Malaysian by May Supperclub (delicious food and serious house envy)

Attending the Malaysian by May Supperclub gave me serious house envy, which I’m not nearly over almost three weeks later. But thankfully, the beautiful house wasn’t the only memorable feature of the evening: the food was excellent, the crowd mixed and friendly and best of all we got to hear all about the food and its origins from May at every course, which really added to our enjoyment.

The event began with G&Ts and little Malaysian canapés, before we settled down for the main event. We could watch our hosts preparing each dish from the table, in generous quantities.

First up was a New Year prosperity salad including finely julienned carrot, daikon (white radish), cucumber, big pieces of raw salmon and a generous pile of chopped peanuts and a sweet dressing. The tradition is for all diners to help mix this together while wishing each other good health, happiness and wealth for the coming year. It had a lovely fresh taste and everyone had seconds, despite the several courses to come.

New Year salad

Next up came little bowls of clams in a spicy, sour sauce. They looked very pretty and were the least chewy clams I’ve eaten (new to eating seafood).

Spicy clams

We then had soft, slightly chewy pau buns filled with pork – probably enough for a whole meal in normal circumstances but there’s nothing normal about the volumes you consume at supper clubs. The meat had a lovely sweetness, a little like a char siu pork buns from south China, but the buns had a very light texture unlike their dense Chinese cousins. I’d scoffed mine before I remembered to take a photo.

Next up was roast quail with Malaysian spices, which was beautifully presented, with a sauce beneath of lemongrass, galagal and chillis. The quail had crispy skin and moist succulent meat. Apparently this dish is usually made with chicken, but it worked really well with quails and looked very special.

Then out came halved boiled eggs with ikanbilis (little fishes, like anchovies) on top. These looked good but were a step too fishy for me, though they did get gobbled up by the rest of the table.

Boiled eggs with ikanbilis

Then, as though we’d just begun, out came the main course – a big bowl of beef rendang served with rice mixed with fresh herbs and peanuts. This was absolutely delicious, with all the flavours really coming through. Everyone at the table had seconds, and some thirds, despite feeling very full. By this time our table was comfortable enough to be swapping gruesome travel tales and stories of embarrassing mispronunciation as we passed around the bowls time and again. Our table was considerably enlivened by four Irish friends working in London and their tales of how their family would react to each course as it came out. This is one of the best bits of supper clubs – you never know who you’ll meet, but you can guarantee they will share an enthusiasm for good food, and often for travel.

The final savoury course was delicate fillets of sea bass with spring onion, lime, ginger and small dried plums which gave a hint of sweetness. The fish was tender and delicious and a light final dish, though by this time we were struggling with the opposing forces of greedy eyes and overfed stomachs. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the pudding, all I can say is that it was pineapple-based, and I sense we missed out. The evening was such a friendly, happy event, I would love to go again. And the house is well worth a visit too!

Eva

May’s blog is at www.malaysianbymay.com