I’ve been thinking about whether or not to share this with anyone. There is, you see, a little nasi lemak place high on the hill above KL and, well, it’s really good. And I mean REALLY good. So good, in fact that you can find me trekking all the way out there several times a month to have breakfast and believe me, this is not just around the corner: Take the elevated highway to the very end of it, all the way out to Ampang. Continue past Ampang village and on past Ampang waterfront (that place, by the way, is worth a blog of its own) and on and on. Turn right in the direction of the only landmark to be found, i.e. the Carrefour desecrating… Come to think of it, there really wasn’t anything to desecrate.

Now comes the tricky bit. You pass a few dull intersections and then you have to turn left to ascend the hill. If you’re not familiar with the area (and let’s face it, why the hell should you be, there really is nothing there) you’ll have to be careful not to miss the turn. Up and up you go, heading towards Hulu Langat, singing “Climb every Mountain” fabulously out of tune and there, just at the top, on your right, you see what looks like a DBKL interpretation of a public toilet for tourists (half of it actually IS a public toilet for tourists) and here you have reached Walhalla.

I know you’re going to question my nasi lemak judgement, so I would like to insert a few quotes from local friends unbiased by the fact that I got up at seven in the morning to pick them up from their homes, drove them for miles while making interesting conversation and then bought them the very nasi lemak they are now gobbling up, only to drive them all the way to work after that. Quotes: “Wow”; “Damn Siok”; “When are we coming back here?” – See???

And what makes it so good? The rice is lemak, the ayam goreng is freshly gorenged, the sambal is not too sweet and the whole thing is better than the sum of its delicious parts. In short, like the nasi lemak of my youth, misspent as it may have been. But seriously, don’t just take my word for it, this place is open daily and I think it nasi lemaks from 7:30 to 11:00am. Go early, climb the hill behind the warung and enjoy the view while you’re at it. And remember, climbing the hill after your nasi fix will consume one tenth of one percent of the calories you just stuffed into yourself. But then, some things are just really, really worth getting fat for.