Kampar: Malaysia’s hidden secret on South Street!

For those of you that know me, you know that I love spicy food. Give me serrano, habanero, or fresno chilies in any dish, and I’m a happy girl. No matter the cuisine, southern, Spanish, Thai, I’m in raptures of delight, with a slight edge of heat lingering on my palate. Well, a couple weeks ago I discovered a new favorite type of Asian cuisine, Malaysian! For anyone who has experienced Malay food at home, in Malaysia, or at Kampar, an amazing restaurant on 611 South 7th Street, is to know authentic, spicy, and homemade cuisine!

Now, how did we discover this place? Thanks to Andrew Hueston, Vice President of USBG, otherwise known as United States Bartender’s Guild, and Mike Major of Bottled, my hisband saw a St. George's Spirits whiskey tasting at Kampar. The whiskey’s sampled were paired with a few light bites off of Kampar’s menu, and after the event, we decided to stay for dinner at the bar!

Now, let me tell you a little bit about Kampar. Most of the appetizers are based on family recipes, like the achat, which is a spicy selection of pickled vegetables. It was delicious, and very well balanced with a good amount of spice to acidity. The chips and curry we had during the tasting was amazing! You can really tell the difference between made from scratch curry and store bought because you could smell the spices in the air. The dragon meat was a sweet pork jerky that reminded me of sweet sausage that you’ll find at Asian markets. Even if you’re not a part of the hospitality or bartending industries, you can still come to Kampar for dinner. The food is amazing, always freshly made, and not super expensive despite being a James Beard nominee. I would also say that it is very casual in style.

Now, onto dinner! We started with a few delicious cocktails while waiting on our roti canai. Roti Canai is a delicious type of bread traditionally found in India. This dish was lovingly paired with two dipping sauces, and was the perfect texture. It reminded me of freshly made Greek pita with the perfect amount of char on it. As I mentioned earlier, we had some cocktails with this initial dish. I had the Whiskey Tarik, made with pineapple infused bourbon, Japanese vermouth, and teh bitters. It was smooth, fruity, and creamy. I had a few of these. The hubby had the Karbonat Spritz, made with charred banana leaf and shrub, white aperitivo, Vietnamese black pepper, lemon, and club soda. Of course, he switched to a rum cocktail with our main course, which shouldn’t surprise any of you reading this. Rum is his favorite spirit.

For our main course, we decided to have fish. Now, just so you understand, we hadn’t really had anything to eat for lunch, and we had a small amount during the tasting because the event was well attended by other USBG members. I absolutely loved how we were able to order our fish course! First, you pick your protein. The choices were flounder, croaker, squid, or they may have a fish on special. On this particular night, the special was black bass. When our fish was finally served to us, we wound up having the flounder because the chef didn’t like the texture of the bass. If the fish doesn’t measure up to their standards, they don’t use it.

Next, you pick the sauce for your fish. You have two options to choose. We chose the Sambal Belacan, which is an amazing spicy homemade sauce that coated the top layer of our flounder. Or you can chose the Sambal Kristang, a less spicy version, but a no less delicious option that I would've paired with the croaker fish. The final section was your sides. We re-ordered the achat appetizer, and tried the nasi lemak. It is coconut cream-soaked rice, topped with sambal, roasted peanuts, crispy anchovies, and hard-boiled egg, all neatly wrapped in banana leaf. We were stuffed. I had a liquid dessert of Whiskey Tarik.

Chef Ange, Sam, and our amazing bartender Fallon did a fantastic job! If you want an wonderful experience, check out Kampar! It’ll be worth every penny! Cheers.