You would be hard-pressed to find a more eclectic array of culinary creations anywhere in the world than that which you find in Malaysia. But it's hardly surprising when you consider the assortment of cultures than make up the fabric of this South-east Asian coastal country.

Malaysia has a multi-ethnic population that comprises Chinese, Indian, Malay and Eurasian people. And each of these sectors of the greater Malaysian community comes with its own brand of gastronomic delights.

I start my culinary journey in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, or KL, as the locals refer to it. Dotted among gadget shops, internet cafes and monstrous malls is a multitude of small restaurant cum pavement cafes, which serve Malaysian food.

My first stop is breakfast at the oldest hotel in the city, the Federal Hotel. As hotels go, breakfast is a buffet banquet.

But forget about bacon and eggs, this is a traditional spread catering for locals - or at least an attempt to allow foreigners to experience ethnic flavours.

Being a Muslim country, bacon is banned in Malaysia. Of course, there are various replacements - turkey bacon (which is actually fried smoked turkey) and macon (a mutton variation).

But the most interesting thing on this menu is the different types of rice - stodgy short-grained white rice and fried rice - and an assortment of curries. Then there's nasi lemak, a type of rice cooked in coconut milk and served with dried anchovies cooked in a sambal, slices of cucumber, hard-boiled eggs and peanuts, and traditionally packaged in a fresh banana leaf.

For breakfast? Absolutely.

And this is in addition to dried sardines, a kind of fishy biltong, if you will, and sweet and sour chicken.

A typical Malaysian lunch and dinner consist of various types of curries, the base of which, again, is coconut milk. These dishes are called lemak and are not pungent, but aromatic and flavourful with an array of spices and, of course, the coconut milk to give it a rich, creamy texture.

Tamarind is used in most dishes for that sour taste and is especially prevalent in fish and seafood dishes. And whether it's chicken, mutton or fish, each dish has a distinct Malay flavour with whole spices such as star anise, cloves or cinnamon, coming through strongly.

This is in addition to other flavours like lemongrass, fresh red or green chilli peppers, candlenut, turmeric root, tamarind paste, fresh curry leaves, yoghurt and a Malay staple, dried shrimp paste or belacan.

Satay is a great starter as it is usually a communal dish. Satay is essentially pieces of meat (chicken or beef) on a skewer, marinated in a rich, sweet yet spicy marinade and grilled over hot coals. These skewers of meat are served with a spicy peanut dipping sauce.

But if Malay food is not your thing, then head down to Jalan Petaling, the heartland of the Chinese community. Service is fast and furious and within a few minutes of you ordering you are tucking into your food. Eateries range in style from the opulence of traditionally decked out restaurants to basic cafés reminiscent of cafeterias, complete with plastic chairs.

One of the most popular Chinese dishes is Hainan chicken rice, which is a whole chicken that's slow-poached and cut into bite-sized pieces and served with rice cooked in a chicken broth with loads of ginger.

Then there's the hot and spicy fish, which is exactly what the name suggests: a fish peppered with a hot and spicy marinade and deep fried. This is served with a sweet and sour sauce.

A variation on the fish is a sweet-and-sour version, prepared exactly the same as above but topped with stewed pineapple, green peppers and onions.

Noodles are huge in Chinese cooking and the most popular of these are Penang hokkien mee, which is thin rice noodles, not unlike vermicelli, served in a spicy soup. The soup is made with some or other meat or seafood and spring onion, and chilli is liberally added to the dish.

A single sitting at a Chinese table and you are presented with seven or eight courses of food, all in quick succession, and, by the time you leave, you will have sampled most of what's on offer by way of a Malaysian Chinese menu.

The Indian component of Malaysian food is much like the Chinese - the dishes are plentiful and a single meal can consist of a number of different curries, served with either rice or soft naan bread made from wholewheat flour. The dough is rolled out and then slapped on the inside of a tandoor or clay oven where it's cooked at very high heat.

Most Indian restaurants such as Nagasari Curry House in Jalan Mesui, KL, which is one of the most popular in the city, serve lashings of the most sumptuous South Indian curries the traditional way - on banana leaves. The idea is to sample as many of their culinary creations as possible.

The mutton korma, slow-cooked in a blend of spices and coconut milk, is served with an aromatic basmati rice or naan bread. Other alternatives are fish head curry, pineapple shrimp curry and mee rebus, an Indian sweet potato.

Most meals in Malaysia average about 10 ringgits (R17) and for just R50 a day, you can easily chomp your way through breakfast, lunch and dinner and have some money left over for one of the many traditional drinks. And of course, if local is not really lekker, then there's always KFC, McDonalds and Nando's.

But don't chicken out - when in Malaysia, do as the Malaysians do! It's time to broaden your palate's horizons.