SUPPER clubs are sprouting all over the place in the United Kingdom. Not to be left behind are Malaysian pop-up kitchens, promising authentic Malaysian food: there’s Chef Norman Musa Supper Club, Wild Serai and My Malaysian Nyonya Supper Club, to name just a few.
Hot on the heels of these rather established supper clubs is the Bristol-based Malaysian Kitchen Supper Club in the southwest of England, which was started four months ago by three friends whose passion in cooking knows no boundaries.
The idea, conceived by Dr Nafeesa Akma, an anaesthetic medical officer in Klang before she moved to London, and financial accounting lecturer Dr Fatimah Zainuddin, was given a boost when MasterChef participant Zaleha Kadir Olpin of the “crispy” chicken rendang fame completed the trio in the kitchen.
Leaving behind Malaysian food lovers in the southwest asking for more, the trio tested the waters in London recently at the Darjeeling Express located in trendy Carnaby Street.
It was Hari Raya all over again with festive songs in the air, as customers munched on their kerepek pisang and kueh gunting, before the appetisers of lemang and rendang arrived followed by murtabak, nasi minyak and Gulai Pahang.
These are unmistakably dishes that made their debut in the BBC MasterChef programme earlier this year. It was authenticity with a capital A where the dishes are concerned; there’s no compromising on taste and cutting corners with the ingredients. Certainly, no crispy chicken when it’s not supposed to be!
To add to the authenticity, helping hands in the form of friends in traditional Malaysian attire helped out cheerfully, serving the food with the usual Malaysian hospitality.
“Our Malaysian food is authentic,” said Zaleha, of the exciting new venture which pushed the episode that had the whole of Southeast Asian countries baying for the blood of the MasterChef judges, way behind her.
“No fusion food!” insisted Fatimah, whose skills apart from imparting knowledge in things finance in the Business School of Southampton University, is to cook the different varieties of rice dishes Malaysia is famous for — nasi lemak, nasi tomato and nasi minyak.
“We have had nasi kerabu complete with ayam percik and we had customers asking for more!” enthused Fatimah for whom cooking is not just a passion, but a form of stress buster.
“The response is better than we expected and our followers have grown after every supper club,” quipped Nafeesa, who seemed to be enjoying this change in career path, putting syringes and stethoscope down for the moment.
Her forte now is to look after social media and search for venues for their supper clubs.
They are all based within easy reach of each other; Nafeesa in Saltford, a village near Bath, Zaleha in Bristol and Fatimah in Westbury, and this makes their new venture doable.
There are business meetings with potential interested parties, planning cooking demonstrations and various other programmes that are making their schedule quite packed for the coming months.
Supper clubs are usually held during the weekends with Nafeesa media blasting their menus and venues well ahead of time.
“Usually our supper clubs are sold out within two weeks and then we have to start planning again for the next one,” said Zaleha who has left for Malaysia where a variety of cookery events awaited her.
She is not expecting a complete holiday away from the kitchen for the British High Commission in Malaysia has already arranged a cookery session with HE Vicki Treadell, who championed her chicken rendang when it threatened to boil over.
There are also other cookery sessions with the likes of MakCik Roast-Mah or Arwin Kumar and Yatie of Yatie’s Kitchen.
When so-called friends blocked and closed the doors of the social media in the wake of Rendangate, many other doors opened.
“I can’t say it has all been bad. MasterChef was a good experience and I enjoyed it,” said Zaleha, although she admitted being down for the first few weeks.
Now, her customers at the supper clubs eagerly await her appearance and a chance for a selfie with her. And there’s a book, too, in the pipeline.
“Certainly with Zaleha in the team, there is an added boost in the interest in our supper clubs,” said Nafeesa, as Fatimah nodded in agreement.
The lunch at Darjeeling Express rounded off with pulut bubur hitam, just the kind of dish for the kind of weather that London was experiencing then. It was then endless photograph sessions for Facebook and then long Malaysian-style goodbyes that marked another successful supper club programme by the Malaysian Kitchen team.
By the way, there were some locals who made their way back to ask for a takeaway. It was that good with a capital G!
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