#bungarayarestaurant

C U R R Y S A Y U R Every Malaysian Restaurant worth it’s name will have a curry that sets it apart. The curry base at Bunga Raya Raya is passed down from grandmother from Penang. Currently the Matriach Mdm Susan Lim still keeps her hand and eye on the happenings in the kitchen. Her rempah (spice mix) is well guarded and has defined all the curry flavours that Bunga Raya is renowned for. And all the ingredients are fresh. The curries are more Nyonya influenced/flavoured and is a balanced mixed of Malay, Indian and Chinese. Having a plant based curry enables all the flavours of the rempah to shine, tempered with just the right amount of santan (coconut cream). A perfect lunch, with steamed jasmine rice. #vegetablecurry #vegetarian #nyonya #rempah #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #sedap (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7XMq43po6k/?igshid=jbj95gdrbx0q

A Tale Of Two Curries 2020 and 2 New Year catchups. We go Malaysian, naturally. The dish at Bunga Raya is their vegetable curry but comes with battered fish fillets for pescatarians. It's Uncle’s vision of a perfect curry - drawn down from the Matriach’s recipe and faithfully followed because Mother does come into the kitchen to make sure her standards are maintained. Her recipe is Nyonya and the rempah is spicy and rich, but with santan to achieve a smooth mellowness with guess-the-spice pings. A truly refined curry that does Nyonya Cuisine proud. It's a different vibe at the new Enak Malaysia on Dominion Road. Interestingly enough, one of the chefs used to cook at Bunga Raya. But he does not call on his curry experience there for Enak’s Curry Chicken. It's true to the Blossom Court (Panmure) model as the menu is akin to Blossom’s mothership. The rempah is robust, the spices are distinct in the hints of star anise and ketumbar. A slightly more Malay leaning and more lemak, but not cloyingly so as to dominate and mask the spices. If you’re really yearning for a robust curry, Enak’s the one for you. #vegetariancurry #fishcurry #nyonya #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #chickencurry #enakmalaysia #dominionroad #taleoftwocurries (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6yquexp7mR/?igshid=mzwros4d1uoj

M A K A N Aunty Dot has had a run of bad luck with her car, mostly at the Greenlane roundabout. She’s been hit three times. 2 weeks ago she was trying to negotiate said roundabout when she was hit from the back by a car that was similarly hit. Some wit has started to call her Madam Whiplash. Uncle waited until she had calmed down and sorted her neck out before taking her to see Towkay Neo Rita @rita.lai.5059 at Bunga Raya this long weekend. It was laugh a minute as Uncle negotiated the route to New Lynn from Remuera (where else), coming in contact with tailgaters who think it’s fun to bully a little car to perfect drivers who wave their finger at you because they never commit a transgression while they sit it their “small organ” 4WD. Not! Most importantly, Aunty learnt Uncle’s trick of finding a car park by “squeezing” a targeted body appendage. After all that excitement, choosing what we wanted for lunch was easy. Hainanese Chicken Rice for Aunty, Teochew Hor Fan for Uncle. We did share our choices. Aunty so enjoyed her food she stopped talking and laughing. Sedap! We were replete. #hainanesechickenrice #teochewhorfan #makan #sedap #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4HOia7pI4W/?igshid=awqvzu5e7jn7

T E O C H E W H O R F A N Mum is Teochew but I never recalled her cooking Teochew Hor Fan. But she did use a fair bit of kiam chye (preserved mustard greens) in her cooking, a pivotal ingredient in Teochew Hor Fan available at Bunga Raya, New Lynn. Hor Fan is how the Cantonese in Hong Kong call rice noodles; in Malaysia it is mostly called Kway Teow (in Hokkien). Uncle stumbled on THF while looking for alternatives to Hainanese Chicken Rice/Nasi Lemak/ Ling Collar Noodle Soup. Towkay Neo Rita @rita.lai.5059 urged him to give it a try. Uncle loves it! It’s my favourite go-to dish at Bunga Raya from now on. There is great wok hei in the Hor Fan, the Kiam Chye gives the dish a salty pickled piquancy, and it’s backed up with lots of garlic and julienne ginger. The THF comes with (optional) prawn, pork and chicken. Aunty Rita said that the kitchen has introduced a bit of gravy so that the Hor Fan is not too dry. #teochewhorfan #kwayteow #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #chinhochiak (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-4A_Ap_FN/?igshid=986e9is51mvy

Aunty Renee is up from Nelson for the Auckland Writers Festival. After hearing about Bunga Raya from food writer panellist Tony Tan, she wanted Uncle to take her there. So on a busy Friday night after a full day of talk fest, we headed out to Bunga Raya, to secure the last table at a restaurant that’s as busy as any in Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh. Aunty Rita tailored a selection of dishes that were vegetarian. First up, Aunty’s choice of roti canai with a vegetable curry sauce, followed by a Nyonya vegetable curry. This was Aunty’s favourite. The Nyonya assam fish curry was so sedap, contrasting with the vegetable curry by the tamarind sourness. The addition of pineapple ramped up the piquancy. Tonight there is a special of bubur cha cha, a typical Malaysian bubur (”porridge”) of sweet potato, yam and sago cooked in a lemak coconut cream. It's an acquired taste. Last week, some distinguished guests asked why most of the Nyonya dishes are not dialled up hot (with chillies). Aunty Rita said that the spice mix (rempah) for these dishes are varied and complex so her chefs want to ensure the flavours come through without being masked by chillies. Aunty had a lot of queries: what exactly is Bunga Raya? Pronounced buu-nga, it's Malay for flower. Raya = national. The national flower of Malaysia is the hibiscus 🌺. Uncle put Aunty at ease with eating with a spoon and fork, rather than just using a fork. It's de riguer in Southeast Asia so go with the flow. #bungarayarestaurant #hibiscus #nationalflower #roticanai #vegetablecurry #assamfishcurry #tamarind #nyonya #buburchacha #sedap #makan (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxlKiHilxVk/?igshid=1s2kdyvo0kdou

Food Luminaries. What a delight and honour to catch up with Tony Tan @tonytan53 and Lauraine Jacobs @laurainejacobs. Tony is an old friend, well-known maestro chef and writer of Asian food, based in Melbourne. But he is also “ka ke lang”, a fellow Malaysian. Tony is here for Auckland Writers Festival: on Thursday he cooks from his book Hong Kong Food City, with a selection of menus of the city’s low & high cuisine, at Nic Watt’s Masu. On Friday, Tony joins Kasey & Karena Bird and Ima Cuisine’s Yael Shochat for Entrées at Hunua Room, Aotea Centre. Our food personalities will talk about food as an entrée to a place, a pathway to their culture. I bet Tony will have you in stitches when it’s his turn to cast insight on the food and culture he knows intimately. Raine Deer took up my suggestion that it’s best to take Tony to the best Malaysian Restuarant in the West and meet Aunty Rita. And to introduce Lauraine’s daughter Katie to the some Nyonya dishes. Aunty Rita @rita.lai.5059 didn’t disappoint with the dishes we chose, on her recommendation: • Ling collar vermicelli soup. • Curry Kapitan - a weekend special - it was the biggest hit. • Three Kingdom vegetables, with XO sauce. • Assam fish curry with deep-fried gurnard fillets. • Coconut butter prawns It’s Mother’s Day and Bunga Raya has been run ragged with lunch and dinner parties. But to be turn turn out top meals of such complex ingredients and taste is testament to how good Bunga Raya is. Maestro Tony approves. Aunty Rita has a good old natter with him in Cantonese. And I had Hong Kong Food City personally signed. #tonytan #hongkongfoodcity #aucklandwritersfestival2019 #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #lingcollarsvermicellisoup #chickencurrykapitan #coconutbutterprawn (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxYmoFVlFb3/?igshid=1u8dr99xdsy86

Good news dinner! There’s life after photography for magazines. My mate Nigel Gardiner @nigel.gardiner did a lot of the wine-related photography for Cuisine magazine. During dinner at Bunga Raya, he said that is all in the past and he’s now building programmes for Artificialial Intelligence (AI) at Imagr. So impressed with his achievements. Aunty Rita suggested Nigel try the Sambal Eggplant followed by Assam Fish fillets. You should always listen to Aunty, she knows your needs if you tell her you wanted vegetarian fare (fish ok). Sedap! #sambaleggplant #assamfish #assamcurryfish #tamarindfish #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #ai #artificialintelligence #imagr #smartcookie #thefuture (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxN-5ythfI7/?igshid=1upn5y6yk55z9

Musician In The House. Uncle plays tennis with Denis Hepi. It’s time to introduce him to good Malaysian food, none of those quasi pull-the-Nasi Lemak over your eyes type of joint but the real belacan. In real life, Denis is a well known musician & singer, with almost daily gigs at musical venues. We know a lot of mutual people of note, from musicians Metro magazine featured to socialites, the Ferret and her victims. We have a lot to talk about, to reminisce. Uncle and Towkay Neo Rita come up with the following menu for Denis to sample, a cross section of Bunga Raya’s top hits. • the Ling Collar Rice Vermicelli Soup, with the fish collar battered & deep-fried, served in a milky broth. • Nasi Lemak, with pandan rice and Curry Kapitan, complete with cucumber, peanuts, ikan bilis, and a robust sambal. • Hainanese Chicken Rice, with perfect silky poached chicken, accompanied with chicken rice bursting with garlic flavour with a chilli, ginger and garlic dipping sauce. All so sedap! We think we have won another Malaysian food fan and Aunty Rita has made another kawan. #malaysianfood #lingcollarsvermicellisoup #nasilemak #hainanesechickenrice #bungarayarestaurant #newlynn #makan #sedap #tenniskaki (at Bunga Raya Restaurant) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwHUo1HhKO-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1n8tczzpw9fr1