It’s ‘food-o’-clock’ at MikeBikes, the go-to place in Kuala Lumpur for guided bicycle tours in town. With their newly launched Pitstop Foodie Tour, MikeBikes acknowledges the many foodies in KL and happily takes them to explore a few of the many little foodie gems in town. Let’s go!
After a quick safety briefing and a test run on our bikes in front of the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC), we’re off on our bright orange bikes. The tour starts at 5pm, and it is still warm at this time but when you’re on the bike, it’s great to feel a breeze, playing with your hair. Dutch, stubborn and born on a bike, I prefer not to wear a helmet. My fellow bikers were wearing one and of course you’d better be safe than sorry: do wear that helmet if you feel more comfortable with it.
Wearing a helmet is not obligatory, but MikeBikes strongly recommends doing so. Clad in orange MikeBikes safety vests, we’re clearly visible on the KL roads and at no point during the tour, I felt unsafe.
Don’t want any spoilers for your own foodie tour? Scroll straight down to the bottom of the article to find out how to book the tour!
Chinese food at Hong Ngek
Our first stop after ten minutes of cycling through town is restaurant Hong Ngek in Jalan Tun HS Lee. This place has been serving great Hokkien food since the 1940s, according to our kind guide Mr Andrew. The squid, noodles and crab balls we order here, are super tasty. A beer would have been nice as well after ‘all that exercise on the bike’ – ahem – but the restaurant is not licensed to serve alcohol. Our food did go down well though with traditional Chinese tea.
Pastries are up next
Our second pitstop is a place in Jalan Sultan. Restaurant Fung Wong is all about Chinese pastries, both sweet and savoury and apparently a highly popular item to send to friends and family on special occasions. It is very nice to hang out in the bright covered space here and sample from a selection, recommended by our very knowledgeable guide. Delicious! We all opt for a sweet ice coffee, which went very well with the pastries.
With bellies reasonably full, we get back on our bikes and pass by Kwai Chai Hong, always a lovely place for a few Instagrammable photos. More about this place here in our article.
Indian delicacies
It is getting dark now and Andrew shows us how to switch on the lights on our bikes. Off we go, and after a quick cultural stop at the Sin Sze Si Ya temple – the oldest Taoist temple in the city -, we park our bikes at Betel Leaf, an Indian restaurant. A delicious tosai with condiments is served here and we ask for some chicken tikka as well. If only we could eat more! Our guide Andrew makes sure though that we don’t overorder. A wise move, since we’re not done yet with our foodie tour.
Last but not least: nasi lemak
Our final stop: restaurant Wanjo in Kampung Bharu. At this covered food place they serve the national dish of Malaysia, nasi lemak, but also fried chicken, squid and vegetable dishes. We barely manage to get back on our bikes after this big Malay feast.
The Pitstop Foodie Tour turns out to provide a good balance between cycling and eating. What better way to digest than doing some light exercise?!
If you’re after an ice-cold beer to accompany your food, you could be disappointed, since none of the places we visited have a license to sell alcohol. Not to worry, non-alcohol drinks like asam boi, cham and Chinese iced tea are lovely and also quench your thirst.
Tips
Dress code for the tour: wear light, comfortable clothes with a hat to protect your head from the sun during the first part of the tour. With shoes or fixed sandals you have the best control over the bike.
Try to book for the tour on Wednesdays or Fridays, as a few shops are closing early on Monday at 6pm. Also, we found out that apparently Chinese places don’t sell pork on Mondays.
Useful info
The Pitstop Foodie Tour is available for ‘eaters on bicycles’ aged 13 years and up. The route is quite challenging and includes a few busy roads and uphill lanes, hence it is not suitable for little ones. The tour operates rain or shine, but you’ll stay dry, since MikeBikes will provide plastic raincoats.
This tour is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and costs RM260 per person. It starts at 5pm and finishes at 9pm. At request, it is possible to cycle a halal Pitstop Foodie Tour. You can book the Pitstop Foodie Tour here. Interested in another tour with MikeBikes? Have a look here on their website for more information and rates.
MikeBikes is located at MaTiC, 109 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. You can find its location here. Please make sure to bring cash, to pay for the tour.
We were invited by MikeBikes to join their Foodie Pitstop tour. As always, our opinions are honest and our own.
