CHASING FOOD DREAMS: Ramadhan Buffet @ Bijan

Refined Malay Cuisine for Buka Puasa

It’s my first time at the Bijan, a restaurant with multiple accolades, is famous for its refined Malay cuisine located in the bustling area of the metropolitan city along Jalan Ceylon. I have always heard good ravings of this place and was pleased to be invited for a sneak preview of their Ramadhan Buffet promotion for this holy month of fasting.

Walking into the restaurant, it was indeed a pleasure as I was enchanted by the gorgeous and warmth ambience of Bijan. One would certainly never expect such a calm and peaceful setting amidst the bustling city area. The concept was elegant and minimalist with lots of dark wood mixed with rich purple wall panels. The restaurant is spacious and has a beautiful long bar at the entrance. One can choose the cool dining inside or simply enjoy the al fresco garden dining at Bijan. Private dining rooms are also available. Large posters of dragonfly and local traditional dressed women added more charm to the ambience of the restaurant.

For this year’s Ramadhan Buffet, Bijan’s Sous Chef Mohd Shawal and his culinary team will be preparing a range of dishes of mix recipes handed down over generations and also marrying the traditional recipes with modern day ingredients to create a delicious dining buka puasa experience.

There will be 5 Ramadhan Buffet menus on daily rotation. The buffet spread includes live-cooking stations and grill station serving up fresh and hot food for the best flavours. Savor appetizers, kerabu, meat & poulty, seafood and vegetables prepared with authentic flavours injected with modern ingredients. A la carte menu will be available daily after 9pm onwards.

We savored delectable appetizer morsels of Cucur Bijan, Daging Bungkus, Otak-Otak, Keropok Lekor and Acar Tofu. The Cucur Bijan was superb… crispy fritters of tempeh, sweet potato, tofu, bean sprouts and spring onions in light crispy batter served with a drizzle of chili sauce. And so was the spiced seafood mousse of Otak-Otak served on tiny squares of Hailam bread. The Otak-Otak was creamy, spicy and beautifully laden with rich spices.

A bowl of Laksam, an East coast favorite, was served after the appetizers. Don’t be fool by this plain looking dish as the flavours are superb! House made steamed rice noodles are rolled and sliced and doused with a rich fish and coconut milk gravy laced with pungent shrimp paste and spices. The noodles are served with raw vegetables and chili sambal. The version is so utterly delicious with its robust, savory, tangy and creamy gravy flavouring the soft melt-in-the-mouth rice noodles while the raw vegetables provided texture and the chili worked its magic on the heat. Though it is usually eaten for breakfast, I would be please to enjoy a piping hot bowl of Bijan’s Laksam anytime of the day!

Kerabu is simply a must in any Malay cuisine as it is a salad medley of flavours and textures. We had three kerabus of Kerabu Daging Salai, Kerabu Sotong and Kerabu Jantung Pisang. Each one is unique in flavours and textures but they all share the same savory, sweet, spicy and sour flavours that comes from the different ingredients used. My favorite was the Kerabu Daging Salai with its smoky and spicy flavours.

For main dishes, we savored Ayam Ketumbar Sambal Tomato, Kambing Masak Hitam, Sotong Hitam Manis,Daging Berempah Sambal Dendeng, Rendang Udang Nogori, Ketam Masak Tempoyak and Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak.

The Ayam Ketumbar Sambal Tomato has golden battered fried chicken smothered in a tasty and spicy coriander spiced tomato sambal. It’s not overly spicy but is moreish and perfect with rice. The chicken was moist and flavourful too.

I like how Bijan uses lamb cutlets in the Kambing Masak Hitam. It is a good cut of lean and fat lamb that is beautifully marinated with spices and chargrilled till cooked. A savory and sweet black sauce added more depth of flavours to the rich lamb. Must-try…

The Sotong Hitam Manis reminded me of a dish my mom used to cook. Squid is cooked in a rich and sweet black sauce cooked from chili paste, lemongrass and squid ink. I can’t quite detect but there was some kind of herbs in the dish as well.

There is also the Daging Berempah Sambal Dendeng that won many diner’s hearts that evening. Cooked in lots of aromatics such as lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, chili and other spices, the sliced beef was tender and tasty. I would be happy with this dish alone with rice!

Rendang Udang Nogori is a signature of Bijan’s and I can see why. Prawns are cooked in a creamy yellow coconut curry spiced up with lots of spices, herbs and chili. I can still taste the fresh sweetness of the prawns as the curry is not overpowering but just right on flavours.

I steer clear of the King of Fruit and so I didn’t try the Ketam Masak Tempoyak but I know it was good because other diners polished this off with much happiness.

The Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak is pretty decent. Wild paku ferns are sautéed in a chili coconut and shrimp paste sambal.

There are various choices of rice available at Bijan and we savored small tasting portions of Nasi Ulam, Nasi Tomato and Nasi Briyani.

I really enjoyed the Nasi Ulam tremendously with its herb aroma and flavours. The rice is well seasoned and makes a great dish on its own as it is already very flavourful. I wanted more of this Nasi Ulam. The other two Nasi Tomato and Nasi Briyani was decent by the Nasi Ulam was certainly more outstanding in my books.

For desserts, Bijan also has a solid list of sweets to end each meal with sweet pleasures. That evening, we had tasting portions of Manisan Putri Mandi, Pandan Pudding, Corn Brulee and Pengat Durian with Glutinous Rice. I enjoyed all the dessert except the Pengat Durian which I happily donated to my neighbor since I don’t enjoy durian.

We were told that the Durian Chocolate Cake is another signature at Bijan and before we know it, we had orders of the rich and sinful chocolate cake filled with D24 durian flesh. Many were certainly raving about this dessert so you might want to order this if you don’t see this in the Ramadhan Buffet.

Our mocktails are not included in the Ramadhan Buffet but do order these refreshing fruity mocktails as they are simply thirst-quenching delights!