Best workday lunch spots in Bukit Bintang

Tucked away on the fourth floor of Sungai Wang Plaza (right next to the car park), the food court houses a variety of noodle and rice stalls. But people are usually here for the mixed rice; the spread is huge and the food is relatively cheap – a plate of zhap fan is about RM5, with a side of chicken and vegetables. The setting here is quite retro – dine to old movies of Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-Fat playing from the TVs around you.

Working in the heart of KL doesn’t give you many options for cheap eats. Luckily there are still places like Wisma Cosway around. Here you can easily get a meal and a drink for under RM10 at Tesstaurant Café; there are rice dishes with sweet and sour pork, herbal chicken and more. Also available are various Japanese restaurants that offer affordable set lunch deals. If all that doesn’t tickle your fancy, check out the food court outside where there are hawker favourites like nasi ayam or wantan mee, among others.

There’s not much to be said about this food court that can’t be said about other food courts. It’s cheap and it gets unbelievably packed during lunchtime, when regulars come for hawker favourites like ayam kunyit, laksa, nasi campur and more. But Menara Olympia’s stands out because almost every stall here is good, compared to a typical office food court which only has a couple of reliable stalls.

Just opened last year, Capitol Café manages to retain the vibes of yesteryear kopitiams with vintage patterned tiles and typical old school coffee shop furniture to match. The most popular meal here is the nasi lemak set lunch, which comes with a hefty piece of chicken and a drink for only RM10. Or if you like, you could go with any of the classic kopitiam ‘superfoods’ they have on the menu.

Set lunch, Mon-Sat, 12noon-2pm

It’s a discotheque by night and a restaurant by day. During the day, plastic chairs and tables are set up on the dance floor to cater for the lunchtime crowd. If you’ve ever wanted to have good tom yum on a dance floor, this is your chance.

During lunchtime, Opium serves an all-you-can- eat lunch buffet at RM29. While it may be a bit on the pricey side, you’re definitely getting more bang for your buck here.