Feeling hungry? Discover 10 delicious foods you must try in Kota Bharu. They’re all amazing!
From sweets to brothy dishes, noodles, rice, kuih (traditional cakes), and much more, you simply have to try the food in Kota Bharu that you may not be able to taste anywhere else. Here we list 10 foods you can explore.
There really are so many options, and if you are only staying a few days in Kota Bharu, it is simply not enough!
Mee Celup
Famous for its distinctive soup with a salty and sour flavour all its own, the mee celup broth is mixed with peanuts, a little vegetable, and bird’s eye chillies to add some heat. You can choose the type of noodles you want, such as vermicelli or yellow noodles.
Nasi Tumpang
Better known as Nasi Tumpe in the Kelantan dialect, nasi tumpang is rice layered with various side dishes, each layer of rice topped with a different dish and wrapped in banana leaf in the shape of a cone.
Among the side dishes used are sambal prawns, serunding (meat floss), creamy chicken curry, and vegetables, making it a fitting breakfast for many Kelantanese.
Etok Salai
Not quite clams or cockles, but still shelled and smaller in size, with a rich, salty taste, a fragrant aroma of lemongrass, and best eaten piping hot in the cool weather after rain.
Its shell can be harder than a cockle’s, but you can still open it using your teeth to crack it apart.
Nasi Kerabu
Once you have reached its home state, you simply must taste the original recipe in Kota Bharu and around Kelantan. You can also try three different types of nasi kerabu: black (blue), white, and yellow.
The colours are extracted from butterfly pea flower (blue) and turmeric (yellow). Each of these three types of nasi kerabu also comes with its own sambal and herbs.
Laksam
At every breakfast spot or eatery you visit, you are sure to come across laksam, including at any market that sells morning food.
A dish made up of rolled rice-flour noodles, cut and served with a sweet, creamy broth rich with fish, and accompanied by a little chilli to add some heat to the broth.
Maggi Ketam Nipah
Among the must-try menu items once you set foot in Kota Bharu, Maggi Ketam (crab Maggi) is unlike the usual Maggi you normally eat, because this dish has the sweetness of crab and a strong seafood aroma.
Most importantly, you get to eat it with crab and other very fresh seafood.
Ayam Percik Kelantan
Unlike the peanut-based ayam percik commonly found at night markets, the taste of Kelantan-style ayam percik, or “white gravy,” is truly rich and smoky with the aroma of burning charcoal.
Ketupat Sotong
If you have noticed, Kelantan’s ketupat sotong (squid stuffed with glutinous rice) is rather different from Terengganu’s in terms of colour, because of the different sugar used, namely gula melaka (palm sugar) versus ordinary sugar. The concept is simple: glutinous rice is stuffed into the body of the squid and cooked in coconut milk with palm sugar and other herbs.
Pulut Bakar
Round and flat in shape, wrapped and grilled in banana leaf. There are usually a few types, either plain or with a filling such as sambal or sweetened coconut.
Pulut bakar is one of the breakfast dishes beloved by Kelantanese that you simply must try.
Sweet Kuih
This state is famous for its sweet flavours. Among the kuih you can try are kuih akok, lompat tikam, badak berendam, nekbat sira, jala emas, che mek molek, puding raja, and many more.
These various kuih can usually also be found at Pasar Siti Khadijah on the ground floor, which sells all kinds of morning kuih.
Explore Kota Bharu, famous for its many types of food with their own distinctive and delicious flavours, because this state takes great pride in recipes handed down through the generations. Don’t be shy to ask the traders for the name of a kuih or even the flavour.
Happy tasting! And if you are looking for a place to stay, book directly with us here.
