The nasi lemak ayam kalasan was developed after many rounds of trial and error and features a mind-blowingly good sambal.
There are not many people that would open a restaurant devoted to a treasured domestic servant, but Mohd Imran is not many people.
Born to an Indian mother and German father, Imran grew up in India but moved with his family to Jakarta, Indonesia when his father was posted there in 1978 and Imran was nine.
The following year, Ibu Ruby came into Imran’s life. A talented cook, Ibu Ruby hailed from Yogyakarta and was hired by his parents. Imran grew to love Ibu Ruby like a second mother and her halal Indonesian-Malay fare began influencing the culinary and cultural tapestry that soon became intertwined with Imran’s spiritual evolution.
“I spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen and I fell in love with her food. She had a very big influence on me and I remember her fondly,” he says.
Imran launched Ibu Ruby’s in honour of his domestic helper in Jakarta, who cooked up delicious Indo-Malay meals. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Ibu Ruby served Imran’s family for over 30 years until they moved to Malaysia. She passed away 10 years ago and a decade later, Imran finally found a way to honour her with the launch of a Malay-Indo restaurant called Ibu Ruby’s. Located in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, it opened late last year.
Imran is no stranger to the restaurant industry, having opened Muslim-friendly Italian eatery Positano Risto in both Singapore and Malaysia. This was after wearing many hats – his previous career incarnations have seen him take on roles as diverse as a bank officer, real estate developer and diamond merchant!
With Ibu Ruby’s, Imran is looking at filling a void in the Bangsar area.
“This is a very vibrant area and the space where we are used to be an Italian restaurant so it would have been easy to put a Positano there. But I didn’t feel like the location was right for Italian food because there is a lot of local eateries around.
“I talked to people in the area and asked them what’s missing and they said, ‘We don’t have a good Indonesian or Malay restaurant here’.
“So I said, ‘Okay, let’s do it’. I remembered Ibu Ruby and some of her recipes so we fused Indonesian and Malay food under one roof and solved a Bangsar problem,” says Imran.
The nasi lemak ayam kalasan was developed after many rounds of trial and error and features a mind-blowingly good sambal.
The menu at the eatery is packed with a smorgasbord of Malay-Indo-influenced meals, mostly sourced from Ibu Ruby’s recipe arsenal with some original local contributions as well. Everything is made from scratch with no additives.
Start with the Nasi Lemak Ayam Kalasan (RM19.95). This was a dish that Imran and his team developed after going all over the Klang Valley to try competitors’ versions before eventually developing their own.
The highlight of Ibu Ruby’s nasi lemak is the sambal – which is very, very good. Here, the sambal has a fiery underbelly, a hint of sweetness and a thickness that tides everything together. The fried chicken (ayam goreng berempah) is pretty good – crisp outer skin segues to juicy, tender meat inside.
The rice is the only component that might give you cause for pause – only because it differs from conventional iterations. In most variations of nasi lemak, the rice is saturated with coconut milk and has a certain density to it. Here the basmati rice has coconut nuances but is also very fluffy (a nod to Imran’s Indian roots and preferences), with each kernel easily separating from the rest.
It is a departure from the norm that you’ll either love in its new form or find fault with for not living up to traditional moulds.
Up next, try the Nasi Ambeng (RM29.95), a Javanese celebratory meal that is increasingly hard to find in the Klang Valley. Here, turmeric-infused basmati rice is served alongside sambal eggplant, fried noodles, urap kacang botol, keropok and a slow-cooked chicken leg.
It’s a meal that is oh-so triumphantly good – a riotous celebration of contrasting, yet complementary components that is akin to a group of goofily disparate high-schoolers finding common ground at a one-night only magical party.
Even set apart, each component is memorable – especially the sambal eggplant, which sees a tender, luscious iteration of this notoriously hardy vegetable. The sambal that saturates it is a feisty, fire-breathing dragon that will awaken every single one of your senses.
Nasi ambeng is a Javanese dish that has been done exceptionally well at Ibu Ruby’s. — Photos: Ibu Ruby’s
Another highlight on the platter is the urap kacang botol which offers a coconut-laced tropical foray that delivers bright, fresh flavours and nutty nuances.
Move on to the wonders of the Soto Ayam (RM16.95) which is a chicken broth served with ketupat, fried noodles, chicken, coriander leaves, peanuts and begedil. All these ingredients in one bowl might sound like a recipe for disaster but it is telling that this dish has very quickly become one of the restaurant’s best-sellers.
The broth here is nuanced and multi-layered with avian notes underscoring its core musculature. Every sip is both delicious and poignant – like the sort of meal you’ll want to have on both good and bad days simply because it warms your soul.
The udang gulai lemak features large prawns swimming in a delicious turmeric-enhanced coconut gravy.
On the meat front, look at indulging in the Beef Dendeng Minang (RM19.95). Here, beef slices have been cooked with shallots, coriander, lemongrass, turmeric, garlic and a host of other herbs and spices. Dendeng is typically beef that has been dried and preserved with salt and sugar and then fried. If the process is not done well, the resulting meat can be a tad tough to swallow.
Thankfully, here the beef dendeng is sublime – each slice is addictively tender and is coated in the spices it has been cooked with, which give it a darkly rich, lightly spicy overcoat that is potently unforgettable.
The Udang Gulai Lemak (RM14.95) meanwhile features prawns cooked in a turmeric-laced coconut milk gravy. The prawns are voluptuous and sweet while the gulai itself is creamy without being cloying and has subtle traces of turmeric permeating its veins in a very pleasant way.
End your meal with the simple but sweetly satisfying pisang bakar.
End your meal with a sweet offering in the form of the Pisang Bakar (RM13.95) which serves up grilled, caramelised bananas with vanilla ice-cream, crushed pistachios and palm sugar.
It is sometimes the simplest things that elicit the most satisfaction and this is a dish that displays just that. Here, the bananas have a lovely smokiness that combine with a fruity sweetness, both of which are countenanced by the vanilla ice-cream which provides equilibrium to the meal.
Parched throats will find solace in the range of house-made drinks on offer at the restaurant, which includes the Jus Tiga Rasa (RM10.95) which features fresh pineapple juice, lemon juice, cili padi, honey and spice syrup in what proves to be a fun, feisty, fresh drink that is the antidote to a blistering hot day.
The jus tiga rasa is a delightful tropical thirst-quencher. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Moving forward, Imran says he has once again amassed feedback from consumers in the neighbourhood and based on that, the restaurant will start offering grilled (bakar) options ranging from ikan bakar to sotong bakar and many more.
Expansion plans are also afoot as he believes Ibu Ruby’s is a brand that can – and should – be replicated in other areas in the Klang Valley.
“There are not many restaurants that are a mix of Indonesian and Malay at the mid-tier level. So this restaurant is definitely scalable and I have a couple of investors lined up to really help us do that,” says Imran.
