Ramadan Buffet at Restoran Rebung in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur -- and a heartwarming encounter with Celebrity Chef Ismail Ahmad

Ramadan was on when I was in Kuala Lumpur a week ago.  I had read about the Ramadan bazaars located all over the city where cooked food could be bought to eat at the breaking of the fast and had put these on top of my to-see list. 

But my friend and colleague Omar told me that no one really ate at the Ramadan bazaars, they just bought food from there to take home.  

Omar promised he would bring me to a better option ... we would break the fast (not me, but he would as he was fasting) at a Ramadan Buffet.

Apparently during Ramadan, restaurants offer buffets where people  get together to enjoy and feast and break the fast -- starting exactly at 7:30 each night during Ramadan.

Omar and his lovely wife Sitti picked me up from the hotel and brought me clear across town to Bangsar, an upscale suburb a few kilometres out of Kuala Lumpur's city center. 

 After driving through rush hour traffic, we finally came to a stop in front of a sprawling bungalow -- with a lighted sign that said Restoran Rebung.  If I wanted a taste of local, authentic cuisine as I had assured Omar and Sitti that I did, they both felt this was the best place to go.

The entrance to the restaurant was festively lit and tables and chairs were set up right as you walked in.  The buzz of hungry, expectant diners all happy and eager to break the fast with family and friends literally hummed throughout the place.  

Because it is set up in a converted bungalow,  Rebung is designed to look and feel like a warm and comfortable home.  This is just one small section of the restaurant --  the air conditioned portion where our table was.  

The eating and feasting continues outside, in wide open halls and porches where more tables are set and where there was even a stage for live band music.  Dining at Rebung  felt just like being a guest in one huge, casual, friendly dinner party.

There are various stations set all around the restaurant.  This lady was making fresh roti on her iron skillet.  She could hardly keep up with the demand as diners would get a piece or two  as fast as she could make them.

Since my head was reeling from all the food that was laid out, I decided to start slow and get a small sampling of rojak, the traditional salad found all over Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.  

Restoran Rebung's rojak had cut fruits like pineapples, singkamas (jicama), macopa (rose apples), cucumbers plus fried tofu and even fishcakes. Topped with  crushed peanuts and a spicy sweet sauce,  it was such an appetite inducing first taste of what the buffet had to offer.  I had to control myself from getting a bigger second serving.  You can also see that I had one piece of the roti with an accompanying bowl of fiery curry.

Done with my appetiser, it was time to forage through the buffet once again.  This very popular station featured yet another version of roti, also freshly made while you waited ... and waited and waited.

Right beside the roti maker was this huge vat of a very enticing and aromatic stew called daging kulai kawah.  There are a lot of similar words between Malaysia and the Philippines and in this case, kawah in Malay translates exactly to  kawa in Tagalog which is a  large cooking vat.   This dish is rather soupy and is made with beef  with lots of onions, ginger, spices like cardamom, anise, cinnamon, coconut cream and a bit of tamarind and palm sugar .

It was full speed ahead at the buffet stations!  While dishes were quick to run out, there was always someone ready to run to the kitchen to replenish the supply.

I tried a lot of food I had never even seen or tasted.  These are salads that Omar assured me were very local and very delicious.

Like us, Malaysians like a lot of side dishes and sauces to add more zing to their food.  

Char kway teow!  Two kinds of this popular noodle dish were on hand.  

There were so many types of dishes on offer that I couldn't quite decide what I would spend my precious calories on -- I decided I'd go for a mix of new flavours and tried and tested favourites.

The dish on the far left is what the restaurant is named after. Rebung is actually Malay for bamboo shoots (labong in Tagalog).  This dish is made with turmeric, ginger, lemongrass and lots of chili.  The bamboo shoots or rebung were cut in big round pieces and had a slightly bitter but not unpleasant taste.

The beverage station at the buffet had different types of cold drinks -- fruit flavoured or made with sweet palm sugar with gelatine bits and sago balls.  There was also a couple of thermos containers of hot drinks like teh tarik or milky tea.

After my initial reconnaissance of the buffet stations, this is what my dinner plate looked like.  Fluffy nasi lemak or rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan, a couple of pieces of the rebung masak lemak,  small snails cooked in coconut cream that I happily slurped the tasty little bits from,  kari ayam or chicken curry,  battered vegetables and some krupuk or fish crackers.  Everything was distinctively delicious -- I couldn't choose a favourite dish if you asked me.

The beef rendang station was constantly running out of this quintessentially Malay beef stew.
I had to lie in wait by the rendang table so that I could make sure to get a portion.  The lady in charge of refilling the tray  said that they cooked their rendang for more than 8 hours so that all the meat turns fork tender,  literally falling apart in each flavourful meltingly good mouthful.
And so, my second  plate had quite a bit of beef rendang spooned over cubes of nasi impit or compressed steamed rice.  I had it with homemade peanut sauce on the side, more of the crazy good krupuk and a freshly made roti canai, liberally drenched with the daging gulai kawah.  A lone piece of shrimp also made it to my plate.
I cannot tell a lie -- I finished each and every morsel on this plate too.
I have always liked Malay food but this was the first time that every thing I had was all so divinely deliciously good.

I barely had room for dessert but Omar made me try this type of kuih.  Kuih are small, bite sized portions of dessert and this one was made of glutinous rice, rolled in grated coconut.  It looked like our pichi pichi and tasted like it too except that this kuih had a hidden nugget of palm sugar right in the centre -- which melted in your mouth as you bit into it.  It was delectable and I'm glad I made room for it in my betsubara (nihongo for second stomach).

At the cashier, they had copies of the owner, Chef Ismail's cookbook for sale.  I had met Chef Ismail earlier, when he so warmly welcomed us to our table and after trying his delightful, honest tasting food -- I knew he was more than just a celebrity chef, he was a true proponent and advocate of Malaysia's food culture and heritage.

I made sure I had an opportunity to have a photo taken with Chef Ismail.  True to his hospitable and generous nature, we found him seated at one of the tables in front, engaged in conversation with diners -- we were after all,  guests in his kitchen, his domain, his home.
I got my cookbook personally signed and he posed for this photo with me.
When I mentioned that I was flying back home the next day, he leaned over and whispered to me "I will say a prayer for your safe journey home".  What a kind and thoughtful soul.

I saw this cheeky sign just as we were about to leave Rebung.  I don't know how good a kisser Chef Ismail is but from the dinner that I just had, I know he is one amazing cook!

Madame Kwan's in Pavilion Mall, Kuala Lumpur ... Malaysian Home Cooking at the Food Court

I was excited to be in Kuala Lumpur for a business meeting last week --  my stomach and I were ready to makan (Indonesian for "eat") and rich, hot, spicy Malay cuisine is one of my favourites.

Just a good ten minute stroll from my hotel is the Pavilion Mall, Kuala Lumpur's leading upmarket mall.  The food court of the Pavilion has a number of stalls and restaurants that come highly recommended for good Malay cooking.

Madam Kwan's beckoned to me with its bright and open interiors.  The sign clearly said nasi lemak possibly my favourite nasi dish.   There were a lot of full tables inside, an indication that the food is bound to be good.

A smiling likeness of Madam Kwan stood by the entrance, welcoming me to come in and try her cooking.

The fare is typically Malay, most of what you would eat in street hawker centres, brought into a more sanitised restaurant setting.  The prices are also two to three times more than what you'd pay for in a hawker stall.

My friend ordered a mixed satay plate -- which came with six sticks of chicken and beef satay, sliced red onions, cucumbers, fresh pineapple chunks, nasi impit and a bowl of peanut sauce.
Impit is compressed rice,  steamed and cut into cubes, sort of like a denser version of our local puto.  It's typically eaten with satay.  I didn't try the satay, which my friend pronounced as tender and well cooked but I did have a bit of nasi impit, liberally coating it with the peanut sauce.

To my mind, an excellent peanut sauce is the key to enjoying satay.  Madam Kwan's peanut sauce had just the right amount of hot-salty-sweet flavours from the blend of spices and the fresh roasted peanuts.  I could have dunked more impit but I had to stop myself -- after all, this was someone else's plate that I was mooching from!

Of course I ordered nasi lemak. Madam Kwan's nasi lemak is not quite the version that I always get in Singapore.  Perhaps this is more typical of nasi lemak in Malaysia.
On my plate, I had a creamy, bright yellow kari ayam (chicken curry) that had tender chicken parts in a smooth sauce that was just the right consistency -- neither too thick nor too thin and watery.
On the side, there was sambal ikan bilis or fried anchovies in a spicy sambal sauce with just a hint of sour tamarind.  There was also some finely minced fish floss and a whole boiled egg.
The nasi, cooked in coconut milk, was fluffy, aromatic and perfectly rounded out the flavour medley.
My nasi lemak was delicious and seemed really home made -- I could imagine Madam Kwan toiling over her hot stove ... cooking, tasting and plating it in her kitchen!

Bijan in Kuala Lumpur -- Traditional Malay cuisine in a sophisticated setting

It was my first time in KL and I was excited to finally try "real" Malaysian food. I had always enjoyed Malaysian dishes in Singapore and now, I would be able to enjoy it right where it came from.

My Malaysian friend brought our group to a place that he said served authentic Malay dishes but in a very upscale and expat/tourist friendly setting.

This raised my foodie hackles a bit. I have this pre-conceived notion that when dining abroad, one should look for the simple places that attract the locals -- not the expats or the tourists. The more rustic it is, the more traditional and authentic it should be.

But now, here we were, about to enter Bijan -- a sophisticated and snazzy looking place along Jalan Ceylon Street -- kind of like KL's Timog Ave. -- with rows and rows of restaurants and bars and yes, expats galore! Right above Bijan, you could see the lights of Kuala Lumpur Tower. It certainly didn't look like it served Malaysian food -- more like western or at best, some kind of fusion cuisine.

I was even more skeptical when we entered Bijan -- it was softly lit, there were beautiful starched white tablecloths, elegant place settings and artistically folded napkins, fresh orchids in small crystal vases, and an attractive orange and black menu.

Most of the tables were full -- and yes, they were occupied by Caucasians -- tourists and expats alike.

My spirits sank -- how could I ever hope to experience the "real" Malaysian cuisine in this place?

However, our friend swore that this was indeed the real thing. Then he proceeded to order practically one of everything from the menu. Our waitress was certainly amused.

We started off with a sampler of all kinds of crunchy keropok -- salty crackers, made from shrimps, fish, squid, puffed rice, cassava and accompanied by a sweet, spicy chili dipping sauce. Hmmm, not bad at all! If I closed my eyes, I could actually imagine myself eating this from some ambulant vendor!

Not content with all those appetizers, we also had a platter of popiah goreng or assorted fried spring rolls. Malaysia is a Muslim country and Bijan does not serve any pork, just beef, lamb and chicken. So, no pork at all in any of these fried lumpia.

We had a kerabu mangga salad -- lots of lily buds tossed with chili, ginger, coriander, ground peanuts and spicy green mango. Very refreshing, despite its heat.

Pako or fiddlehead fern is something I truly enjoy -- cooked with river shrimp and coconut milk. When I saw pucuk paku goreng tahi minyak, I figured that it would be one and the same and true enough, it was. Thanks to the many similarities between Malay and Tagalog!

The malaysian version of pako or paku was stir fried with lots of chili and shrimp.

We had ayam goreng berempah which was very crisp fried chicken, lots of onions, red chilies and garnished with basil leaves.

Not yet content with that, we also ordered tiger prawns. Udang galah panggang was chargrilled prawns served with a tamarind chutney and belacan or the malay version of our very own bagoong.

Of course we had to have chicken curry or ayam kampung limau purut. You could taste the kaffir leaves which cut through the richness of the coconut cream.

My Indonesian friend, Amelia was with us and she cooks the best ever beef rendang I have ever tried. Beef rendang is actually Indonesian in origin and is a slow cooked beef dish in a spicy and almost dry coconut cream sauce. It's fork-tender and very delicious. Amelia has given me beef rendang to take home from her kitchen in Jakarta and I have been known to hoard it and dole it out in small spoonfuls.

Would Bijan's Rendang Daging or dry beef curry live up to her (and my) expectations?

Hmmm, it did not. But it was well seasoned and tender nonetheless. However, how can a restaurant compete with a home cook, working from a recipe handed down by her mother?

In the Beef Rendang Battle, it was Amelia - 1, Bijan - 0.

My personal request was for nasi lemak, a rice dish I am addicted to.

It's rice cooked in coconut milk and comes with a side of hot sambal sauce, salted peanuts and ikan bilis or dilis to you and me. Nasi lemak went very well with all the spicy and rich dishes.

No one had room for dessert except for me as I have what my Japanese colleagues call a betsubara or a second stomach specifically for sweets. I ordered the classic Malay dessert, sago gula melaka which is chilled tapioca doused with sweet palm syrup and lying on a puddle of cold coconut milk. What a great ending to a great meal!

After enjoying the meal at Bijan, this is what I learned.

I really should be more open when traveling and sampling local cuisine -- sometimes, you can find authenticity and rusticity even in the most sophisticated places.