Home-based food business Herba & Rempah began during the Covid-19 pandemic when its founder, Jay Mee Chuah, needed to find new business options as her public relations company was affected by the physical restrictions and movements.
So she started Herba & Rempah, a home business selling Peranakan food, made-to-order.
Chuah says the attraction of Peranakan food is that it has a lively mix of cultures and influences.
"Nyonya or Peranakan cuisine is a fine hybrid of Chinese and Malay flavours using an abundance of herbs and spices, ingredients and techniques from both cultures,"
"Herba & Rempah takes a contemporary yet authentic approach to Peranakan cuisine. We serve Peranakan cuisine with a modern twist. We want to bring you fond memories of food from your childhood yet pushing new boundaries," she says.
Herba & Rempah, she says, aspires to bring you the experience which reminds you of your grandma's lovingly home-cooked meal.
"We hope to share the love of Peranakan cuisine to all races and ages and to continue the legacy of this extraordinary culture which brought out the beauty, grace and passion of the Chinese and the Malays in an amazing synthesis,"
GREAT CURRY
I sampled some of its dishes one afternoon and the Salted Fish Bone Vegetable Curry (RM39.00) came out a clear winner.
It's not your usual salted fish curry because the salted fish is just hidden among the bountiful of vegetable and tofu. This is great news for the health conscious and those who go on a more plant-based route in their diet.
The vegetable portion is very generous and this curry can satiate hunger even without typical curry proteins like chicken or fresh fish.
The unique combination of flavours, spice from chili, savoury depth from the salted fish bones and sweetness from assorted vegetables yields an incredibly complex curry that delivers layer after layer of delicious curry.
There are tofu puffs, long bean, cabbage, eggplant and tomato to make a delicious wholesome one pot curry, perfect with steaming hot rice.
In Herba & Rempah's case, try its Blue Pea Flower rice (RM4.90) made with Basmathi rice and you will have a fulfilling lunch.
There is also Beef Rendang (500g for RM50), a dry rendang where meat is slow cooked for hours, yielding a rendang that is rich but also dry, nutty (from the kerisik) and coated in spices.
Chicken Rendang (500g for RM48) is slow cooked and simmered with spice paste and coconut milk which yields flavorful and tender chicken with the intense aroma of the traditional spices.
NEW TWIST
There are a few options of Roti Jala and I tried the Royale Set (20pcs of Flower Jala) with Chicken Curry (RM75). The Roti Jala is shaped like rose petals, and while I find the shape a novelty, I prefer mine thinner.
The accompanying chicken curry was quite a letdown. It doesn't pack the oomph of chicken curry and had more potatoes than curry. I ended up eating the Roti Jala with the vegetable curry instead.
There are a lot of Roti Jala options and they come in the conventional rolled shape or the rose bloom shape. It's great for gifts, but for my own consumption, I prefer something simpler.
I also tried its Jiu Hu Char (RM29), or stir-fried jicama with cuttlefish, the quintessential festival dish for the Penang Nyonyas including those who originate from the northern part of Peninsula Malaysia.
This dish consists mainly of shredded jiu hu si (shredded cuttlefish), sengkuang, mushrooms, carrot, small pieces of chicken and prawns.
I like this one a lot and eat it as a side dish with the rice and curry. It's very tasty without being salty and by the time I polished the small container, I wished there was more.
To order, check out its Instagram page, @herbaandrempah.
Enjoy tasty Nyonya cuisine at discounted prices by applying foodpanda Discount Code.