Poisonous Nut Curry at Simply Mel's, Bangsar South

Buah Keluak, The Poisonous Nuts

Shiver yet? 

I kid you not, buah keluak is a lethal nut, whereby it contains hydrogen cyanide and is deadly poisonous if consumed without proper cleansing. I didn’t know about this dark side until the gracious and pretty restaurant manager told us when we are almost done with the meal. I gulped initially, but it was such an interesting experience.

Dubbed the “Asian Truffle”, these nuts can only be found in the mangrove swamps across South East Asia. We managed to sample the nuts cooked in curry together with chicken meat, which is one of Malacca Portuguese’s (Cristang) delicacy. Simply Mel’s sourced the nuts from Indonesia to Malacca, and made it way to the restaurant which is strategically located here in The Sphere, Bangsar South.

The Sphere, Bangsar South. Vibrantly-litted

Keluak Chicken Curry (RM18.90 for Regular)

Tender pieces of chicken simmered in a sourish curry. The buah keluak had an acquired nutty flavour. You need to dig the richly creamy black contents which are like soft tar through the opening of the cooked nuts with a chopstick. Mash it together with the fluffy white rice, that is how you enjoy the unique nuts.

Rich creamy black content of the nut

Brinjal in Soya Sauce (RM9.90 for Regular)

Despite looking like heavily bathed in soya sauce, the sauce was less than salty. Not being MSG-laden too, flavour was adequate and the brinjal was moist and tender. As simple as it sounds, a good brinjal dish is achieved by a good cooking timing. Under cooking will give you a hard texture and over cooking it caused it to be too soft and less pleasurable. 

Papa Vincent’s Fish Cutlets (RM9.90)

The fish cutlets were crumby-licious! I love how it was dense with fish flakes, which made every bite a simple comforting pleasure. The tartness and spicyness of the sambal goes well with the fried cutlets.

Condiments (RM 1.50)

 

Simply Mel had definitely a variety to offer and I would love to come back to try the other unique dishes such as Devil’s Curry, Malacca Laksa, Black Sotong Sambal and Nasi Lemak with ‘Tambrinhyu’ Sambal. High in my list would definitely be the Keluak Sambal, which the nuts was unshelled readily and mash together with sambal.

Halal

Simply Mel’s

Unit 1-1A, 1st Floor, The Sphere,
No. 1, Avenue 1, Bangsar South,
No. 8 Jalan Kerinchi 59200 Kuala Lumpur

03 224 14525

Open 7-days a week, 10am – 1030pm