Bijan Bar & Restaurant

Not usually one to make a beeline for the deep fried things, I was impressed to find minimum oiliness and maximum flavour with the Ayam Goreng Sambal Tomato; fried chicken with tomato sambal. The skin was crisp but the flesh was tender, and the tomato sambal was like nothing else, dancing around the tastebuds with a spicy, rich, tomato confidence that ensured the chicken tasted at its best.

It was fun to grill the Satay on a traditional charcoal brazier, though admittedly it was hot and smoky work. After careful tending, the resulting satay was bursting with a complexity of flavours enhanced by the fragrant sauce; the best I’ve ever tasted…and I made it myself!

Succulent ayam goreng berempah first arrive at our table. This Malay-style fried chicken is never about the crunch, but the bold spicy flavours. Marinated overnight in rempah paste somehow makes the chicken extremely juicy, and then deep fried to intensify the flavours of the spices, predominantly turmeric. Serve with a tub of curry sauce on the side, you simply can't stop at one piece.

I think almost every single South East Asia country has its own version of green papaya salad. The kerabu mangga is totally different from the Thai version of Som Tum and not as spicy. It is a mix of shredded green mango, shallots and torch ginger, coated in a sour sambal dressing. It is a refreshing salad to break from the richness of coconut milk in curry dishes.

As black as ebony, this Bijan's signature rusuk panggang is a must try. These unidentified blackened objects are BBQ beef ribs smothered in dark soy sauce, they are sweet, salty, meaty but on the verge of being tough. Best to eat with fingers and some strong teeth to yank the meat off the bone, the barbarian way. It comes with two dipping sauces of chopped bird's eye in kecap manis and sambal chilli.

More dishes arrive at our table one after another. Rendang Kambing, the slow stew dry mutton curry is just as good as the more common beef version but with a stronger gamey flavour and leaner meat. The masak lemak udang nanas reflects the beauty of Nyonya cooking, Chinese influence dish by using Malay spices. The tiger prawns are sweet and tender, swimming in tangy pineapple curry infused with kaffir lime leaves. <br><br> Never judge the book by its cover. Opor Rusuk, in fact is the highlight of the night. An Indonesian influence dish, slow-cooked in a thick rich gravy of aromatic spices and coconut milk, meaty beef ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender. It is so good that we simply have to order another round of the ribs to satisfy one's gratuitous gluttony. Terung goreng bercili, is a simple dish of fried long eggplants smeared with chilli sauce. The eggplants are still bit firm and can use a little bit more of cooking time, and also a tad on the greasy side.

I am rather excited about this dish, stir fried fern tips is one of my favourite and I haven't had it for ages! These fern tips are stir fried in tahi minyak, directly translated as 'Oil Poo', but is actually the burned milk solids from frying coconut milk until it splits. The crunchy fern tips are tossed together with perfectly cooked prawns in an aromatic burned coconut solids that gives the dish a nutty flavour.