Making Malaysia Proud with Malaysian
Tropical Fruit Cuisine!
It
has certainly been a while since I was back at Proud Janny Restaurant and so I was actually really glad when I
found out that there is a new menu featuring Fruit Based Cuisine. I had my
first taste of Chef Ryan Khang’s
dishes at Proud Janny last year and love
his refreshing take on his dishes. Located at The Weld Kuala Lumpur, Proud Janny has been serving up
international and local dishes using organic and sustainably-grown food. The
restaurant cum café focuses on serving breakfast and lunch to the office crowd
with temptations of Nyonya, Malaysian local delights, Western and gorgeous
desserts.
Proud Janny’s recent stint in the highly prolific
Agrobazaar Singapore had led Chef
Ryan to develop a menu comprising of Malaysia’s favorite tropical fruits
incorporated into Malaysian cuisine. The menu was proudly served to not one but
two Prime Ministers, Dato Seri Dr. Najib Razak, as well as the Honourable Mr.
Lee Hsien Loong.
I
headed over to Proud Janny one fine Saturday for lunch together with some
foodies to meet up with Chef Ryan. Looking as good as ever, Chef Ryan greeted
us with his usual charm and served up some wine and nibbles to start the lunch.
Housemade Fried Potato Chips and Crispy Corn may be simple snacks but
these were quite addictive and delicious with the red wine, Raiz from Chile.
On
the Fruit Based Cuisine menu, there
are five dishes together with two desserts. Kicking off the list was a very
delectable Young Mango Kerabu served
with grilled squid. Thinly shredded medium ripe mango offers a yin and yang of
sweetness and sourness punched up with shallots, crispy anchovies, herbs and a
tangy dressing. Chargrilled squid is nicely cooked and added a yummy texture to
the kerabu salad. The kerabu is the perfect started to whet our appetites for
more to come.
Tamarind and Mango Fried Noodle is inspired from our local Mee
Goreng and looks just like the local dish till we tried it. The noodle has
great depth of savory, sweet and sour balance of flavours. The mango salad gave
the tamarind flavour noodles a fruity touch and brought lightness to the street
food. Served with prawns and crispy anchovies, fried shallots, taukua and
beansprout, it is a dish that is easy to enjoy and won’t leave a heavy
aftermath after enjoyment.
I
do enjoy a good Mee Rebus and when I saw the Johor Style Mee Rebus, I was curious about what fruit was
incorporated into the dish. The dish had prawns, beef, egg, fritter, fried
shallots and chili with yellow noodle and thick brown gravy. Mix these together
and add a squeeze of calamansi lime to the dish. The gravy is not too sweet but
lean towards a piquant savory flavour. Chef Ryan exposed his secret ingredient
which was white dragon fruit cooked into the gravy. A cleverly idea indeed as
the dragon fruit thickened up the gravy naturally and added a light subtle
sweetness to the gravy. It also gave the dish a subtle natural texture and
flavour.
A
pretty looking rice of Dragonfruit Rice
arrived after the noodle dish. Served with dragonfruit marinated chicken, fried
egg, sambal, keropok, cucumber and tomatoes, there is also scoops of fresh
dragonfruit. An interesting dish and combination and the rice was also tinged
with the red dragon fruit. Again, the dish was cleverly controlled and balanced
with a light sweetness. I was actually enjoying the dragon fruit marinated
chargrilled chicken. It has a fruity flavour and made the chicken wonderfully
succulent. The sambal and keropok does wonder for the dish as well.
I
always save the best for last and the Fruit
Curry with Chicken is my favorite dish of the menu for savory. The curry is
a confit of kampung chicken cooked
with lots of spices and herbs and paired with sweet lychees and pineapples.
Kampung chicken can be tough but due to the slow cooked process, the chicken
here was tender and moist, absorbing all the curry gravy well.
The curry gravy is not too spicy in heat but has a good note of heat and spices balanced with a lovely fruity sweetness. Truth be told, I enjoyed spoonful after spoonful of curry gravy. Its beautifully moreish and not your typical curry. If you love sweetness in your curry, give this a try and you’ll know what I mean. Super yum!
The curry gravy is not too spicy in heat but has a good note of heat and spices balanced with a lovely fruity sweetness. Truth be told, I enjoyed spoonful after spoonful of curry gravy. Its beautifully moreish and not your typical curry. If you love sweetness in your curry, give this a try and you’ll know what I mean. Super yum!
Chef
Ryan is a man of many skills including pastry. For dessert, we had Banana Cake and Cendol Cake. The names did not do the cake justice as both are
pretty complex in the makings. The flavours echoed its name and the cake has
layers of flavours.
Banana Cake has sponge sandwiched with
caramelized banana and cream and is topped with jewels of praline of dried
fruits and nuts. Although I am not a banana fan, I had a taste and find it
lovely with its caramelized flavour and various textures. The Cendol Cake looked like our local
Pandan Cake but this one has a Gula Melaka cream with pandan custard and pandan
sponge before being topped with dessicated coconut.
The Fruit Based Cuisine will be made available
for a short period of time so make sure to head over to Proud Janny to check it out. For Corporate employees who works
along Jalan Raja Chulan, just present your office business card to the staff at
Proud Janny to receive some
discount. T&C applies.
PROUD
JANNY RESTAURANT
The Weld Kuala Lumpur
LG-08, Lower Ground
Floor
No. 76, Jalan Raja
Chulan
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2022 1519
Facebook: www.facebook.com/proudjanny
Business Hours:
Mon - Sat: 11am to 4pm
