Nasi Hidang Selera
Several years ago, I asked my boss, a fastidious Malay man with impeccable english and a discerning palate, if he could recommend a restaurant serving good Malay food. He turned to me and said, “Meena, the only place where you can find good Malay food is at home.”
He was right, of course. I remember having best friends from all races while growing up, and we’d hang out in each other’s homes before and after school. One friend, in particular, a Malay girl who always had the best recess-time food, lived just outside the school, across the road, in the government quarters. It was a tiny house. Sometimes, while waiting for the bas sekolah, we’d sit on the cement floor which was covered in a plastic floor mat which had repetitive garish geometric designs and partake of the delicious tea time kuih freshly made in their little kitchen.
Nowadays, occurrences such as these are infrequent. I am not a saint; I am as guilty as the next person for not having more of the semangat kejiranan. I once lamented this situation to Bald Eagle. He opened my eyes to the fact that our lifestyles had changed from the days of yore, not necessarily for the better, as we seemed to be working longer hours with every passing year and thereby quelling all possibilities of bumping into our neighbours.
Contemporary table setting at Bijan. The pink ice-cream you see on the right is bandung ice-cream and not strawberry!
When I first learnt of Bijan, I was a little skeptical about dining there. The common misconception is that if the place looks good, something has to give, and it’s usually the food. But after dining there several times (Bijan should give me a loyalty card…hello, somebody out there!), I’ve come to the conclusion that the food’s great, the ambience is warm and romantic, and the prices, although high, are not overly expensive. Unfortunately, not many locals realise that, and more often than not I am surrounded by only Mat Salleh customers.
I’ll let you in on a secret. Bijan’s desserts are fantastic! Every time I do a food crawl at Jalan Alor with its fabulous chicken wings and grilled fish, I cap it off with coffee and desserts in Bijan. The gula melaka (palm sugar) cake is amazing – fluffy but firm-textured cake paired with thick gula melaka syrup, oozing with richness and flavour. The pandan pudding is also very good. And if you’re craving for durians, they have two durian desserts – a durian cheesecake and a chocolate durian cake. (I normally call ahead to book my durian favourites.) Homemade ice-cream is also available in various local flavours like teh tarik and bandung (rose syrup with milk).
Otak-otak steamed in banana leaf and fragrant white rice.
When I dine at Bijan, I prefer to enjoy the ambience at my leisure, so dinner has always been my preferred meal there. But when I heard about the Nasi Hidang Selera on Facebook (gotta love Facebook), only available for lunch from Mondays to Fridays, I knew I had to try it. The promotion is apparently inspired by the concept of dim sum and nasi padang and is priced at RM38 nett per person (inclusive of desserts and coffee/tea). Good news for big eaters – it’s an all-you-can-eat deal as well. True enough, half way through our meal, another tray appeared, just like the first tray, for us to pick out additional dishes.
The dishes were typical Malay fare like ayam masak merah, fish head (red snapper) masak lemak, pucuk ubi masak lemak, sotong cili gajus, kerutup daging, tempeh with terung berembang, otak-otak, siakap goreng cili, chicken curry, mixed vegetables and kerabu. Some of these items (like kerutup daging, ayam masak merah and otak-otak) are also available on the ala carte menu, so it’s a great sampler if you’re hesitant to try the main-course sized dishes. I enjoyed most of the items; the otak-otak (made with snapper, if I’m not mistaken) was beautifully steamed in banana leaf, whilst the kerutup daging with its coriander, cumin and coconutty taste was scrumptious. I ordinarily like tempeh, but I found this a little overcooked. The chicken curry was mild, but I suppose a contrast was needed for the other more spicy fare. I loved all the dishes cooked in coconut milk (masak lemak) – they were all so fragrant and flavourful.
Ulam galore. The outdoor table setting has a tropical feel and is flanked by huge fronds.
I don’t usually enjoy vegetables, but there’s something about ulam that rocks my world. If you haven’t tried it, despite it being raw, it’s not like eating grass. Each leaf has a distinct flavour. My favourite is ulam raja which tastes a little like unripe mango. The ulam has fascinating names like tenggek burung, daun ceylon and pegaga and is eaten with very pedas sambal belacan.
Desserts that day was a choice of fresh fruits or bandung ice-cream. The dishes and desserts change every day, so you won’t get bored easily with the choices available.
Parking used to be horrendous, but now there’s a huge open-air carpark where Bon Ton used to be (customers of Bijan and Nerovivo can rejoice!) directly opposite Bijan where parking’s RM5 flat. Of course, if you’re willing to risk it, you can throw your car a little further down the road along the side roads.
Bijan
No 3 Jalan Ceylon
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603 2031 3575
Opening Hours
Mon-Sat 12 noon – 2:30pm & 6:30pm -10:30pm
Sunday 4:30pm – 10:30pm
Map and website HERE.
LL darling, you have certainly outdone yourself with your pictures! This has a fresh, magazine-style feel to it. Very garden and green. Very nice. 🙂
And the desserts @ Bijan are indeed to die for!
I’ve completely disregarded Malay fine dining, preferring to hit the gerai-gerai in the neighbourhood or visit my Malay buddy’s house, ALWAYS inviting myself around mealtimes 😀 And for that foolishness, I’ve spent 30 odd years of my life without bandung ice cream! Ch-ch-change!
I’m never a big fan of beef ribs (pork supersedes everything doesn’t it?) but somehow, I find myself missing the ones served here every now and then. Very melayu in taste but still beats the crap they serve up at those American diners!
Gotta admit, it prolly the only upmarket Malay restaurants I’ll happily bring my visiting friends or colleagues to and not feeling ashamed that they’ll not be having an authentic Malay meal experience.
LFB: It’s easy when the restaurant is already so beautiful. I love eating in such settings, i.e. when it looks beautiful naturally without trying too hard to impress. You know what I mean? Yes, I agree…the desserts are FABULOUS!
550ml jar of faith: It’s never too late. 🙂 You must try all the desserts there! The mains are all very good too. And best of all, they have a wine list, something the gerai2s don’t have, eh?
A Lil Fat Monkey: Yeah, the ribs here are to die for. I agree about the crap too!! I also share your sentiments aabout bringing visiting friends to Bijan. I can tell you that they have all been impressed with the food at Bijan. Many of the Mat Sallehs have also ventured to trying the durian delicacies, and enjoyed it!
wow… really looks good… but too bad … only weekdays…
think i need to go on one of my off day ^^
slurrrpp… on diet for my wedding, haha, its good to be here, at least i still keep updated abt the good food in town ^^ thanks~
ahh.. when ya paying a visit to the latest Malay fine-dining restaurant in town? (Ibunda). Myself not been so cant comment. Perhaps u can giv us a comparison 😉
ohhh i like that first picture…
yes its a misconception that theres no such thing as fine dining malay food..
but their durian desserts does rock any sock off!
Yummy! Really good deal but sadly only for weekdays. Miss the durian ice-cream.
ah, dreamy look, pandan pudding, teh tarik ice cream, durian cheesecake…… shuddering with esctasy in my seat….
LFB, did you say very magazine???? how apt.
waisikmiao: A wedding! How exciting! All the best with the diet, but don’t get too anorexic, hor. 🙂
thenomadGourmand: Soon….I hope! I hear it’s pretty pricey.
lotsofcravings: Thanks! And yeah, we have to be receptive to the fact that if other types of food establishments can go fine dining and charge hefty prices, so can Malay food establishments.
Precious Pea: Well, the durian ice-cream is available at dinner time too. 😉 How about organising a dinner there one day?
fatboybakes: I remember you love the pandan pudding. As for your next comment….hmmphhhhh. I know what you’re thinking, tangechi.
Beautiful! They look like small little appetizers, like how the Koreans do.
no durian cheesecake for u?
It looks beautiful there…I admit I haven’t tried the food there because I figured if any place at all you wouldn’t get good malay food there! Gotta give it a try now 🙂
Oh. served in dulang that’s so pretty! I think grandma used to have those trays but they got a bit rusty and semua dah dibuang! (what a pity)
This place looks like a very nice place. Yup, so magazine!
Like 550ml, I have never ever had bandung ice cream!
Ey, semangat kejiranan, bila nak turun ke negara jiran di selatan? LOL…
tigerfish: They do, actually! It’s a fascinating concept – all these little bowls of goodies.
kampungboycitygal: I had it earlier in the week, so I figured that it’d be a little too much to handle!
Alexandra: They do kampung-style food there. Just that the plates are not so kampung style, and they serve wine too lor (also not from da kampung!). Yes, do try it. I have a feeling you’ll enjoy it, Alexandra!
keropokman: Yeah, I was also fascinated with the dulang. Wonder if we can still get those from the kedai these days. The bandung ice-cream here is nice. The texture is beautifully creamy, and no ice-crystals. hahaha….I suggest we strike a truce and meet at Batu Pahat instead!
nasi hidang berselera for only RM38 nett @ Golden Triangle area, I’d say taht it’s a steal. Normally Malay food is more expensive compared to the Chinese counterpart and this place is located in prime area some more… hmmm…
I don’t mind driving all the way from PJ but my pregnant wife can’t stand it… lol! maybe in another few months
wa, long time no eat here… place still looks good. (PS _Can u pls send me an sms telling me what the bookmark saying “date wit da gorjus ladies only” means ar.. v wasted last nite, chenkyu:P:P)
thule aka leo: Yeah, it’s a pretty good deal since it’s unlimited servings too (if you can eat that much la). Oh, I have a colleague whose stomach is a bottomless pit. Wait till he finds out about this place. Bijan will go bankrupt. Anyway, your poor wife…yeah, wait till baby pops out. Offer’s on till end of the year anyway.
cumidanciki: The place looks better than before coz they opened up the outside area to have more outdoor eating…it looks really pretty too. As for the bookmark, yes ma’am, I shall send you an sms to remind you of what we did in our alcohol induced state. 😛
i stalk your blog every now and then, but usually tend to stay away because the lovely things you blog about are too far for me to reach within a reasonable amount of time!
but oh… durian chocolate cake! bandung ice cream! rose syrup ice cream! ~swoon~ i am sooo going to Bijan the next time i’m in KL!
lingzie: Yeah, Penang is kinda far away. 😛 I envy you, though….I’m originally from Penang, and I remember the yummy stuff I grew up on. KL’s fast catching up, of course, but I’ll still have nostalgic memories of Penang. 🙂 If you do come to KL, you hafta try those desserts. So yummy!
Beautiful place and nice food. Bandung ice cream is nice. I hope they have a wide variety.
I really like the setting of the restaurant..this is on my hit list in my upcoming m’sian trip 🙂 thakns!
woah, how you managed to take that second pic ar? shot from the second floor ar? excellent picture la.
the closest thing i know about bijan is the minyak bijan that i use at home for cooking…hmmm, no wonder yr boss said that home-cooked food is the best…haha! ok, sesame jokes aside, bila nak bawak adik pergi makan kat bijan? dah lama tak makan best-best kat gerai makanan Melayu.
eheh…sori. i was cakap-ing about the first pic. second is a collage.
Chin: They have a pretty good variety…can’t remember all the flavours, though, but i think in addition to teh tarik and bandung, they also have durian and cendol flavour…something like that…:-)
adel: Kewl….I hope you enjoy it!
HairyBerry: Thanks for clarifying. Btw, you think my lens cannot take the pic “as is” meh? 😛 Adik, oh adik, I will take you makan-makan there for sure wan. FYI, this is not a “gerai” hor. 😀 You wanna kena whacked by the owner ar? 😛
Malaysia has been acknowledged by some knowledgeables as having one of the top cuisines in the world . They might be kind by not being specific since we are a multi-cuisine country and fiercely racial . So do they mean Malay cuisine ? I believe they probably mean nyonya… or issit Malaysian ? Progressive Modern Malay cuisine has all the trappings of the best of Indonesian , Indian , Chinese , European and other influences which I believe Bijan is one of them. But I think the East Coast Peninsula has the best traditional “pure” Malay cuisine ( if there is such a word !
Should be a good place to try high class big town Malay food here ! Got beer ah ?
backStreetGluttons: I couldn’t have said it better. It’s true. What is Malaysian cuisine anyway? I’m always stumped when I’m asked that question. Of course, having said that, our local and clearly distinct cuisines have somehow adopted a little from each other to arrive at something that can be found only in Malaysia and nowhere else.
And to answer your question, yes, they have beer. 🙂 So when are we going to makan-makan bersama-sama?
Would like to revisit Bijan on daytime! Miss the desserts and the sound of the flowing water. 🙂
looks absolutely fabulous! tell me about the gula melaka cake–is it like a regular gateaux? this is giving me ideas! a soft sponge of gula melaka instead of regular sugar, with filling of santan mousse, maybe with sago pearls, followed by a frosting of gula melaka agar or smthing..
have u got new lenses, f1.4 perhaps bc i c a diff in these pics. beautiful! 🙂
i used to lament at the fact that when going to KL, it’s either mall food, or hawker fare. seldom did we go all the way out for Malay/Indian food.
esp not ‘fine dining’ like this. thanks for the post. it’s brilliant.
Nice pics as always. Never been here before but for me the best Malay food is still at the warongs…!!
jason: Yup, I still remember our first time. 🙂
terri: Nah, this is the same old 50mm f1.8 lens, but thanks for the compliment! The gula melaka cake is like one of those steamed cakes and has gula melaka as one of its ingredients. It is eaten with gula melaka syrup. I’m sure it’ll be pretty easy to make. What I really like is the syrup because it is really thick and sweet. Picture here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2679820002_12709ab1e9_o.jpg
J2Kfm: Why not change the mindset? 🙂 And if you need company, you know who to call. 🙂
Dharm: Thank you! Warongs are great, but Bijan is also good. 🙂
for a moment i tot tat is a pink dragonfruit ice cream…^_^
Hey, my other half and I had one of our mini wedding dinners here (just ex-classmates and a few other friends totalling 24) four years ago.
one look i tot is a korean food… looks delicious. i love local food!!!