High quality Indian mamak food RESTORAN MAHBUB in Bangsar Kuala Lumpur

Leave a Comment / Blog, Budget restaurant, Local food, Street food, Travel / By

I think Malaysia is truly a blessed country in terms of food culture. In particular, wouldn’t it be the perfect place for food lovers to enjoy a variety of delicious, flavorful and aromatic foods like me? As I’ve said many times, in the whole of Malaysia, there are countless local restaurants wherever you go, which is really really cheap but the quality is 10 out of 10.

But sadly, people above the middle class, or those who drive glossy cars almost every day, only spend time in shopping malls, but never walk the sun-drenched streets of Southeast Asia like me and low-income locals. So unless they live in a particular neighborhood for a long time, they won’t know the cheap and delicious local food in that neighborhood. Like a treasure hunter, I always prefer to find and eat hidden street food. If the price is cheap and the quality is good, what more could I ask for?

So, whether it’s street food or a shabby local restaurant, delicious food at cheap neighborhood restaurants is definitely a treasure for me. In particular, I go to Brickfield, nicknamed Little India because it is famous for Indian shops and Indian food right next to Kuala Lumpur Central Station, or to a neighborhood where local Muslim Malaysians live.Also, if I go to a place where Chinese people live, I can easily find and enjoy their cheap and delicious food that the locals like.

Today I’m going to show some really cheap and delicious local Indian food that will take you into the world of fragrant scents and spices that I absolutely love. In fact, most of the Indian food is Mamak style food, which was established as we see it today by Tamils, the South Indian Muslims who came to Peninsular Malaysia three generations ago, mixing and adjusting with local Malay food. No matter where you go in Malaysia, there is always an Indian Mamak restaurant in every corner of the building.

Most of the Mamak restaurants were open 24 hours, but now they are only open until 10pm due to COVID-19. RESTORAN MAHBUB is no exception. It is located in a trendy and a little up-market area called Bangsar where many westerners or high income house holds live.

From here you can reach the world famous Petronas Twin Towers in 20 minutes by metro, and Kuala Lumpur Central Station is just one stop away, making it a very convenient neighborhood. When you come to Bangsar, you can see the very large and beautiful mosque with the golden dome at once. And right next to the mosque is Bangsar Village Mall (BVM for short), connected by two shopping mall building blocks.

Just across the street from the south side of the two shopping mall buildings, this Indian Mamak restaurant is located, bustling with locals, especially during meal times. Even if it’s not necessarily mealtime, you can see that many people nonstop come in and out.There are so many dishes that anyone can tell at a glance that this restaurant is a favorite of many. More than 30 colorful and spice packed curries are lined up outside. It’s like looking at a variety of foods displayed at a buffet restaurant.

The meat is mainly fish and chicken, and various sauces make meat dishes super flavorful, savory and appetizing. As always, coconut cream sauce, masala sauce and spicy curry sauce are essentials, and a variety of vegetable dishes are also coated in masala powder and fried or sautéed in various curry sauces. Among many vegetables and legumes, my favorite chickpea curry, spinach and lentil dishes are always present, so whenever I go, I always have to choose them to start a meal. Additionally, the bitter gourd and curry leaves dish coated in masala-flavored flour and deep-fried is not to be missed at this mamak restaurant.

Right next to the array of exotic dishes is Malaysia’s national dish called Nasi Lemak. It features steamed rice cooked in coconut cream, spicy and pungent sambal sauce, salted small anchovies and fried crunchy peanuts, cucumber slices and boiled eggs. For those who want to enjoy Nasi Lemak instead of coconut rice, there is also a fluffy biryani rice on display right next to it.

And there is a tandoori station on the right corner, where more than 30 chickens marinated in thick and bright red tandoori sauce are skewered and displayed vertically inside a glass partition. The tandoori master cooks the tandoori chicken on a skewer in the tandoori oven when the customer orders it. Of course, you can also order a variety of freshly baked naan. The price is about RM8.5 for one tandoori skewer, and about RM3 for a plain naan.

It’s not easy to find good meat bone soup at most mamak restaurants. At Mahbub, luckily you can order the savory beef bone broth from the soup station right in front of the tandoori station. Here, you can have a very peppery lamb or chicken soup. However, since lamb has a lot of bones, it is good to order other rice like nasi lemak and meat dish separately or with naan and chapati while savoring the deep meat broth.

And at the far left is a station that makes fluffy, fresh and light chapati. A young Indian staff makes them with a wooden rolling pin and makes them nonstop by hand.

Fresh chapati is delicious enough to eat as it is. To keep the chapati warm, he place it in a basket and cover it with a cloth.

As soon as you enter the restaurant, there is a drink station to the left where you can order a variety of typical mamak style hot and cold drink items.

These include teh tarik(pulled milk tea), lemon, black and green tea, various coffee items such as Kopi O kosong(black coffee) or Kopi C(black coffee with milk and sugar), fresh coconut, tropical fruits and vegetable juices, smoothies, fresh milk, sweet or salty lassi etc. At mamak, most fresh fruit juices and lassi cost more than RM5 whereas most typical mamak style coffee and tea items cost not more than RM3.

Inside a glass partition to the right of the restaurant’s entrance, there are several mouth-watering masala flavors and fried chicken dishes. That said, there are at least 5 different types of spicy chicken topped with spicy masala sauce, sweet soy sauce, creamy sweet honey sauce and Malay-style ayam goreng.

Also, biryani rice lovers will love to try the steaming mamak style pilaf rice when visiting for dinner. All these food prices vary by type and quantity, but meat usually starts at RM8, which is less than US$2.


In fact, the quality of the food here is comparable to an upscale Indian restaurant in the city centre. And since the price is less than half of the price at most, it is considered affordably cheap, so everyone can’t help but simply love it from heart. Every time I go, I am delighted with the variety and delicious food displayed in sight.

And to the right of the dining hall, there is a door leading to an air-conditioned room. If you eat here, you have to pay an additional 6% service charge. But sometimes while cooling off in a hot tropical country, it’s good to enjoy delicious local Indian food.

This is a place I have to go to at least one or twice a month to enjoy the colorful and flavorful curry meats and various vegetables. My biggest concern here is to decide about what to choose from among the many types of food. In most times, I choose some leafy vegetables and chickpeas to go with the main meat curry, then I also usually choose either dosa or chapati or naan and eat it with a restaurant-made fresh coconut chutney sauce. After a delicious meal like this, I always drink a mamak style coffee kosong. And the food is great, but most of all, thanks to the friendly staff and their warm hospitality, my mealtime itself is like heaven.

Chicken Curry(majura): RM 8.0, Dosa: RM 3, Spinach and chickpeas: RM 3.3, Plain water: RM 0.30 before tax

I recommend this place if you have a hard time choosing where to go amongst mamak restaurants while staying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Check out my video for detailed food here and restaurant vibes,…

also my mukbang! ????

Restaurant: RESTORAN MAHBUB

Address: 15-17, Lorong Ara Kiri 1, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? All you can eat Korean bbq Kuala Lumpur Arabic food arabic food restaurant Malaysia Char siu cheap and delicious indonesian food cheap and delicious local food in Malaysia cheap and delicious local indian food in Malaysia Cheap indian food Cheap Korean bbq buffet cheap street food malaysia chia seed recipe chickpea recipe chickpeas chinese street food dosa and chutney gluten free recipe healthy chia seed biscuit recipe indian food malaysia Indian mamak food indonesian food korean bbq buffet malaysia Korean desserts korean food malaysia Malaysia's must try local food Malaysian Chinese food malaysian local food mamak indian food mamak restaurant in Kuala Lumpur Muslim halal food must try malaysian food no butter recipe red bean recipe red beans red bean spaghetti restaurant review Sichuan food street food in Malaysia Street Food Malaysia Tteok recipe Yemeni cuisine Yemeni food yemeni malawah bread Yemeni restaurant Malaysia

[jetpack_subscription_form show_subscribers_total=”false” button_on_newline=”false” custom_font_size=”16px” custom_border_radius=”0″ custom_border_weight=”1″ custom_padding=”15″ custom_spacing=”10″ submit_button_classes=”” email_field_classes=”” show_only_email_and_button=”true”]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *