"The moment I saw the food, I was at least relieved to know that the food is somehow related to my Filipino comfort meals."

[KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA] ► So here I am again writing about my first time experiences. Malaysia is the first country I visited (outside my homeland Philippines) so obviously, I am bombarding this blog with numerous first-time-stories, particularly about Malaysia. Here's a narrative about the first food I ever ate abroad with related thoughts and soft blabs.

[KUALA LUMPUR] ▬ NASI GORENG USA (AYAM)
Photos taken by Edmar Guquib on 16-February-2016
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Camera: Canon 1200D

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► HELLO! WELCOME TO KUALA LUMPUR!

With a protesting tummy and a symptomatic hypoglycemia my body was experiencing, I walked on a foreign street for the first time to look for a restaurant near , the hostel where I stayed for my first night in . The name of this street is . This street is of course very special for me because of travel life milestones it gave me:

I've actually dedicated a separate post for this street because I have many stories and thoughts to share. This street is the subject of the Episode 06 of my . For now, my subject is the first food I've ever eaten outside my country Philippines.

From Irsia BnB, with no idea where to eat and what to expect on my first ever night street walk abroad, I clang onto that firm conviction that a Filipino solo traveler like me who walks on the streets of Kuala Lumpur alone at night can guarantee a high percentage of safety. With that, I was confident to walk and explore this street in my search for a restaurant. To cut the very long story short (I swear, a lot of stories and thoughts more to tell so hang on), I found this restaurant called .

It's almost 10:00 in the evening when I found this. The other restaurants around were already closed. Thank God this was still open. Anyway, again, to cut the very long story short, I ordered this food called nasi goreng usa (daging/ayam). Look at the photo of the menu below and spot this food I am referring here.

[KUALA LUMPUR] ▬ KAFETERIA IKHWAN
Photo taken by Edmar Guquib on 16-February-2016
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Camera: Canon 1200D

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► THE KAFETERIA MENU

As a first-time eater of a food I ordered abroad, I honestly didn't know what those food were all about. To help me decide, I asked one of the restaurant staff their best seller, hence, this food. I looked on their menu and their best seller was also the most expensive at 7 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) ~ 85 PhP.

After a few minutes of waiting, they served me this food with a savory smell I can't explain. I knew it had curry, chicken, fried rice and some vegetables like cauliflower and cabbage. The moment I saw the food, I was at least relieved to know that the food is somehow related to my Filipino comfort meals. The chicken, the fried rice and the vegetables are all familiar to me, of course. I was just so exaggerated to think that I would be eating noodles with unknown herbs, sea creatures or whatever. Dang! I was so stupid this point of time to overthink about this.

(I searched on Google what does nasi goreng mean and the virtually smart G revealed that it's a fried rice. WTF! I thought it's some kind of weird food because the name sounded like sacred herbs or what.)

What made my first food trip abroad extra special is the presence of mountain dew—I'm referring to the lemon-flavored soft drink manufactured by Pepsi. In the Philippines, I drink mountain dew almost daily (because this Franks burger outlet that sells mountain dew is just one hip sway away from the emergency room of the hospital where I work). I just noticed that the mountain dew-in-can here was less sweeter that its Filipino counterpart. I poured this refreshment to my ice-cubes-filled transparent silver glass and my craving was satisfied. I actually consumed two cans. One wasn't enough. You know, I was so tired and hungry so this is the effect—I swallow food and drinks in no time!

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► NASI GORENG MEAL

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► MY FIRST NON-PH MOUNTAIN DEW

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► NASI GORENG USA (AYAM/DAGING)

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► THE MENU

The food was spicy but I swear I drooled!

I enjoyed the first non-Filipino food I ordered outside the Philippines so like the Filipino-style unli-rice, I requested, "extra rice please." I later realized I need to pay for that extra rice, uhm, a.k.a. nasi goreng. It was worth it though.

So this is my first food trip story abroad. How about you? I would like to hear your stories too. Please share them! :) | end |

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► THIS POST IS PART OF MY .

16 FEBRUARY 2016: KAFETERIA IKHWAN
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[KUALA LUMPUR] ► HELLO! WELCOME TO KAFETERIA IKHWAN!

► FOOTNOTES, DISCLAIMERS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ETC

[1] This post is filed under the category "Food and Cuisines." This is a category here on my blog where I write my experiences and note down my insights and personal stories about food and cuisines I've seen or eaten. There is a section below where you can see other related posts from this category.

[2] This is NOT a sponsored post. I personally paid for my food in this restaurant. I write reviews to give other travelers more options and ideas in deciding what food to try.

[3] All maps I used on this post are from Google Maps.

[4] All photos are mine.

[5] The insights, condition and name of places or properties I mentioned here are based on the facts and situation on the day of my visit. Take note that you may have a different experience when you try or see the properties or places mentioned here. Names of places and properties may also change by time so it's not my responsibility to update all the information on this blog because once published, I already consider it an archive and I won't update my narratives because I want them to become my references of what have happened in the past. I'm very particular of the dates because I want my amazing readers to understand that I am writing stories based on my perspective and insights on the day of my visit. You can see dates almost everywhere on this blog. Exempted from this rule are my travel guide posts that need to be updated.