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Wild Serai is a nostalgic celebration of the very best of Malaysian cooking, with a strong Malay and Nyonya influence.
As a brief introduction, Wild is S——’s moniker, and Serai is Y’s handle. Wild is from Sarawak, Western Borneo and he brings to the team his organisational skills and his ethusiasm for all things tasteful. Serai from London via Kuala Lumpur is the cook and together we pick and source the very best ingredients from Malaysia, ranging from Kangkung to the very hard to get, Bintulu Belacan.
We hope to feature a few ambitious dishes from around the South East Asian Archipelago (Nusantara) and with that promise in mind, we hope you will be able to come to our next supper club and treat your tastebuds to some good old fashioned slow home cooked Malaysian sould food – just the way Serai’s nenek used to make.
Website: wildserai.wordpress.com
Email: wildserai@gmail.com
Facebook: Facebook page
Twitter: @wildserai
12 Apr 12 by DolceDini
10 Apr 12 by FEAST to the world
21 Dec 11 by Going With My Gut
The best Malaysian food I have ever had in London. The hosts were generous and efficient. My favourite were chillie crabs, fish and the scallops. A very enjoyable experience.
I had a great time at the Wild Serai Seafood Supper Club. The crab was particularly good. Met some lovely people too.
A memorable evening for all the right reasons!
On entry we were greeted with a delicious lychee based cocktail, which set a relaxed tone and allowed everyone to chat before the main event.
With a mouthwatering explaination of each dish preceding it's arrival at the table, the food was served quickly and at perfect temperature.. and it kept on coming! Star of the show for me was indeed the famous Chilli Crab, but ranking it against all the other dishes was tough, as each course was outstanding and would leave Gregg Wallace and John Torode struggling to find suitable adjectives to describe there merit. I am not even going to try, suffice to say that you would be seriously missing out if you choose to overlook this wonderful Seafood Lover's supper club evening.
Book early and if you do get a place, pace yourself!
We will certainly try to attend the next one. Thank you all for a exceptional evening.
My first attendance at a supper club and all I can say is that the bar has now been set and it is very high. The food was authentic, there was plenty of it, and the price was fair for what we got. I could probably end the review right here. There were some minor glitches - the beef rendang failed to show up at our table until the hosts were reminded and I thought some of the food should have arrived hotter but overall, a pretty amazing experience. Goreng Pisang did not end up being served but the Ais Kachang was a more than acceptable alternative. My initial reservation was that £28 was a lot to pay for a home-cooked meal but at the end of the afternoon, I had to concede that we probably got more than our money's worth. I particularly enjoyed the friendly and relaxed atmosphere at the meal, which really reminded me of eating at a social occasion back in Singapore.
This was my third time back. Why do I keep trekking all the way from one end of London to the other? The food is supernova fantastic and thus far consistently excellent. I heard Satay was on the menu again. I really love petai. And assam pedas. And nyonya kerabu. And Chendol. The other stuff? Just a bonus.
The pace was relaxed and leisurely - we started at 1 and finished at 4 - but given the amount of food put before us, I'm not sure we could have gone any faster. Lady Chef kept coming into the dining room at regular intervals to explain the context of some of her dishes, at one point lugging out the biggest belachan block I have ever seen in my life for everyone to have a good sniff. Bintulu Belachan. Mmmmmmmm...
So, about the food. To start we had some really delicious freshly fried enormous keropok dipped in sweet chilly sauce, this was washed down with a yummy surprise cosmopolitan treat. I wish the bars made them like that. I'd be drinking nothing but cosmopolitans!
The satay was charred just right and delicious. The peanut sauce and ketupat - there was ketupat! - well, that could have been a meal in itself. Special mention to the Satay Man who kept running up and down the stairs to cook batches of the stuff on the charcoal barbeque in the garden then legging platefuls up to us in the dining room. Still hot, despite the chill in the air. I am talking about the satay here, although on reflection, Satay Man was pretty kind on the eyes too.
Next came the king prawn sambal petai, definitely one to try, even if you don't normally like petai (sator beans). Not a problem for me, I love my petai and this dish delivered in spades. The spicy sambal belachan sauce was awesome with proper king prawns and perfectly cooked petai. My deepest regret was not buying an extra takeaway portion of this dish, because as full as I was, by dinner time, despite still being full, I was craving it again.
The chicken rendang was also really delicious, despite being a bit more curry than rendang. The flavours were spot on and I do love my gravy so the fact that it wasn't completely dry in the truly rendang sense did not stop me from diving in.
By this stage I was nearly full up so contemplated going slow with the rice. No chance. The lamb shank kurma was authentic, the meat, falling off the bone, melt in your mouth, tender. Just perfect. A bit more rice with that then. Ooh, I nearly forgot to mention the cucumber and pineapple salad with a sprinkling of chillies - just a tad spicy, sweet and sour, crunchy, as another reviewer said - a party in my mouth. Salivating now just remembering it. Really.
And then there was the assam pedas fish, beautifully hot and sour, the fish cooked to perfection. Unfortunately, had to have a bit more rice with that. Finally, the properly homemade, handmade chendol - so very labour intensive - and the fried banana fritters all washed down with frothy comfortingly sweet teh tarik. Burp.
You are told to come hungry, so I did by skipping breakfast. I started eating at 1pm, finished at 4 and required no dinner that night. Double burp.
And I am so disappointed to be away on holiday when Wild Serai's Malaysian Street Food Brunch takes place on the 9th. Aaaaargh!
Being from a Nyonya heritage, I was really looking forward to this...And boy did it not disappoint - it transported me straight back into when I was a kid eating my grandma's food! It is a bit of a trek but well worth it - you CANNOT get authentic Malaysian (nyonya) food of this quality anywhere in London! My absolutely favourite was the king prawn sambal petai - am salivating just thinking about it! The Nyonya chicken curry (with the serai flavours coming through beautifully) was also a winner -we had to pace ourself for all the many delightful courses! Oh - and not to mention the charcoal-grilled satay which was sublime as well! The chendol and teh tarik at the end was a perfect ending to a lovely meal. I look forward to the next supperclub!
What an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon! As a Malaysian, I found the food impressively spot-on and authentic. In fact, I couldn't stop smiling! Nyonya food is quite labour-intensive, and you could tell that no short-cuts were taken. The satay was perfectly cooked and full of flavour, the king prawns mouth-watering. Aside from the delectable food, the atmosphere was relaxed and fun. We each had a yummy cocktail upon arrival- a Cosmopolitan with a Malaysian twist- a very nice touch! Can't wait for the next one!
This was my second Wild Serai experience, and probably won't be my last! Food all-round was good. Ten thumbs up (if I had ten thumbs) especially for the king prawn petai sambal -- no scrooging on wimpy shrimps, they were succulent king prawns all right, juicy and bouncy (the prawny equivalent of al dente, I guess) despite having been simmered in a very delicious sambal sauce for 3 hours. And the petai! I love petai, but I hate it when it's done badly, so I was a bit nervous just before I took that bite... but no worries. All was good in the petai neighbourhood.
Really enjoyed the desserts as well -- Yolanda had made her own cendol from scratch, and the jemput-jemput (banana fritters) really reminded me of my own childhood.
The biggest downside would be the location, but hey... people travel all over the world for good food anyway, what's 30 minutes on a train? Good food is a good cause.
Looking forward to the next one already!
Last Saturday after hearing so many good things about this event I finally got a chance to experience it first hand. First of all I am no expert on Malaysian food but if this is anything to go by then I am certainly gonna have to visit Malaysia.
The food was mouth wateringly amazing! (I'm having to make up words just to describe it).
I enjoyed every single dish served but my favourite was the king prawns. ( sorry I really do need to learn the name of the dishes). Man, talk about juicy with an explosion of flavours having a party with my taste buds.
Another favourite was the satay chicken and succulent lamb dish. Talk about flavour and succulence.
Every aspect of the meal was amazing even the accompaniments. Man the peanut sauce was to die for it had just the right balance of crunchiness and sweetness. As I said to the Host, I could Just have sauce on its own it was that good.
Half way through I was so full I kept thinking " ok this must be it now" then another mouthwatering dish appears.
Ok I've raved on and on about the food but I guess it was also down to the pleasant folks I had the privilege of sharing this experience with and also the infallible service of the hostess and her team.
All I can say is I wish I had a doggy bag because when I got home my taste buds were still wanting to party!
Save me a seat for the next event please.
What words to describe the explosion of flavours in my mouth that was Wild Serai's exquisite chilly crab? Only one. Perfection. or perhaps Perfected. As in, now, WS has perfected the dish.
As for the sumptuous buffet that followed, and make no mistake, this is in reality an all you can eat jobbie, what with the multiple calls of 'would anyone like any more xxx?'
Whilst the crab may have been the star, the otak otak was outstanding too. Lovely fragrant morsels of moist flavourful bites, as good as the best I've tasted. In fact, better.
And the butter prawns! My only regret was not being able to eat more than one as I wanted to save space for the kangkung, more of that I'm really full but the chilly crab sauce is so nice please can I have more rice, kuih talam, teh tarik oooh, just an awesome evening of deliciousness that will leave you feeling sated for days.
Take a taxi home when you're finished though. Waddling home is so undignified. Because you will over eat. It's inevitable. :-)
