The first rule of Fried Club: everything on the menu is fried—or, at least, involves some elements of frying in the making process. “When I was a student in Melbourne, my friends and I would often have late-night cravings and head out for fast food or fish and chips—basically, anything fried,” shared founder and head chef, Kevaja Putra Panjaitan. “And that memory is what gave us the idea for Fried Club.”
Started out as an online business, Fried Club’s brick-and-mortar eatery in Grand Wijaya Center has become a familiar feature in the neighbourhood since its opening in February 2023. The industrial interior is made cosy with personal touches like a vinyl corner from Keva’s personal collection, inviting patrons to settle in and enjoy the laidback music as part of the dining experience. Even the menu is presented in the sleeves of a vinyl record, a playful spin inspired by Keva’s visit to Bar Record in Ginza, Tokyo.
While the diner-inspired setup may suggest a lineup limited to Western dishes, Fried Club rolls out a spread of fried food that isn’t confined to a certain cuisine. This exploratory approach was carried over from Keva’s time studying the hospitality and culinary arts at Academia International in Melbourne, where he would attend Sunday gatherings with fellow international students and exchange dishes from their homeland with one another. “And I would ask them to teach me how to make their food,” he explained. “This experience brings perspective to me and my other chefs [at Fried Club] that it’s always a good idea to innovate with our menus without the limitations of any particular cuisine.”
Take the sandos, for example. In addition to Fried Club’s spin on the Louisianian classic po’boy, Po’Boy Shrimpz, which dresses up the fried shrimp sandwich with green mayo and chilli vinaigrette, there’s also The Buldakz, where the hot-and-sweet Korean fire chicken is paired with coleslaw for an added burst of freshness.
Their signature, however, is The Spicy Andy’s, a noodle dish aptly named after the housemade Andaliman chilli oil that lends its spicy and umami punch, topped with fried chicken chunks and a dollop of mayonnaise to offset the heat. And no trip to Fried Club is complete without the crowd-puller Golden Nugget, chicken bites enveloped in crispy exterior, a menu item that traces back to Fried Club’s early online days.
With fried food anchoring the menu, Fried Club goes through up to 30 jugs of cooking oil each month. In an effort to minimise their environmental impact, the kitchen team works with UCOKU.ID, an organisation that recycles used oil as raw material for biodiesel. “We’re still planning to do more to help the environment. It’s important for us to be aware of that,” expressed Keva.
While the variety of menu may appeal more to the younger audience, the foot traffic at Fried Club has seen those stretching from office workers on their lunch break to big families with young children coming in for a weekend brunch. Gathering the many communities that make up Wijaya, it’s easy to see how fried food—in all its comforting, ‘sinful’ sensation—has always been something people have a hard time resisting. A guilty pleasure that Fried Club is more than happy to accommodate.