"JALAN BUKIT BINTANG" Top 5 Page for this destination Kuala Lumpur Travelogue by Audrey118

Bukit Bintang, literally translated it means 'the hill of the heavenly stars'.

My parents and their siblings love telling me how it was in those days. All I can ever remember was merry go round rides and ferris wheels!!! and that was in the 1960s.

Bukit Bintang became a hot entertainment spot in the 1930s.

A group of bussinessmen wanted to build their version of Hollywood Park. Years later it was bought over by Shaw Brothers and subsequently changed to BB Park.

And the most famous bit my parents would talk of is of course the BB Cabaret where there are dance hostess for hire!!! They would pay an entrance fee and then weirdly, they had to buy coupons and then choose the dance hostess who would be sitting in pairs around the dance hall, and patrons who wanted to dance with any of the lady had to place their coupons under the particular lady's handbag atop the table.

Dancing among my parents-aged group is still popular - they call it ballroom dancing and there are still schools and parties for these dancing coupled to go to. They would take to the floor for all kinds of dances, ranging from the energetic ronggeng, to the cha-cha and tango, the waltz and the quickstep. In those days, doing the ronggeng with the dance hostesses was a young man's rite of passage.

Today, Bukit Bintang is more of a shoppers haven, coupled with the Bintang Walk (the idea of tycoon Francis Yeoh whose company owns the major properties along this road such as Lot 10, Starhill, Marriot Hotel, Ritz Calrton etc) which is a stretch of eateries which are mainly al fresco, and also houses many hotels, from 5 star (Marriots, Regent Hotel and soon to be added Westin) and also many many 3 stars and lesser stars hotels to suit all budget.

The picture here is of BB Plaza which has British chain Mark and Spencer, and has Metro Jaya Dept store, and some money changers and lots of small stores. It is connected to Sungei Wang shopping centre.

This picture is taken to the left of BB Plaza.

You can see Lot 10 which houses Isetan Dept store and a reasonably good food court, and has Dome cafe etc - this is where the Bintang Walk starts from where the Haagen Daz kiosk is.

Also from here is the 'upper-end' of the Bukit Bintang Road and more frequented by tourist and the other end looks the cheaper end!!!

This picture is o the right of BB Plaza which starts from this chicken rice stall - only seen at night and ends up to where Century Novotel Hotel is. At the end of the street it meets up to where the old Pudu Jail was. Along this part of BB road, is less frequented by tourist but is highlighted by Federal Hotel which history take place. It was built to mark the Independence Day in 1957, and was the best hotel for many years. There is the revolving restaurant at the top, and I remember clearly leaving my cardigan there as a child to let it revolved and it never came back!!!
The owner of Federal Hotel, the Low Yat group also owns Capitol Hotel, and also owns many prime properties around the city including Melia Hotel, the properties of Crown Princess and the shopping complexes around it.
They also own Sydney's Rushcutter Bay Hotel.

If you ever chance to see stalls selling Seremban Siew Pow (very yummy roasted pork buns) and also stalls selling Old Chang Kee curry puffs - they are yum. I believe you may be able to spot them around this part of the city

This is end of Bukit Bintang is less frequented by tourist

Just opposite the BB Plaza, there is a row of shophouses which includes MacDonald and also Royal Selangor Pewter.

I took a picture of these two stalls, one with the red plastic table cloth - the man sells nasi lemak in the morning. These stalls are very common as early as 7am where you can buy some breakfast as oppose to Mac Donald breakfast.

Around 9am there is a lady selling one of the best soyabean curd and soya milk in town, it is a little kiosk in fron of the Honey Bake stall. In this picture she was just setting up her stall. Her soyabean curd, is really smooth and taste good - you must have a try.

This is part of Bintang Walk - there is lots of fancy eateries - Dome Cafe (Perth chain famous for chicken pies and cakes), Grappa (cool place), Picolo Mondo (nice pizzas - they have the calzone pizza which looks like a huge curry puff), Chopstick Noddle House ( I like their curry noddles and their prawn dumplings), Cesar Cafe and also fast food such as Kenny Rogers Chicken, coffee chains such as Coffee Beans (for ice blended drinks) and Starbucks and Planet Hollywood (nice fish and chips) are all here. Across the street has also other eateries to offer, some local, some lebanese food, and Japanese outlet. A lot of people just love to hang out here - really crowded!!!

This is a picture of Planet Hollywood and next door to it is Sutera House which is owned by a famous designer called Bernard Chandran who used to work in many famouse Parisian houses. His wife was a famous runway girl with those Parisian houses. He stocks many famous fabrics and lots of rich ladies have their dresses made by him - of course it comes with a price!!!