THE dark, complex and beefy rawon bowled us over at Ginger Roots, an Indonesian and Peranakan restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

It is a beef stew originating from Surabaya in east Java that uses the black buah keluak (a mangrove nut), which gives it an inky colour and a nutty flavour.

Small chunks of tender beef steeped in the stew are embraced with hints of lemongrass, galangal, coriander and daun salam.

The rawon (RM22) is served with salted egg and sambal. We loved the stew, relishing in the earthy taste of keluak lifted by the fragrant herbs and spices.

It was so good drinking it as a soup and poured over white rice. The nut is hard to get in Kuala Lumpur and it is delicious when cooked in a nyonya chicken curry, in a thick sambal and fried with rice.

We couldn’t resist ordering the keluak seafood fried rice (RM15.90), which had the aroma of wok heat, and tasted a little bland at first.

The rice was a glistening black, with rings of squid in it and draped with omelette strips.

A little sambal from the rawon made it better, and we liked it more the longer it sat on the plate, possibly because of the infusion of flavours from the ingredients.

What made the petai chicken kerabu (RM25) special was the deep-fried chicken well coated with the gently spiced and well-balanced marinade.

It blended well together with the petai, chilli, shallots, a little shrimp paste and lime juice.

It was a mellow, delicious kerabu with the crunch of the sting beans meshing into the fried chicken.

I am always in search of the best curry debal (devil) chicken (RM26) and was surprised to find it on the menu of Ginger Roots.

It is a Portuguese Eurasian chicken curry cooked with a ground paste of dried chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, galangal and turmeric, fried mustard seeds and white vinegar.

We were warned it would be hot, but it was a chilli heat we liked, with a little tartness from vinegar.

I would give this debal curry seven points out of 10.

The special beef rendang (RM25) is unlike the rich, dark red rendang we have here.

The small, tender Australian beef chunks have been simmered in a spice paste that owes its pale-yellow colour to more turmeric than chilli.

There’s the aroma of kerisik and lemongrass in the mild and subtly rich rendang.

The flavours of the small, fermented shrimps came out with each bite of the cincalok omelette (RM12), which was also fried with lots of onions and chilli. It was a welcome addition to our lunch.

I took away a nasi lemak ayam pandan (RM15.90) for my sister, with blue coconut rice coloured with bunga telang, pandan chicken, prawn sambal, fried ikan bilis and peanuts and egg.

She enjoyed the rice and the juicy, tasty boneless chicken thigh meat wrapped in pandan leaves and deep-fried. The only complaint was that there was too little prawn sambal.

I would go back to Ginger Roots again for the rawon, ayam buah keluak (RM35), cili garam cincaru (RM9.90 apiece), otak otak special (RM15.90), Auntie Ong’s rendang chicken (RM25), tofu bergedil (RM15) and the nasi lemak ayam pandan.

The food is cooked with halal ingredients. The restaurant is decorated with old Indonesian bric-a-brac and wooden furniture that are also for sale.

Ginger Roots is at 87 Jalan Hujan Emas 8, Taman Overseas Union (OUG), Kuala Lumpur, tel: 017-333-5556.

It opens from 11am to 9pm. It is a sister restaurant to Big Baba in Taman Desa that serves nyonya cuisine and Little Jakarta @ Pearl Point that does Indonesian food. – December 5, 2020.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.