SPG by Bijan @ Jalan Ceylon, KL
SPG by Bijan
Located in the attached bungalow next to Bijan (with an adjoining doorway. The interior is funky, chic yet elegant, vibrant with colourful murals on the wall in the shades of blue, fuchsia and greens, touches with hand printed tiles and floral batik motifs. The space has colourful terrace lounge with mix of rattan and retro furniture; also it housed a beautiful hand printed tiled bar for the drinkers. I have to say, every corner is so instagrammable!
SPG stands for Sarong Party Grill, a playful interpretation of the term “Sarong Party Girl”. To be honest, I am not familiar with this term, until I was told it refers to Asian women who engaged with British colonisers who arrived in Malaysia and Singapore back then in early to mid-20th century. Then, there was a series of humorous books and films have hit the entertainment market, creating a vivacious narrative for SPG’s.
SPG by Bijan picks up this playful terms and it is a new Modern Malaysian tapas bar and grill, serving exceptional dishes and exotic cocktails. Yes! Food is indeed very exceptional and special, follow the rest of this blog post and you will understand why.
We started off the Special SPG Degustation Menu with a medley of special welcome cocktails to pair with the snacks.
Stinkini
Pickled petai, gin, vermouth
Brilliantly infused petai into the cocktail! This is the kind of Malaysian cocktail. If you love petai, I am sure you will love this. I took a small sip of it, still, never a fan of petai.
Cocojito
White rum, lime, coconut water.
This refreshing one with coconut water was something I fancy, lots!
Bluepea Tonic
Honey, lemon, blue pea flower
Fries Celup
French fries with anchovy mayo and salted egg yolk sauce.
My pick? The savoury anchovy mayo, kinda addictive.
Coming up next were the tapas and pairing with yellow fever or kedondong kampong.
Yellow Fever
Gin, turmeric, lime juice, honey, tonic water
Not the kind of viral haemorrhagic disease but an interesting and heart-alluring cocktail.
Kedondong Kampung
Umbra, calamansi, sour plum
Keropk-Kerepek
Assortment of homemade crackers served with sambal dips, I love both the red and green sambals. Especially the green one which has a spicy kick!
Pais barramundi
Grilled parcel of barramundi with banana leather, turmeric, spices and coconut
Also one of the favourite dishes from Head Chef Razis. It was beautiful with delicate texture, chef and his team took up lots of times and efforts to prepare this one.
Ah Ran Sini
The iconic Nasi Lemak flavours stuffed into rice balls and deep fried for deliciousness, served with anchovy mayo
How cute and interesting! Nasi lemak rice ball in a mouthful sphere shape and deep fried into perfection. Once you pop it in, it is explosive and burst with the locals’ favourite flavours!
Lidah & Sambal
Tender braised ox tongue, pan-seared and served with sambal hitam
Ox tongue!!! It was very tender, pan-seared into perfection! I really couldn’t stop munching them!
Jackfruit Rendang Bao
Pulled juicy young jackfruit cooked rending style and stuffed in a toasted mantou bun
Ayam Limau Purut dengan Roti Jala Tiffin
Laced pancakes served with kaffir lime chicken curry, fish floss and anchovy sambal
Old school yet delicious.
Another cocktail to pair with skewers and grilled stuff!
Asam Pedas
Tequila, triple sec tamarind juice
Duck Skewers
Marinated duck leg skewers sereved with sambal hijau.
Chicken Kicap Skewers
Chicken skewers marinated in ginger soy sauce
I prefer the chicken skewer to the duck one as I find the duck skewer was too gamey and dry to my liking. The chicken skewer was packed with juice, tender and very flavourful with slight charred edges, very well marinated too!
Pomfret
Pan-seared black pomfret served with a coconut and galangal sauce
Angus Oyster Blade
Served with sambal hitam, sambal hijau and sambal merah
This had my attention too! Marinated using honey, coriander, chilli, and black pepper. The flavour and the texture were really exceptional on every bite.
Grilled Lamb Loin
Grilled Calamari
Freshly grilled calamari served with sambal belacan
Nasi Sekinchan
Tricolour rice and quinoa with pulled chicken, Asian pesto, rice crackers and crispy chicken skin.
Awesome pair for the grilled dishes and sambal too!
Oohaa Tuak
Sweet ending time and we had this local sweet rice wine to pair with dessert! How interesting! This was definitely my first time having tuak to pair with dessert!
Bananas Over Bananas
Homemade banana ice cream with smoky caramelized banana and dehydrated banana cone.
I am not a banana lover but I polished this clean! The whole combo was very banana, aromatic but not overwhelming. The flavours were really on the point, just nice. We were told that the dehydrated banana cone took hours to prepare. Lots of hard work to do this eh.
Pulut Mango Cake
Chilled mango mousse, fresh mango and coconut glutinous rice on biscuit base.
Special thanks to SPG by Bijan for the invitation, it was indeed a unique experience to me, having fancy modern Malaysian delicacies to pair with cocktails infused with malaysians’ flavours.
SPG by Bijan
No.3A Jalan Ceylon,
50200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2022 3575
Opens daily from 12pm to 12am
