“Life is short, eat dessert first,” quipped French pastry chef, Jacques Torres, words that have since been immortalized as a mantra for sweet lovers the world over.
Reverence for sweets goes back much further for the Chinese, who started anointing the lips of their Kitchen God with sugary treats before the deity ascends to the heavens. If the sweet bribe works, only honeyed words should issue from the old god’s lips when he reports to the Jade Emperor on each household’s behavior.
Sweet offerings to the gods, known as prasad, are also the order of the day for the Hindus, a Vedic practice that is traced back to the 4th century. The prasad usually consists of a popular sweet like halwa, laddoo or rasgulla, which are then enthusiastically consumed by the worshippers themselves after the prayer ceremonies.
The love for desserts has shown no sign of abating over the millennia. In fact, our love for sweet treats has actually grown, with a legion of new dessert creations to supplement the many traditional ones that we still enjoy today.
Here are nine MICHELIN-selected places that offer some truly enticing sweet treats.
Auntie Gaik Lean's Old School Eatery: Bee Koh Moy
One MICHELIN StarMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 1 Lebuh Bishop, George Town, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
This classic Nyonya dessert is known as bee koh moy in Penang, where Chinese-Hokkien is the everyday spoken language. It translates as “glutinous rice porridge.” The same dessert is known as pulut hitam in Malacca and Singapore, a Nyonya-Malay term meaning “black glutinous rice.”
Here at Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery, black glutinous rice grains are boiled with sugar, dried longans and pandan leaves in water until they achieve the consistency of porridge. Just before serving, generous spoonfuls of santan — salted, thickened coconut milk — are added to complete the mouthwatering ensemble.
Aliyaa - Curd and Treacle
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 48 Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Aliyaa prides itself as a bastion of authentic Sri Lankan cuisine in Kuala Lumpur, offering a bevy of well-executed seafood and meat dishes that reflect the largesse of the land and the sea.
For a memorable ending to a Sri Lankan meal here, why not opt for the much-loved classic, curd and treacle, known in Sri Lanka as kiri pani. It consists of a creamy curd called meekiri, made from fermented buffalo milk, which is paired with a caramelly-woodsy jaggery palm treacle called kithul peni.
Aliyaa obtains its kithul peni treacle directly from Sri Lanka, whilst the fresh meekiri curds are sourced locally, but processed from cow’s milk instead of buffalo’s.
Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Koay: Kueh Koci Santan
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 1 Lebuh Bishop, George Town, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
The nine-decade-old grand dame of Nyonya desserts in Penang, Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Koay sets the gold standard for kueh — bite-sized snacks or desserts made from rice flour, glutinous rice, coconut milk and palm sugar. The shop offers up to seventeen types of freshly made kueh each day: kueh talam, pulut inti, kueh lapis, kueh bingka and many more.
One of the rarer kuehs found here is kueh koci santan: a green-hued, mochi-like glutinous rice flour ball with grated coconut-palm sugar filling, wrapped in a banana leaf parcel together with a thickened coconut milk sauce then steamed. The kueh is believed to be of Chinese origin, adapted from tangyuan — glutinous rice flour balls traditionally served during Chinese festivals. The Nyonyas substituted the traditional mashed red bean or crushed peanut filling for the Malay grated coconut palm sugar inti. Not to be missed.
Ravi's Famous Apom Manis - Sweet Apom
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 319 Jalan Burma, George Town, 10350 Penang, Malaysia
Located right smack in the middle of the always-bustling Pulau Tikus Market, Neelamegan s/o Rajagopal, better known by his nickname, Ravi, is a familiar sight and much-loved figure to the locals here. His relaxed, friendly demeanor belies his rather demanding work in producing stacks of his famous sweet apom — small, pillowy-soft pancakes which are plump and moist in the middle, ringed by delicately crisp, lacy edges. These are cooked in heated earthenware pots atop a row of hot, flaming charcoal braziers which Ravi expertly flips with the skill of a juggler.
Founded back in 1922 by his father, Rajagopal, the stall specializes in Penang-style sweet apom, which is adapted from the South Indian appam whose origins are traced back to the 1st century CE. Its creation is variously attributed to the ancient Tamils as well as early Jewish emigrants to Kerala at the time. The Penang version is distinguished by the inclusion of eggs in its batter, which imparts an intoxicating aroma. One, or even a stack, is never enough.
Elegant Inn - Golden Custard Cake
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 02-01, 2F, Podium Block, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, 50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Elegant Inn consistently serves some of the most sophisticated Hong Kong-style Cantonese haute cuisine in the city to satisfy the fussiest gourmet. Yet, they leave one of their best offerings for last: delicate squares of the lightest sponge cake imaginable, pan-fried in butter and prepared fresh to order. Each bite simply melts in the mouth and has been described by one diner as “akin to biting into a delicious cloud".
Entier - Crêpes Suzette
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Location: Level 41, Alila Bangsar, 58 Jalan Ang Seng, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Entier has never been afraid of pushing culinary boundaries with its trail-blazing French-Japanese fusion cooking and is well-known for the fantastically beautiful creations by Executive Chef Masashi Horiuchi and his protégé, Head Chef Romain Fabre.
But when it comes to the classic French Crêpes Suzette dessert, Entier chose to tread the traditional path. Here, the crêpes are spectacularly flambéed table-side, then served with a reduction of Grand Marnier liqueur and orange juice, accompanied by Chantilly cream and vanilla ice cream. A truly theatrical finish to your meal.
Il Bacaro - Tiramisu
Selected
MICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: Jalan Masjid, off Lebuh Chulia, George Town, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Tiramisu is perhaps the most ordered dessert in Italian restaurants today. Of Venetian origins and first popularized in the 1970s, various parties in Italy have laid claim to its invention, although its composition is never disputed: layers of liqueur-soaked savoiardi (or “ladyfinger”) biscuits, beaten egg yolks, creamy mascarpone cheese and espresso coffee, with a final dusting of cocoa powder.
Over at Il Bacaro, you get to savor the Tiramisu Tradizionale (translated as “traditional pick me up”), which is as authentic as they come. Kahlua coffee liqueur is used here to deliver an alcoholic punch. After all, as the saying goes, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Limapulo - Cendol Nyonya
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 50 Jalan Doraisamy, Chow Kit, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Cendol is the undisputed crown jewel of Malaccan-Nyonya desserts — short, green-hued, pandan-scented rice noodles served with lashings of chilled coconut milk and sweet, treacly gula Melaka, the smoky-sweet local palm syrup.
Despite its link with Nyonya cuisine, the oldest written records mentioning cendol are actually Javanese. It was first mentioned in Kakawin Kresnayana, written by East Javanese royal scribe and poet, Mpu Triguna, from the Kediri Kingdom circa 1104 AD. The Nyonya-Malay name “cendol” comes from the Javanese word “jendol,” which means "bulge” or “swell," referring to the way the dried noodles expand when soaked in water.
Ten-year-old Limapulo was founded by the late John Tan, a true-blue Malaccan Baba who espoused everything good about traditional Malaccan-Nyonya cooking. Its cendol, a mix of green noodles and stewed red beans in coconut milk, is topped with a mound of finely shaved ice, generously drizzled with brown gula melaka syrup.
Vantador - Dry Aged Burnt Cheesecake
SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2025
Located at: 38 Jalan 25/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The moist, creamy Basque-style cheesecake, with its trademark scorched, “burnt” exterior, has proven to be one of the most popular desserts in Malaysia today.
Vantador at Kuala Lumpur’s upmarket Desa Hartamas neighborhood offers a rich, decadent rendition — its signature Dry Aged Burnt Cheesecake is an extra-creamy Basque cheesecake with a dry-aged fat butter-crushed digestive biscuit base, served with white chocolate Chantilly.
