Sharon Ann De Souza, whose Nyonya private dining supper-club is insanely popular, happened to be free for lunch last week and, knowing Iโm in Kuala Lumpur this week, asked me to join her at ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ธ๐, currently one of the hottest Malay restaurants in the city!
We arrived there at 1.30pm, just after the usual (massive) office lunch crowd had left. Weโd missed some of the most popular dishes, e.g. the much-talked about terong balado โ grilled aubergines topped with pureed red chili. But there are more than enough other popular dishes still available for us. The setting is akin to a large cafeteria in a factory - very basic and functional.
๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ธ๐ serves Minang-style dishes, which originated in Sumatera, Indonesia. The matriarch here is 57-year-old Rouzieda bte Abdul Ghani, a banker-turned-restaurateur/chef, whoโd started the eatery with her husband, Azhar Ali, 59, back in 2016. Today, the restaurant is co-managed by her 31-year-old son, Amir Afiq bin Azhar.
The restaurant name, ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ธ๐ , comes from a town which is well-known for its culinary excellence in West Sumatera. Rouzieda, known to her many fans as Kak Ida, is actually from Kuala Pilah, a Malaysian town in the state of Negeri Sembilan which is well-known for its Minang heritage, as Minangs have been emigrating here from Sumatera for centuries. After working in a bank for 26 years, Rouzieda has decided that her passion lie in cooking, and started this eatery utilising heirloom recipes from her Minang heritage.
The signature dish here is her gulai lemak daging salai cili padi - smoked beef in a chili-spiked, coconut-rich, turmeric-tinged curry that is to-die for. Only 40 kgs of the smoked beef are prepared daily โ smoked for 2 hours (never longer, to ensure the meats remain juicy) with coconut husks and shells, the aromatic meats are then cut into thin, bite-sized pieces and cooked in the trademark Minang yellow curry, with explosive tiny cili padi (habaneros) to provide the heat that undercuts the richness of the coconut milk-enriched gravy.
Rouzieda emphasized that the cuts of beef are not to be washed before smoking, to preserve its texture. Washed-then-smoked beef tend to be mushy. After the smoking process, the meat is actually frozen and stored. When needed for cooking the curried dish, the meat will be par-boiled for 1 hour, before being cooked with turmeric, chilis, fresh coconut milk, tamarind slices (asam keping), and cassava shoots.
Using the pesan (order)-style, one goes to the food display counter and select oneโs dishes which will be ladled onto serving saucers by the server, and arrayed onto a large, traditional Malay dulang (flower-patterned enamel-metal serving tray).
Our lunch selection:
To read more about the โpesanโ vis-a-vis โhidangโ approaches of ordering, Minang-style:
Itโs really a special treat to have lunch with Sharon Ann de Souza on her day-off. To meet her in person by getting into her supper club, one usually needs to get on a 3- to 4-month waiting list. So, to actually be able to catch her for a casual lunch, and have a relaxed conversation with her, is a rare treat indeed. 
I need to go back to Lubuk Bangku again soon, and try the dishes we missed this time round.
Address details
Lubuk Bangku
25, Jalan Abdullah, Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +6011-2132 3798
Opening hours: 11am to 3pm Mon-Fri. Closed on Sat & Sun.
