Best or Good Place to Buka Puasa

To be honest, the fasting month of Ramadan in Malaysia is the same every year.

Buka Puasa translates from Malay as the breaking of fast, and hotels compete against each other to offer the best selections for Buka Puasa.

Buffet prices will always be one of the main concerns, and several people will probably gain weight.

So, is there a best or good place to buka puasa? No, there is none. Each place has its own speciality catered towards different people.

Hotels, Ramadan Bazaars, and Malay Restaurants are the main places to buka puasa; therefore, there are many choices available nowadays.

But for the hotel industry, it is a dog-eat-dog world here. Many are trying to outdo one another and offer affordable buka puasa buffets for the locals and even foreigners.

Vascos offers some mouth-watering dishes during the fasting month in Malaysia (File photo).

They would then invite suppliers and clients to attend the buka puasa session, which would be an excellent opportunity for additional networking and business. It was all in good intentions, mind you, so it caught on well.

Things have changed over the years, and it has become normal for just about anyone to participate in breaking the fast here in Malaysia.

Tourists visiting Malaysia during the fasting month can experience the Buka Puasa at any of the hotels or even at the local Ramadan Bazaars. This would be an exciting experience.

Local Malay food variety found at most hotels – Image DiscoverJB.

While most hotels would look forward to these corporate clients, a huge growing pool of general consumers would personally go on their own for the buka puasa buffets.

Again, I know some friends or acquaintances who attend hotel buka puasa buffets simply because they like it and can afford it. 

I remember back in the day, buka puasa prices were around RM35 to RM50, and many thought it was expensive. Much has changed in the last decade, and consumers can now spend easily for the sake of lifestyle.

Some of the selections from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

I have attended some invitations to see what food choices are being offered, and in most cases, they are just on an average level for me. 

Many people have not tried authentic Malay kampung food from real places and, hence, do not know how to pass judgment, especially when doing reviews.

You can find all sorts of traditional Malay dishes at Ramadan Bazaars.

This is a catch-22 situation; most hotels can never get their stay right. In many cases, they cook the satay and leave it for guests to take, and most of the time, the satay is hard, cold, or under-average.

Terengganu traditional buka puasa food dishes.

When you read reviews of buka puasa, you will always see writers or bloggers selling the event extra highly, even though they are just bloggers or writers and not professional food critics.

However, based on years of experience, I have some examples of places to buka puasa below for writing purposes.

The PJ Hilton is a popular place to buka puasa

Japanese selection at the Sheraton buffet.

New Hotels to Buka Puasa in Kuala Lumpur

Since writing this article in 2015, many new hotels have opened all over the Klang Valley, and some of them have offered outstanding choices for breaking-fast buffets. I have yet to try them, but hopefully, this year, I will manage to experience them.

St. Regis Hotel Kuala Lumpur – One of the luxury hotels in KL City that has been highly popular among the locals. Five-star service with five-star quality is what you can expect from the St. Regis KL.

Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur – Another luxury hotel that caters to well-heeled consumers, and you can expect some premium quality buka puasa buffet here.

Hilton Kuala Lumpur – A favourite among the lifestyle urbanites, you can expect this place to be pretty crowded during the buka puasa time.

Sheraton Hotel Petaling Jaya – Recently opened and in the limelight of the recent Malaysian elections, this new hotel in PJ will live up to its standards after Tun Mahathir chose this hotel as his base of final operations in the elections.

Of course, many other hotels offer buka puasa buffet packages, and there are probably too many around. However, as mentioned, the consumer will pass judgment and have a personal favourite.

I also have another article highlighting the Ramadan buffet prices for hotels in Klang Valley. This will indicate how much you need to pay to buy a buka puasa at the various hotels.

A typical scene at a Ramadan Bazaar in Malaysia

Ramadan Bazaars in KL or PJ are also trendy places where locals flock here to get their local Malay food dishes to take home for breaking the fast.

At times, you can find some of the best Malay foods at these food bazaars located at strategic places around the Klang Valley and across every state in Malaysia.

Blue Rice for Buka Puasa.

Some of these Ramadhan Bazaars have well-known and famous Malay dishes, and long lines are seen at these stalls. Sometimes, people wait for 30 minutes just to buy that one dish.

My recommendation is to visit these food bazaars and try the local experience, as it is fun and unique, especially if you are a traveller or visitor to Malaysia.

Again, Malaysia is a multiracial country that offers all kinds of foods from the many different races here. Ramadan is just one of them.

Common Ramadan Bazaar in Malaysia – Image by JohorKaki.

I may not be a professional foodie or food critic, but my job takes me to many off-the-beaten-path places, so I have had my fair share of sampling local and traditional food from all over Malaysia.

I also take the initiative to explore Malaysia’s hidden culinary scenes, and you can read my article about the rare and unique Bario Food Festival or Pesta Nukenen Bario, held in the highlands of Bario in Sarawak.