Best brunch places in KL

From the same team behind Huckleberry Food & Fare and Skullduggery comes Birch, a cheery and spacious restaurant that makes full use of natural light to help you capture those foodporn-worthy moments. The weekend brunch menu features several brunch favourites like the brulee French Toast, which is served with charred pear and vanilla ice cream, and the Birch Benedict, a souped-up version of an Eggs Benedict made with sourdough bread and pulled spicy chicken.

Also not to be missed are their Falafel Sandwich Wrap, a surprisingly filling vegetarian wrap made with kale, ulam, yoghurt and pickled jalapenos. And for those who don’t give a toss about their diets, have their Korean fried chicken brioche – spicy fried buttermilk chicken doused in Korean hot sauce and papaya slaw, served between two slices of toasted brioche bun.

Have a feast on Sunday afternoons at Mr Chew's, which offers an all-you-can-have brunch menu (RM140++) featuring over 20 items that include small plates, mains, soup and a whole load of desserts. All the dishes are made to order, and you can have as much as you want during the three-hour window from 12noon to 3pm, or until your belt buckle bursts.

Among the menu highlights are a mix of new and familiar dishes like Mr Chew’s pancake with vegetables, choi po and bonito flakes; steamed bun with gochujang chicken and sesame seeds; grilled rib-eye with garlic ginger dressing; and milk and hazelnut ais kacang.

Known for their coff ee, Common Man’s café in TTDI also features an extensive food menu, with ample brunch options to boot. The dishes are decadent – think brioche French toast with berries compote and vanilla ice cream, croissant croque monsieur with provolone cheese and creamy béchamel sauce, phyllo-wrapped soft-boiled eggs, and pancakes with salted caramel sauce and nutty crumble.

Come after 11am and you can also choose from the lunch menu; there’s a club sandwich with double-smoked beef brisket and duck egg, a bone marrow and beef patty burger, grilled boneless chicken, and orecchiette pasta with squid and prawn bolognese. But if you’re watching your calories, fret not; there are some eat-clean selections too, like the kale and egg white scramble, vegetarian big breakfast with halloumi and avocado, quinoa salad, cold soba noodle salad, and more.

This long-standing dim sum restaurant in Subang is known for its dependably good food at reasonable prices. Hoong Foong is capable of seating a large crowd come weekend brunch hours, and you’ll often find tables spilling out onto the streets. Expect classics such as siu mai, har gao, char siu bao and more – all made fresh daily and arrive at the table piping hot.

A must-try here is the Hong Kong chee cheong fun, which is rolled and steamed to order, and served in a light soy sauce with a side of dried prawn chilli. But for something different, go for the salted egg mai (dumpling with pork and salted egg yolk), the yam lau sar bao (steamed bun with sweet yam custard filling), and the sweet potato roll that’s shaped like a carrot.

It’s not brunch without a big breakfast or eggs Benedict. At this reliable neighbourhood café, you can choose an additional protein to complement your eggs; options include chicken ham, beef slices or smoked salmon. There are bagels here too – something we don’t see very often in KL. You can have it plain, or try our favourite combo of smoked salmon and capers. Don’t forget to slather on an extra thick layer of cream cheese.

Cakes are still the go-to at this popular SS12 café near Subang Jaya Medical Centre, but their brunch menu is worth putting that slice of red velvet cake aside – for a while. The usual suspects like Big Breakfast and eggs Benedict make an appearance, but for something different, order the creamy mushroom beef bacon risotto with a sunny-side up, or The Mexican mini pizza that’s topped with olives, jalapeños, mushrooms, beef bacon and two wobbly yolks.

Admittedly in need of a renovation, Madras Lane is a local institution when it comes to street food, but despite the variety, the laksa and yong tau foo remain the real crowd pullers. For the curry laksa, bubbling hot curry broth is ladled into a bowl full of tau fu pok, brinjal, cockles, pork rind and noodles – it’s a dish that’s jam-packed with flavours and textures. The assam laksa is just as good, thanks to the tangy, sweet and sour broth that’s just mildly spicy. The thing is, there are three stalls offering these two dishes, but the second and third stall from the main entrance are the most popular. Also, don’t miss the crowded yong tau foo stall across from the laksa sellers.

There are two reasons the folks in Damansara Heights make a beeline for Huckleberry Food & Fare: the buttery croissants and the flavourful sourdough. For brunch however, get the warm and comforting roasted aubergine shakshuka (pierce the baked egg for a brilliant, runny yolk), the savoury chilli cheese toast, and the dessert-like brioche French toast that’s dipped in vanilla custard and topped with caramelised bananas and walnuts.

A table inside means plenty of Instagram styling opportunities (the caramel and cobalt blue tiles are beautiful), while the booths outside guarantee lots of light and an airy vibe. Come early as the café fills up quickly on weekends, and make sure you stay for the cakes and pastries: strawberry lemon curd coconut cakes, coffee marshmallow-filled éclairs, and more.

Fancy Breakfast Club is made for Instagram: the sunlit space, the bare concrete walls complete with ageing patina, the rustic chequered floor, and those table plant decorations that look like they’re taken off a spread in Kinfolk. It’s a good thing the food lives up to expectations too.

Ditch the typical big breakfast combo – here you can customise your own ‘breakfast board’ with your choice of fi ve to 11 ingredients; options include eggs, smoked chicken sausages, dried apricots, hash browns and yoghurt. Otherwise, go straight for the very pretty Brekkie Egg: picture a slice of wholemeal toast, piled high with avocado, beef bacon, shiso leaf, tomato chutney, brown butter mayo and a poached egg.

The dangerous thing about going to Subang Ria is that it will make you feel like a glutton. Seeing the variety of stalls and taking in the smells around this busy neighbourhood kopitiam will make you want to order everything. So best come with friends and have a bit of everything. But if you had to choose, the mee mamak here is comparable to the ones from Penang, and the fluffy chapatti here is at the top of its game. There’s also the mushroom and chicken feet noodle that’s just as good.

Jalan Ipoh Yong Tow Foo has relocated several times in the past few years, but they have always remained in the same namesake neighbourhood. The current location, however, is probably their best yet – it’s a lively kopitiam-style corner lot in a shophouse stretch with easy parking. But wherever they go, the crowd follows as the yong tau foo are consistently reliable and the selections are generous in size and relatively cheap. They have ‘paper chicken’, the fried fu chuk is crispy and addictive, and don’t leave until you’ve tried the fruit rojak; the thick, chunky rojak paste is a winner – ask for extra har peng (prawn crisps).

Tucked away in Bukit Gasing, Acha Curry House is one of the neighbourhood’s best kept secrets. And it lives up to its reputation. Unlike other banana leaf restaurants around KL, this mess hall-style eatery offers more than just the requisite fish and chicken curries. Here, you can also have onion curry, crab curry and even salted egg curry on your rice. For best results, we recommend a mix of crab curry, dhal and fish curry.

If you want a classic European breakfast of croissant and coffee, you can’t go wrong with Yeast. This Bangsar staple (a bistro and bakery) makes one of the best croissants around – they are light and flaky, and you can have it with different fillings: egg mayo, smoked salmon, curry chicken, mushroom béchamel sauce, or turkey ham with Gruyère.

The egg dishes too are stellar in that they are all forms of cheesy goodness. The buttery, gooey Oeufs Cocotte baked eggs with smoked duck bits is our favourite, and we also recommend the oeufs mollets Florentine – soft-boiled eggs with spinach and mushrooms, glazed with Gruyère cheese sauce.

One of the pioneers of third wave coffee in KL, VCR has not only survived the city’s café bubble but also managed to secure a loyal following that guarantees its longevity. The renovated heritage shophouse is charming and Instagram-worthy, but it’s the quality brunch menu that seals the deal.

There’s a wide variety, and rarer still is that almost everything is good and wholesome. The Turkish-style baked eggs, served on a hot plate with an intense tomato sauce and Greek yoghurt, is exemplary. The decadent brioche French toast comes with a large scoop of espresso ice cream that will have you craving a tub of that creamy goodness. And then there’s a soft-shell crab burger, an avocado toast, a big breakfast set (with chipolata sausages, heirloom tomatoes and lamb bolognese), a russet potato waffle with mushroom fricassee, and more.

One of Singapore Orchard Road’s most popular brunch spots has opened up in Pavilion KL, and with it comes one of the most extensive and varied all-day breakfast menus in the city. Interestingly, a lot of the dishes are inspired by locations around the world, such as the Melbourne (potato pancakes with house-cured gravlax), the Scandinavian (grilled wild salmon fillet with asparagus and potato rosti) and the Tunisian (shakshuka with beef and lamb merguez sausage). This is the place to be if your group has very diverse food preferences, because on the menu you’ll find meat (duck, beef, lamb, etc) and fish dishes, sandwiches, tarts, salads, vegetarian options, cereals, pastries, cakes and even a small selection for kids.