Herba & Rempah is the 1.5 month-old brick-and-mortar eatery of a popular online eatery which started offering home delivery for Penang-Nyonya food during the COVID lockdown back in 2020.
Fronted by Chuah Jay Mee, Taiping-born but raised in Penang, she obtained her family heirloom recipes from her 93-year-old grandmother. Simple, basic Nyonya dishes which suit home deliveries and re-heating. Her loyal customers now looked for the same dishes here - but plated and with table service.
- Pulut Kunyit with Rendang Tok
Steamed glutinous rice, tinted with fresh turmeric and enriched with coconut milk, is commonly called “nasi kunyit”, meaning “turmeric rice” in Penang, an old, descriptively-incorrect term which somehow stuck. But in KL, it’s now re-named Pulut Kunyit (turmeric glutinous rice), perhaps to cater to its KL customers, who may otherwise be confused by the name.
Rendang Tok is a long-cooked, deep-flavored dry beef curry of Perak origin, with the texture of pulled beef. A respectable version here - mild-flavored to suit its mainly Cantonese-Chinese KL clientele.
- Rainbow Roti Jala with Chicken Curry
The lacy, eggy Roti Jala crepes here are multi-hued, instead of just turmeric-yellow. Their relatively neutral flavor and slightly spongey texture complemented the chicken-and-potato curry perfectly.
Relatively mild-flavored chicken-and-potato curry - more Chinese/Hainanese-style than Nyonya, actually.
- Jiu Hu Char - the classic Penang-Nyonya stewed jicama and dried cuttlefish dish. The version here is served as-is, whereas back in Penang, it comes with lettuce leaf-wraps and sambal belacan. It’s also a pork-less version here which used chicken meat instead.
A simple meal. Need to come back and try the other menu options.
Herba & Rempah is located in a relatively sterile-looking office precinct called Dataran Prima in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur’s main satellite town.
Address
Herba and Rempah
13-1, Block i, Jalan PJU 1/37, Dataran Prima, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: +6017-209 1898
Operating hours: 10am to 3pm, Mon to Sat. Closed on Sundays.
