An excerpt from article of The Star Online by Grace Chen “Like the Middle East”

THE next time you think of having a meal at Jalan Bukit Bintang, prep your palate for a gastronomic adventure by checking out the Middle Eastern and north Indian restaurants there.

The Egypt Café, which serves a mixture of Arabian, Western and local fare, in Jalan Bulan 1, is first on the list. Here, you can find the typical Arab staples such as hummus (RM8) or mashed chickpeas with sesame, squeezes of lime juice and olive oil; and foul foul (RM10) or fava beans fried with garlic, onions and tomatoes. Both are served with bidara bread.

Also worthy of mention is the shawarma, which never fails to tempt as the aroma of the fragrant meats can easily make the mouth water. This is a delicious bidara wrap with grilled chicken (RM8) or lamb (RM9), shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, halved olives and lime pickles.

For lunch and dinner, there is the kabsah rice cooked with tomato paste, cinnamon and shallots. It comes with either lamb, chicken or salmon fillet (starting from RM25).

Most Arab tourists come here for breakfast, the most popular of which is the tomato and onion egg omelette (RM10) with white cheese made of buffalo’s milk, and a generous helping of bidara bread.

Interestingly, how did a once predominantly Chinese area become an exotic Eastern food stop?

Yeok Ah Yong, 62, the owner of Bukit Bintang’s famous Chee Meng Hainan chicken rice, offers an answer.

“It is my guess that after the terrorist attack of the World Trade Centre on 9/11 (2001), the cold treatment towards Middle Easterners by the West most likely made them look towards Asia as a tourist destination of choice.

On the local front, acceptance of the Middle Eastern and Indian eateries and their patrons took a bit of time. Yeok himself confesses to feeling a bit unnerved at seeing veiled female diners slipping spoonfuls of food under their face coverings to eat. But, he says, they got used to it and now every one is relaxed.

Ala Salih, 52, the Iraqi owner of Sahara Tent, an upmarket Middle Eastern restaurant in Jalan Berangan – “the only way to ensure the success of the Visit Malaysia campaign to the Middle Eastern market was to make the environment safe for the tourists. I also said that adequate facilities, such as transport, food and other services must be easily available to make them feel welcome. After that, things became much better,” says Ala.