🍛 Curries & Stews

Not a curry but a controlled desiccation — beef simmers in coconut milk and a complex rempah paste for hours until the liquid evaporates, the emulsion breaks into coconut oil, and the meat essentially deep-fries in its own spiced fat. Originating from the matrilineal Minangkabau people, rendang is the centrepiece of every Hari Raya celebration.

festive · iconic · dinner

A rich, creamy coconut curry soup with noodles, tofu puffs, shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts, and cockles. Each region in Malaysia has its own variation with distinct spice profiles.

lunch · iconic · spicy

A large fish head (usually red snapper) simmered in a rich, tangy curry sauce with okra, tomatoes, eggplant, and tamarind. A signature dish of Malaysian Indian cuisine.

dinner · iconic · spicy

A traditional Malay chicken curry with a turmeric-yellow coconut milk gravy, flavored with lemongrass, galangal, and turmeric leaves. Milder than Indian-style curries but deeply aromatic.

lunch · dinner · festive

A Peranakan comfort stew of bone-in chicken and potatoes slow-braised in fermented soybean paste (taucu) and palm sugar (gula melaka). Born from the Baba Nyonya communities of Malacca, this dish fuses Chinese braising techniques with Malay aromatics — gentle, savory-sweet, and entirely chili-free.

peranakan · comfort-food · dinner

Sarawak's iconic Iban and Bidayuh bamboo-cooked chicken. Marinated meat is stuffed into a fresh bamboo stalk with lemongrass, ginger, and native bungkang leaves, then sealed with tapioca leaves and slow-roasted over an open fire. No oil or water is added — the chicken steams in its own juices and the sweet sap of the bamboo.

indigenous · sarawak · gawai