Friendship, flavours lie at the heart of London’s ‘Jiran’ supper club

LONDON: After reading about the social gathering on Instagram, two Malaysian women decided to attend. Over shared plates around a communal table, they swapped stories, enjoyed dishes that reminded them of home, and found a connection to the place they had left behind.

“They were like, ‘We were just really craving food from home’,” recalled Zoey Phoon.

After the meal, the pair told her: “This brought me home. You didn’t skimp out on the flavours. You didn’t skimp out on the spice.”

That sense of homecoming sits at the heart of “Jiran”, a Southeast Asian dining experience created by friends Phoon and Sareef Naknan, who is of Malay-Thai descent.

Having spent nearly a decade building their lives in the United Kingdom, the pair wanted to create a space where food could bring people together.

Their first public event in Fulham recently sold out all 30 seats, drawing a mix of Southeast Asians longing for familiar flavours and curious diners eager to explore the region’s diverse cuisines.

The name reflects the neighbourly spirit at the heart of the concept. It nods to the shared ties between Southeast Asian cuisines, as well as the friendship Phoon and Sareef built as neighbours in London.

Above all, they wanted guests to feel welcomed into a home: “Friends dining with friends.”

“We love having people over and spending time with our friends. The one thing most people have in common is a love of good food, and that always sparks good conversation,” said Phoon, 27.

This attention to hospitality was evident from the moment guests arrived. Two long tables encouraged strangers to sit side by side, share dishes and strike up conversations.

There were no organised ice-breakers, yet the room quickly found its own rhythm.

“Moving away from home can be quite lonely. You have to build your entire support system from scratch,” Phoon noted.

“We are all looking for the same thing: community, connection, and a space where making new friends feels comfortable. That’s important.”

Phoon was born and raised in Petaling Jaya and works in social media marketing, while Sareef is a real-estate administrator whose family owns Sara Thai Kitchen restaurants in Kuantan and Terengganu.

They first met while studying in Malaysia and, years later, found themselves living as neighbours in Fulham.

The idea for a supper club – which they had discussed for a year before finally taking the plunge – grew from something deeply personal. Both founders come from families where food is a language of affection.

Growing up, Phoon remembers making dumplings with her mother and gathering around bowls of asam laksa prepared by her grandmother.

“Food definitely surrounds my family. The love language of my parents and grandparents is to make the food we all love and then come together and share it,” she said.

Sareef describes a similar upbringing shaped by Thai hospitality and restaurant life.

“My parents weren’t the type to show affection in obvious ways,” the 28-year-old said. “Instead, they fed us.”

Watching his mother cook for family, friends and customers taught him that generosity is often expressed through food.

“There’s something about watching someone genuinely enjoy what you made for them and that, to me, is the purest form of love.”

That philosophy shaped Jiran’s debut menu. Guests were served dishes inspired by cuisines from across Southeast Asia, including miang kham, a traditional Thai one-bite snack, jackfruit rendang served with chilli oil, and peanut focaccia for sharing, as well as a crowd-favourite: ube-misu.

“Someone told us that she was supposed to leave two hours ago but cancelled all her plans and decided to stay because the food was so good,” Phoon recalled. “That’s always nice to hear.”

Jiran is currently planned to be held once every two month, though the pair hope it will eventually grow into private dining, catering and, one day, a permanent restaurant of their own.

Until then, they are focused on creating the kind of table where people feel they belong. After all, in a city where many are building lives far from home, a shared meal can offer something nourishing: a sense of community, connection and belonging.

Follow ‘Jiran’ on Instagram.