Brickfields: Little India and banana-leaf lunch

Jasmine garlands, Tamil music, sari shops and rice served on banana leaves, a few steps from the city’s busiest transport hub.

Area

Neighbourhoods

Start from

KL Sentral

Distance

walking distance, about 2 km

Time needed

half a day

Best season

All year; Deepavali (October/November) is spectacular

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Any line to KL Sentral

Tickets & rules

None; remove shoes at temples

Why go

Walk out of KL Sentral station, cross the road, and the city changes key. Brickfields, KL’s Little India, smells of jasmine and frying spices; Tamil film songs play from the shops, sari silks hang in bright layers, and the pillars along Jalan Tun Sambanthan are painted in Indian colours.

The real reason to come is lunch. Banana-leaf rice is one of Malaysia’s great meals: a leaf is laid in front of you, rice is heaped on it, and then waiters come round with buckets of vegetable curries, pickles, crunchy papadum and gravies, refilling until you fold the leaf towards you to say you’re done. Eat with your right hand if you like; nobody minds a spoon.

Afterwards, wander. Brickfields is also home to an old Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, churches and Hindu shrines, and it’s one of the easiest neighbourhoods to explore on foot.

The story

After a great fire and flood in 1881 destroyed much of Kuala Lumpur’s wooden town, the British resident Frank Swettenham ordered the town rebuilt in brick and tile. The bricks came from kilns here, on the flat land south of the centre, and the area kept the name: Brickfields.

When the railway arrived, the colonial government recruited workers from southern India and Ceylon, and many lived in railway quarters here, which is why Brickfields became the heart of Tamil and Sri Lankan life in Kuala Lumpur.

The Buddhist Maha Vihara, founded in 1894 by the Sinhalese community, is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country, and on Wesak Day it starts the city’s biggest candlelit procession. The Vivekananda Ashram, built in 1904, honours the Indian philosopher who travelled widely in the late nineteenth century.

In 2010, the main road was transformed with arches and colourful decorations as an official ‘Little India’, and a fountain in the shape of a lotus was added. Some locals still prefer the old, unvarnished Brickfields.

Getting there

Every rail line in the city meets at KL Sentral: LRT, Monorail, KTM Komuter, MRT and airport trains. Brickfields is right across the road; the Monorail also has its own KL Sentral stop next to the Little India arch.

A suggested plan

1. 10:00Walk along Jalan Tun Sambanthan, browsing sari shops, flower stalls and spice shops.
2. 11:00Visit the Buddhist Maha Vihara and the nearby Hindu temples.
3. 12:30Banana-leaf rice at one of the busy restaurants, with a glass of teh tarik.
4. 14:00Finish with Indian sweets or a cold lassi, then continue on by train from KL Sentral.

Where to stay

Hotels around KL Sentral are great for transit, especially before an early airport train, and put Brickfields at your doorstep.

Good to know

• Eat with your right hand only if you eat by hand.
• Fold the banana leaf towards you to say you enjoyed the meal.
• Jasmine garlands make a lovely small offering at temples.
• Around Deepavali the streets fill with lights and a festive bazaar.