Turkish Restaurants in Malaysia
Turkish Restaurants in Malaysia
There are not many Turkish Restaurants in Malaysia. Several attempts were made to open Turkish restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. However, they were closed due to low demand from people. I will try to discuss here issues related to Turkish Food Restaurant in especially Kuala Lumpur.
Why Turkish Restaurants in Malaysia?
Turkish restaurants in Malaysia are the first alternative for visitors from Turkey, some European countries, Iran and whole Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Emirates etc. This is because Malaysian taste or in general the taste of far east are so much different from those countries mentioned above. Turkish restaurants offer wide range of food products or meals appropriate for their taste. This is because Turkish cuisine inherited its Ottoman heritage which could be described as a fusion and refinement of Turkic, Arabic, Greek and Persian cuisines.Turkish cuisine also influenced these cuisines and other neighbouring cuisines, as well as west European cuisines. Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Middle Eastern cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia such as yogurt. The Ottoman Empire indeed created a vast array of technical specialities. It can be observed that various regions of the Ottoman Empire contain bits and pieces of the vast Ottoman dishes.
Before my trip to Malaysia, I was warned by my some master students from Saudi Arabia that I should make a plan for food before going to Malaysia. They told me that they had to find fast food solutions in Kuala Lumpur since they could not eat sweety Malaysian food. I did not have big problem myself overall but initially really difficult to get used to too much sweet nearly in every food. My best friend Azmi took me to Malaysian restaurant with my daughter. We really enjoyed the food there. But as we said there was sugar or sweet in every food. If you are not happy with sugar in your fish then you have a problem. My friend offered me Kebab and he added ‘this is your food and you will like it’. After tasting, I said ‘Oh my God. There is sugar in this kebab. We loughed a lot’.
In my opinion, the Malaysian food is not very healthy due to high level of sugar concentration in daily diets. There is currently one Turkish Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur as far as I know. You could comment if you know another.
The Address for Turkish restaurant in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia is given below.
Some Comments about Turkish Restaurants in Malaysia
‘Great place for a change in Kuala Lumpur. Enjoyed decor a lot. Check it out.’
Have been to the restaurant many times with my family. I think they open only in the evenings, not sure about lunch. The place is great! Atmosphere is way cool, food is superb,… It is a no-alcohol restaurant. Overall, still one of the best in Kuala Lumpur!
‘I had lamb kebab and my very first baklava in a Turkish restaurant in Kuala Lumpur 3 years ago. I was looking forward to try out Turkish ice-cream, which the friend recommends. The Turks are renowned for their sweetmeats, and I was confident they would be equally adept with iced confectionary. In the end, our original intention to have authentic Turkish ice cream had to be postponed due to our overburdened stomachs. Which is just as well, as it gives me another good reason to visit this multicultural outpost of Turkish gastronomy.’
on May 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Merhaba,
i think KL is lucky to have at least one turkish restaurant… in Penang, there’s NONE! I’d been craving for good quality Turkish cuisine, dondurma, lokum or even find decent sahlep. I mean authentic Turkish Cusine! To the extend i learnt how to cook Turkish food but to achieve the taste it’s quite difficult cos of certain spices like sumac for example… The picture of lokum realluy made me wanted to cry…:-( Thank you for the address.. I definately wil go there when i’m in KL.
Hoşca kalın
on May 21st, 2007 at 2:09 am
Merhaba,
I am happy that you like Turkish food. But just wait! do I miss something in our traditional taste? Because my wife rarely uses sumak. Sumak gives really good taste but not used in all dishes. Depending on different regions there are really very different tastes. Take for example Gaziantep area. They are very famous with baklava and they use garlic a lot in many of maeals (but not as much as Indians or Pakistanis).
BTW, I found the name of this restaurant on internet. I could not go when I was in KL 5 months ago. But I really want to give a trial when I come again (hopefully). Please share your experience with us when you visit.
on May 21st, 2007 at 3:12 am
ha… no problem! I will definately inform u
Ooofffff Baklava! woaaaaa..now I like that dessert too…:-D I also hope the restaurant still exists!
Hoşca kalın
on May 22nd, 2007 at 12:53 am
Thanks in advance. I hope so..
Btw, it is rare to find someone who can use ‘ÅŸ’ on keyboard unless you are Turkish or studying Turkish language professionally. You must have installed Turkish fonts.
Hoşçakalın
on July 18th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Merhaba,
I think your friend azmi must be a kelantanese(state in east coast). Most of their dishes are sweet. For your information, Malaysian foods in general are not sweet, they are usually hot and spicy. The waiters and supervisor at Saray Restaurant could not speak turkish at all. The food are fairly good but still different from those in Turkiye. I really missed real Adana Kebab, shish kofte and dostlarim in Turkiye. Ne mutlu Turkum diyene.
on September 17th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Merhaba!
This will most likely come as a disappointment to you all, but SARAY restaurant has been closed for some time now, probably a year or more. I did go there a couple of times while it still was operating, and it was good to have a place that smelled of familiar foods
Hope for some new similar places to start up in KL.
Alma
on September 17th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I am really sorry. I was planning to visit there next month.
on December 10th, 2007 at 6:37 am
salam..
merhaba!! (i guess this is the greeting for turkish)
how are you doing sir?
i’m one of ur student for CIM..
i was browsing to the blogspot u mentioned. and i’ve downloaded the slides.
then, i thought i give a visit to ur site. there’s a lot of new information here for me.
until i read this entry.. i smiled on my own.
anyway, i don’t have any specific comment about food and stuffs.
i just hope that u’ll be able to cope with the lifestyle here.
see u next wednesday..
wassalam
0338251
~(^_^)~
on December 10th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Wassalam,
Thanks a lot for your good wish. This entry was made due to a seminar on search engine optimization. The restaurant was closed but I know from a friend that a new Turkish restaurant will be opened soon.
on January 16th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Merhabalar,
Basically an indian was working in turkey for past two & half years…it’s nice to hear tha tthere is some glimse of turkish food avl. in KL too..i miss the healthy i repeat healthy turkish foods here in malaysia…
Turkiye cennath ve tukler sicak kanli…cok seviyorum turkiye ve turk bayrak…
gule gule
on January 18th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Merhabalar,
Thanks a lot for invaluable comments to all.
I was informed by some Turkish friends that there will be a Turkish Restaurant opening soon in KL. The area is near Bintang (Star Hill) where I bought my last notebook (spelling of Bintang may not be correct). He will be run by native Turkish people. I learnt that Saray restaurant had not run by native Turkish and was not a successful business. I am not so sure about this one. There are several restaurants claiming to be Turkish but none of them is real Turkish restaurants. I have been to some of them. They are either run by Iranians or Arab people. Nothing to do with real Turkish cousine at all.
on March 1st, 2008 at 8:46 am
I am faisal from indonesia. I/my wife mad about turkish food, especially the shwarma and donner.
Any update on turkish restaurant in KL, is it opened already? any info on the detail address??
many thanks/wassalam
faisal
on March 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Thanks for kind commenting. I asked the Turkish students around. They have also no idea. I will update the blog entry or make a new entry under the same category as soon as I learn something. Turkish cousin is very rich combining many different cultures due to heritage from Ottomans combining 14 different nations at that time. I think you should try main cousin,too since shwarma and donner are the takeaway versions only.
on March 15th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Merhaba,
I visited Kuala Lumpur in 2005 and was informed by few people about Saray Restaurant.
I still remember how i was amazed the moment i stepped in to the place.It was beyond wonderful.I enjoyed every single second i spent.I should count everything but it was superb.
I visited KL again last week (march 2008) dreaming to visit the Saray again but i couldn’t see it.I am pretty sure that i was in the same place but the restaurant was not there.I called their numbers while I was looking for it but the lines were out of service.Then i realized this wonderful restaurant was closed. I can not explain how disappointed i was.I spent my days looking for another one but didn’t have luck.
Finally I found this place called Tarbush.It was one of the worse experience in my life.Only one word will be enough..TERRIBLE.
Anyway.. I hope to see a new place in Kuala Lumpur next time I visit.
All the best.
on April 6th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I don’t know why it’s so difficult to find even the doner kebab in KL, I went home to JKT just for weekend holiday in where the situation is completely different.
The doner over there is marvelous well it’s quite close to the original taste (the iskander kebab).
thanks
faisal
on April 6th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Hi again,
BTW, is it so easy to go to JKT during weekend. I think it is not very close to Malaysia.
It is good to know it is available in JKT.
I saw some places near Lowyat plaza in KL. They have something similar to döner kebap. But unfortunately I could not taste.
Regards
on April 14th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Herkese Merhaba,
I have a very good news for the ones who is dying to eat some fine Turkish food in Kuala Lumpur. Finally long waited the Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant in new Pavillion Shopping Mall on Jalan Bukit Bintang has opened. I was there over the weekend and I must say I’m very impressed with the menu selection. I was expecting a restaurant which you can find only kebaps and sort of dishes, but menu was so rich with Hunkar Begendi (Sultan’s Delight (Eggplant Puree with Cheese)), Karniyarik (slashed eggplant), Imam Bayildi (The Imam Fainted), other olive dishes and other fine Turkish kebaps, cold and hot dishes. Decoration and atmosphere are making you comfortable with white tones all over the restaurant and you can enjoy the food while watching the pictures of Istanbul from the flat tv on the wall.
I tried Mercimek Corbasi (Lentil Soup), Karniyarik, Cacik, eggplant salad and Turkish Pumpkin Dessert and Turkish Coffee and all were very fresh ( I waited around 15-20 minutes for Karniyarik) and delicious. I think for maincourses like Hunkar Begendi and Karniyarik you have to wait around 20 minutes as they cook everything fresh, but I must say it worths…
There is even small Turkish Carper Gallery attached to the restaurant. I chatted with one of the owners Selcuk Orman before I left, and he said they have been around the region since 1992 and they will also open a fast food restaurant in foodcourt of Pavillion within a month which will have Doner and kind of fast food. Below is address and contact number. They have also web site http://www.bosphprus.com.my but seems like not still on-air yet.
Bosphorus Fine Turkish Cousine
6.33, Level 6, KL Pavilion Shopping Centre
Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 KL
Telephone: +60-3-2142-4000
Fax: +60-3-2142-40001
on April 14th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Thanks very much for your invaluable information. We will hopefully try soon.
on April 24th, 2008 at 4:40 am
Oh Woaaaa, that’s great news. I’m still planning to go to Pavillion. Thank you for the information Can Akan.
Dr. Cetiner - Merhaba! Now when you’re in KL, you shouldn’t have problem to find originale Turkish cuisine.
I just can’t wait to visit KL again. Wooohooooo!!!
on May 20th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Merhaba,
I am from Ankara Turkey, l use to run a restaurant in London UK as well as fish restaurant in Ankara. Right now l am planing to open a Restaurant in Malaysia, l have been in F&B since l was 17, as l was living in London l have had a friend from Malaysia who was studying there and l use to take him with me to dine and he give me to idea to start a real Turkish steak house which will serve real Turkish kebabs and Pide from real stone oven as well as Meyhane which will serve Aegean food. But, l have no idea how to start, like what to do and where to go for work permision or would they let me to bring my own employee. The other problem is that l can not speak native language, would that be a problem for me. Would you be kind to help me with this please. My E-mail is leventsener@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest.
on June 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I cant wait to go to pavilion to visit tat restaurant. I love DOENER KEBAP.. cant find it in kl here… disappointing.. the restaurant in pavilion open???
on July 29th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Tekrar Merhaba,
For Mr Sener, I think there won’t be any problem for you to open a restaurant here in malaysia if you could not speak local language. Bu hafta sonu, Pavilliondaki Turk Lokantasina gidecegim and I will give my comments. I am very sorry about the incident in Istanbul. Hope the culprrit can be caught.
on August 5th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Dear John97,
We are looking for your comments after you visit the restaurant in Pavillion. BTW, thanks for sharing the sadness in Istanbul Case. Good news is that they have caught the responsible people in that case. However, the connections to the specific organization is still missing.
on August 19th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
From 80 - 81 I was stationed at Incirlik, CDI with the US Air Force. That’s just outside of Adana. There was a lovely little restaurant called Autobus and they had the best lambajune (sp) I’ve ever had. I look forward to going to this place in The Pavilion. Just phoned them and they are open for business, set lunch from 12 - 2:30 but I’m after the lambajune. The other turkish restaurant mentioned here had terrible, dry lambajune.
Ah… for real ekmek grilled over an open fire. I guess I really must go back and visit Adana.
on August 21st, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Well, I went to Bosphorus at the Pavilion Shopping Centre.
It’s billed as “fine dining”. The table was ladened with upteen forks and heavy eating ware, table cloth, etc. Way too swank for just going in and enjoying a few lamacun. The woman who took my order was a bit surprised that was all I was having. They were good but the atmosphere precludes enjoyment.
on August 31st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Merhaba Dr Cetiner,
I have 2 news…
1. I tasted Bosphorus Turkish Cuisine in… Singapore. IT’s just in front of Royal On Scotts where I was staying for 1 week…LOL. I love the food there and with the hot weather in Singpore, the Dondurma was a welcome! They don’t have plain sahlep but only chocolate, vanilla and pistachio… so i bought 2 flavours!
2. I haven’t the chance to go to KL Pavillion… maybe next month I hope.
In the mean time, I’m learning how to cook turkish food and I’m going to ask friends to buy me ‘real’ sahlep powder to make ice-creams and other desserts when they visit me…x my fingers…
Take care and happy Ramadhan
on August 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Salam,
Another good news, a new restaurant opened along Bukit Bintang called Turkish Star, same row as Naab restaurant. I have not really tried Turkish food, but will definitely visit it. Fine dining concept.
on September 13th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
selam
i wonder why most of türks i met said malaysian foods are sweet!!!!!
most of malaysian food are spicy (malay, chinese and indian influences). if you are talking about ‘kuih’ (cookies), then yea they are sweet but baklavas are much sweeter! in fact i think turkish helva are too sweet :p … in fact there’s a state (kelantan) where they like to eat sweet food (it’s like they put sugar in every food they prepare) and non-kelantanese in general cannot stand eating their sugary food too much
sour maybe (we use asam a lot in our food), salty maybe (but nothing like ayran), ‘fatty’ maybe (coconut milk!!) but sweet??! i cannot accept this :p
on October 28th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Turkish Star is delicious. Bosphorus is good, except that they serve in French portions (if u get what i mean).
In Turkish Star, the doner especially Iskander Kebab is excellent, lahmacun.
Didn’t try the desserts. I find that baklava in Malaysia, either from turkey or Iran is sort of sloppy or too dry. The ones from Lebanon are still the best. Hope I can get some soon.
on January 31st, 2009 at 5:42 am
I’ve been to Turkish Star and the food is excellent!
on October 5th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Merhaba!
Ben kirgizim,turk yemekleri cok hosuma gidiyor,Malaysiyaya yeni geldim.Soylermisiniz bir kac turk restaurant ya da kafe mi adreslerini,gitmek isterdim
on October 5th, 2009 at 2:53 am
my mail-aiperi.zvezda@mail.ru,tesekkur ederim.
on October 6th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Merhabalar,ben kirgizim,Malaysiyaya yeni geldim,turk yemekleri cook hosuma gidiyor.Burdaki bir kac turk restaurant ya da kafelerin adreslerini gonderirmisiniz,gitmek isterdim,lutfen.Benim mailim-aiperi.zvezda@mail.ru
on October 6th, 2009 at 2:14 am
Selam,turk tatli magazanlari varmi,yani turk tatlilarini satan?
on October 6th, 2009 at 2:29 am
ertesin gun actigimda commentimi goremedim,onun icin tekrar yazdim,sonrada hepsi cikti.
on October 15th, 2009 at 1:01 am
searching for job in a fine dine restaurant or hotel.
thank you,
sincerely,
Larry
on October 20th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
abı merabalar ben amerıkada yım yanlız turkıyeye gerı donmem gerekıyor
ama turkıye de kalmak ıstemıyorum acıkcası
malezya da gelsem orda durumlar nedır bır seyler yapabılırmıyız ama baslangıc olarak bır yerlere gırıp calısmamız gerekebılır gelsem bana bu konularda yardımcı olma durumunuz soz konusu olabılır mı
amerıkada kendımıze aıt doner hamburger wıngs tarzı seylerı sattıgımız fast food umuz vardı arkadaslar halen devam edıyorlar benım vıze sorunlarımdan dolayı donmem ıcab ettı cevabınızı beklıycem selamlar
on October 20th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
ayrıca bu telefon numarasına ben ulasamıyorum kullanılmılıyor saırım sızınle telefonda nasıl goruseblırım yanıtlarsanız sevınırım
on November 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Merhabalar,
At last i managed to dine at the Bosphorus restaurant . Gercekten cok guzeldi. Turkiye’deki lokantara cok benziyor. I really love it. My friends also like the food very much. It made me remember the old days when I was in Turkiye. Anilar simdi gozumde canlandilar. I love that song too.
on January 10th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Selam,
I dined in Saray a few years ago with some Turkish friends. That was the first time I tried Turkish coffee. It was also my last time
. I didn’t like the taste of cinnamon/nutmeg in the coffee. When my friend came again 2 years later, I learned that it was already closed. I was told that it belonged to a Malaysian royalty.
I tried pide (RM18) at Turkish Star, not bad. The second time, I tried Iskender kebap (RM30), not good. This restaurant has also been closed.
The only remaining Turkish restaurant I know is Bosphorus but I’ve never eaten there as the price tags don’t seem to match my expectation (they are very expensive, RM50 for a plate of Iskender kebap). I ate a plate of the original Iskender kebap at the Iskender Kebapci restaurant in Bursa, where Iskender kebap originated. It was only TL10 = RM22!
on April 8th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Nizar, of course it’s much more expensive just as the Malaysian food are expensive over there. many of the ingredients aren’t available in this country, and there few here who skilled enough to cooked a proper one. Either you pay RM50 for the one in here or you pay the flight ticket + RM22 for the one in Bursa.
I’ve been enjoying foreign food occasionaly as my time and my budget allow. Western food are aplenty here so there’s really nothing quite exotic about it. Then there’s Middle Eastern Cuisine (not the local spin off, mind you). The authentic middle eastern cuisine are quite hard to find. there’s few arab restaurants but for most of them, their menu are quite limited. I’ve managed to sample some of them. But now, i’m looking for Turkish food, the heritage of the once mighty Ottoman Empire. since their empire are so vast, i expect the same thing in the variation of their cuisines. I read a lot about it, Kebabs, Baklavas, Dolmas and many more. But short of flying to turkey to sample the food (which i can’t exactly afford) i don’t know where i can find a Turkish restaurant in this country. Is the Bosphorus you mentioned still open? I also heard about the food outlets in International Islamic University. My friend say you can sample many foods from across the Islamic world, but you also need a student pass.
on August 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
merhaba ben de saray restoranda calısan ilk ahcılardanım gorevım donercılıktı .. ve kapanması ıyı oldu bence .. turkıyeyı ıyıyansıtmıyord
cunkı gercek turklere ait deyıldı. orada gercek turk yemeklerınde baska turk orf ve adetlerının de gosterılmesı lazım dı bu baglamda basdasma yapılamadı … yapılmasına ızın verılmedi. tesekkurle .. dukkan acıcak arkadaslara tecrube ettıgım fıkırlerden yardımcı olabılırım . tesekkurler
on September 1st, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Fadly,
They don’t import the meat and tomatoes all the way from Turkey. It’s expensive mainly due to the locations (in Pavillion?) which I think is not so strategic. After many times of hosting Turkish friends (and getting my food and culture insulted), I’m forced to learn some Turkish cuisine so I can serve them to my Turkish guests in the future, mainly because I want to avoid getting offended listening to their unsensitive comments (even though they think they say it jokingly) about my culture/food.
You’ll see the stray cats around the Blue Mosque with horns if you found a Malaysian restaurant there!
on November 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Salam..I would like to give some comments or clarifications regarding the sweet taste of Malaysian food as commented by the Turkish (as according to their taste), which is hardly understood by the Malaysian. Let me explain in Bahasa Malaysia, saya bersuamikan orang Turki dan kadangkala ada masalah berkaitan makanan kerana tidak memahami apa yang dikatakan sebagai masakan Malaysia agak manisa yang menyebabkan selera terhenti.Walau pun telah diterangkan sesetengah makanan perlu dimasukkan sedikit gula tetapi beliau tetap mengatakan manis. “Manis” di sini bukan bermaksud manis seperti masakan Kelantan atau Pantai Timur yang lainnya. Mungkin lidah mereka ini agak sensitif dengan rasa, walaupun dimasukkan sedikit gula mereka boleh ‘mengesan’ rasa manis gula dan bukan rasa manis makanan semulajadi. Rata-ratanya makanan mereka ini masam dan masin sahaja, kecuali pencuci mulut yang extra sweet kalau diikutkan selera Melayu. Wallahu’ alam.
on April 24th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
selam merhaba adim tevrat 20 yildir truzim sektorundeyim ben italya meksika turk mutfagi ascisiyim personel aciginiz varsa isinize talibim suan dubaideyim bsarilariniz devami dilerim hayirli isler
tel:+971 553 69 31 02