Arab Street (Ain Arabia) Kuala Lumpur

Ain Arabia or Arab Street has everything that resembles the shopping lifestyle of the Middle Eastern population. This street is located at Jalan Berangan in Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang, the shopping haven for locals and tourists alike. In an effort to encourage tourists from the Middle East, this area was created by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall where Arabs can come here to dine, shop and meet.

Malaysia is as popular with Arabian tourists from the Middle East, as it is with sunseekers and jungle enthusiasts from the Christian countries. In the year 2002, according to the Tourism Board of Malaysia, about 132,000 tourists from the Arabian Gulf and Middle East visited the country.

Although it is designed to meet the needs of the Arab community and tourists, this place is also frequented by locals and other tourists who want to experience the food and culture of the Arabs in Malaysia. In Kuala Lumpur, several Arab nationals have opened up business providing Arab style food to the visitors. One such restaurant, the Tarbush, has opened more than one branch in Kuala Lumpur and in Ampang where there is high concentration of Arab families.
Although it is designed to meet the needs of the Arab community and tourists, this place is also frequented by locals and other tourists who want to experience the food and culture of the Arabs in Malaysia.

The literal translation is Eye Arab (the grammatically correct version should read al Ain Arabiya which would translate to "The Eye of Arabia").
After 30 meters you'll see at the left side the Fortuna Hotel with it's famous restaurant "Sahara Tent". This is the centre of "Ain Arabia".
Since Ala H. Salih set up the Sahara Tent restaurant at the Fortuna Hotel five years ago, tourists, embassy officials and students have been making a beeline to al Mantaga al Arabiya or "the Arabian area".

The literal translation is Eye Arab (the grammatically correct version should read al Ain Arabiya which would translate to "The Eye of Arabia").
The draw of the restaurant may be due to the 20 per cent increase in tourist arrivals from the Middle East between July, August and September.
Many can be seen dining in the restaurant's lush carpeted interior (with privacy booths for veiled women to dine in private) or smoking pipe outside.

There's also an Arab barber to cut hair the way Arab men like it. Not many barbers in Kuala Lumpur are good at trimming beards. Some Arab men need to have their facial hair removed by threading. For some, this has to be done every three days.
Apart from the barbers shop, the other four shops adjacent to the Fortuna Hotel are a mini market,two souvenir shops and the Hay-al Arab Restaurant, which serves Yemeni cuisine.
Naab’s mini market stocks products like canned tomatoes, bottled olives, Lebanese bread, a variety of cheeses and dates.
The al-Khaima souvenir shop stocks Arabic music CDs, VCDs, shisha pipes, tobacco, perfume oils and incense wood chips.