Deciding what to eat is sometimes an elimination game. I know how some of you, like me, will agonise with your partner, family or friends over what to eat for breakfast every weekend because you know what you don’t want, but simply can’t decide what you want – sounds familiar?

If you are craving for some good local breakfast at affordable prices, head to Pudu where you’ll find some legendary yet humble food stalls that have been serving generations!

ICC Pudu offers a huge variety of cheap and delicious food, where you guys will sure be able to dig into what you want before you get hangry. Think Nasi Lemak, Mee Halia (ginger wine noodles), Popiah, Chee Cheong Fun with Yong Tau Foo, big prawn noodles, curry noodles and more!

Here, we recommend you only the best of what we have tried and tasted in this food court!

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1. Comforting ginger wine noodles: Mee Halia 姜酒米

My personal favourite is the ginger wine noodles from a stall named Mee Halia 姜酒米 (which means the same thing in Bahasa Melayu and Chinese) that has been in business for more than 30 years.

My noodle soup was served steaming hot, topped with a generous serving of sliced ginger, fried eggs and fresh prawns. The noodles were thin and soaked up the rich wine soup very well. Super comforting if you are having it for breakfast!

2. Yong Tau Foo crossed with Chee Cheong Fun: Ah Fook Chee Cheong Fun 阿福猪肠粉

From another stall, I also ordered a “Yong Tau Foo Cheong Fun”, which is indeed what you are thinking of – a cross between Yong Tau Foo (Hakka Chinese cuisine consisting of tofu and vegetables filled with ground meat mixture or fish paste) and Chee Cheong Fun (rice noodle roll, which is commonly considered as a variety of dim sum)!

You get to select your fresh Yong Tau Foo pieces (pick from tofu to vegetables to mushrooms) and they will pair it with a roll of Chee Cheong Fun, before drenching it in curry and sweet sauces!

Usually in KL or Singapore, you can find both Yong Tau Foo and Chee Cheong Fun separately, but this creative combination actually tasted pretty good! Their Chee Cheong Fun is soft and well-paired with the savoury Yong Tau Foo!

3. Super flavourful Nasi Lemak with pork skin curry and cuttlefish: Ann Nasi Lemak

Warning: This Nasi Lemak stall is not halal!

Ann Nasi Lemak is famous for their pork skin curry that’s actually delicious when paired with the fragrant coconut rice, sambal, crispy anchovies and peanuts (and I generally don’t eat pork skin but this one is good!). I added cuttlefish too and asked for less rice, and my entire plate costs RM 12 – not exactly cheap for Nasi Lemak, but their serving size is actually huge enough for 2 people to share comfortably.

All their ingredients are freshly prepared and most of them are curry-based; definitely worth a try if you are up for a flavourful breakfast! I definitely love a heavy one on weekends and would skip lunch afterwards! 😉

4. This no-signboard stall sells big prawn crispy noodles and fish noodles

Yes, this no-frills stall does not even have a signboard of their stall name, just a board displaying what they sell (mainly fish and seafood noodles) and a separate board showing their signature big prawn crispy noodles, which goes for a whopping RM 30.

We decided to give it a try, as after all, if they can be doing well (we dropped by previously at noontime and everything was already sold out) without even an established brand name and can afford to bring in fresh big prawns, surely their food should have a certain quality.

The prawn itself does not disappoint – it is huge (almost the size of my lower arm minus my palm), fresh and juicy. The noodles taste pretty normal to me, but they bring out the sweetness of the prawn when paired with it.

Overall given the price, I probably wouldn’t be a regular customer, but it is worth a try if you’re a prawn lover.

5. Savoury popiah with fresh fillings: QQ Penang Popiah

You have to be patient here as the aunty makes all the popiah herself, with only one assistant who helps tops up fresh ingredients when needed.

So if there’s a huge order in front of you, be prepared to wait a bit, but I assure you it will be worth it!

I bit into this well-filled fat popiah expectantly, having read up a bit about their legendary rolls. The skin is soft and easy to bite into, while the turnip, carrot, cucumber shreds and beansprouts are fresh and juicy, with a sweet crunch of grounded peanuts in every bite.

One of the best popiahs I’ve had in KL to be sure! I opted for their traditional popiah but you can go for the modern ones wrapped with seaweed on top of the traditional skin!

Not trying to start a war or anything, but we personally much prefer the popiah here to the ones sold by Sister’s Crispy Popiah (which we feel are quite lacking in taste, freshness and crunch).

6. Curry wantan noodles (yes with char siew and everything!): Feng Yang Wantan Noodles (豐楊云吞面)

We are all familiar with the regular wantan noodles, but how about a curry version? Yes, we mean instead of having the dry version or clear soup with your dumplings, noodles and char siew, it’s served in curry instead!

The curry is thick and flavourful, so as you eat it together with all the ingredients, every mouthful is a huge burst of flavour!

We definitely prefer this one to Madam Eng Curry Mee, whose curry is a bit more diluted and not as flavourful. This is our honest take on it, but of course, if you prefer something less flavourful for breakfast, your opinion might differ. 😉

7. Baking charcoal egg tarts for 120 years: Bunn Choon (品泉)

When a flourishing food stall has been baking and selling nothing but egg tarts for 120 years, you know they must have done a jolly good job. And they definitely did not disappoint – the soft egg filling is flavourful, while the crispy layers of charcoal bamboo crust has a lingering smoky aroma.

A must for all egg tart fans! They have another outlet at Petaling Street too!

8. Not your regular chicken bun: Chinese yellow rice wine chicken bun 黄酒煎鸡包

I’ve never really been impressed by chicken buns, but this one has its chicken, mushroom and turnip filling richly soaked in Chinese yellow rice wine, so it’s a lovely burst of savoury goodness when you bite into the soft bun!

What’s more, their buns and ingredients are freshly made every day on the spot!

P.S. Though their buns are really nice, the owner isn’t very friendly and dislikes photo-taking at his stall, even though we introduced ourselves and explained that we are promoting his stall. Hence, we only managed to get a few pictures! So Instagrammers out there, do take note!

9. Fried Chinese rice cake with sweet potato and yam: IMBI Kueh Bakul

Finish your meal off with this delicious snack (also one of my favourites!) – fried rice cake!

The triple-layered rice cake (also known as triple Kueh Bakul) is their signature, lined with layers of not just sticky rice cake but yam and sweet potato too!

It’s crispy on the outside, soft, sweet and gooey on the inside as you bite into it freshly hot! If like me you love the taste and texture of sticky rice cake in general, you’ll find this addictive! Don’t say you haven’t been warned! 😉

10. Colourful Nyonya kueh with 3rd gen recipes: Sister Mei 梅姐好滋味

What attracted me when I walked past this bustling stall was not just its colourful display of Nyonya kueh (and some of them are my childhood favourites!) but the fragrance of their freshly-made Put Chai Ko (钵仔糕) as well, which is also known as red bean rice pudding, one of their most popular kuehs which comes in two flavours – pandan and brown sugar.

Having passed down their recipes to the current third generation, this stall has stood the test of time, and till now, regulars still flock to here for their sweet fix and it’s not difficult to see why.

After debating between Kueh Lapis, Onde-Onde and lots of other selections (considering that I already have been eating waaay too much in the same morning at ICC Pudu), I decided against being too greedy and settled for only their pandan Put Chai Ko.

The pudding is fresh and has a slight bouncy texture and mild pandan scent, sprinkled with coconut flakes. It’s overall a light bite-sized dessert (though it comes in a box of 6), so you’ll be able to fit it into your meal if you share it!

P.S. We also know that Ah Weng Koh Hainan Tea is popular as well, but I personally find that you can find better traditional kaya and butter toast elsewhere in KL (I grew up with good kaya toast), though some people come here mainly for their Hainan Tea, which we feel tasted pretty okay, nothing mindblowing to be honest, but perhaps we just had high expectations due to all the hype.

We dropped by ICC Pudu on three different days to try out different dishes from various stalls (we are so blessed to have such a huge variety of food in KL), and each time, I came with different colleagues, but generally the team shares similar opinions on the food.

After narrowing down those that we’ve tried and tasted (these are based on the personal tastebuds of KL locals, Sarawakians, Indonesians and Singaporeans), these stalls featured above are really the top recommendations that we feel that you guys shouldn’t miss when you’re here! 😉

Now you can’t say you don’t know where to find good and affordable local breakfasts in central KL. No more fighting on what to eat; you can find a huge variety here so everyone gets to be happy and satisfied! Tag all your breakfast buddies now! 

PLEASE NOTE: All the above information is correct at the date of publication. If you come across any changes or updates, please let us know and we will update the information accordingly. Thank you! Tell us

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