Malaysian Supperclub @ Ning

On Tuesday I was invited to Norman Musa's Malaysian kitchen in at Ning, in the Northern Quarter to celebrate the Malaysia's comparatively un-honoured cuisine.

Norman's bagged the title as Europe's leading Malaysian chef, so I had high hopes for the feast!

Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed!

We started with a DIY mango salad that came with shallots, crispy anchovies, peanuts and chilli; battered crabs with a chilli sambal dipping sauce; and chicken skewers with a rich peanut sauce - these were my absolute favourite, I could've eaten them all night. Yum.

In between courses, we had a go at making roti jala, a laced pancake that's a nation snack staple. It was nice, but a little odd - the pancake is sweet and then covered in a spicy curry sauce..

For mains, we had Ayam Percik - grilled chicken breast with coconut milk, lemongrass and chilli sauce, Sambai Petai and Udang - prawns with beans in a chilli sambai sauce, Siakap Kukus - a whole steamed sea bass with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and ginger, and Masak Lemak Labu and Keledek - roast pumpkin and sweet potato with a coconut and turmeric sauce.

Each dish was scrumptious in its own right - but the prawns won me over hands down! They were so juicy, and the sauce was just spot on.

For dessert, we tried gorgeous Malaysian rice cakes, fresh fruit and ice-cream. The ice-cream is where it starts to get a bit weird. We felt adventurous so ordered the Durian flavour.....

And it tasted like iced onion. With cream. It was just odd. It's been dubbed the world's smelliest fruit, and I can safely say I won't be trying it again!!

How nice does the dragon fruit look?

I'd definitely recommend checking the restaurant, especially if you like Thai food (it's very similar).

The restaurant details are here!