When you’re the ‘mystery diner’ dissecting every vestige of the restaurant experience, fatigue inexorably sets in, because for every diamond in the rough that you discover, there’ll be a mountain of lumpen charcoal that awaits to people your nightmares. Which is why I’ve been so excited of late. In a landscape that’s largely informed by a surfeit of homogeny, two pairs of young chefs in their 20s who are also partners in their own eateries have been skilfully, and through the quiet innovation of their food, transforming the culinary zeitgeist of our burgeoning dining industry.
Marcus Low and Mei Wan Tan, like so many of their peers in the industry, studied and trained overseas before returning to Malaysia armed with passion, drive and ambition. Their monthly supper club forays-consistently sold out-were some of the hottest dining tickets in KL. At a roundtable segment I hosted on my Feeding Time radio show on BFM89.9 featuring supper club restaurateurs, they expressed a desire to own a brick and mortar business. They’ve since realised that dream with remarkable alacrity, and have been the chef-proprietors of The Kitchen Table Restaurant and Bakery for more than a year in the otherwise unassuming suburb that is Damansara Kim. Encouragingly, they show no signs of resting on their laurels, and the imminent launch of a space upstairs that will encompass a bakery, amongst other things, is one of the things keeping these busy young things occupied.
I’m not a gambler by nature, but I’d be happy to lay down some cold hard cash that these young restaurateurs will be front runners in helping to shape the gastronomic future of our country.
It’s not just the novelty of their ages that keeps diners entranced, nor is it just the fact that Marcus is a self-taught cook and Mei Wan was a stagiare with Marcus Wareing. More likely, it’s the sum of all these parts and so much more that draws every one who has had the good fortune of eating their food into the web of their concoction. Because, let’s face it, revolution doesn’t always happen with the firing of cannons, and it’s sometimes the stealthy coup d‘êtat that sneaks up on you in the still of the night that has the deadliest effect. And so it has been with this duo, confidently and thoughtfully reinventing culinary gold standards with their inimitable touches using local ingredients, and the result: an eatery that holds its own with any of the other more ‘established’ restaurants in this country.
Also making their mark on the Malaysian culinary landscape, Chai Chun Boon and Zeehan Zahari from Copper by FAV are as endearing a couple as they are a successful team that has been racking up fans with their modern European eatery that has as its thrust charcoal grilled cuisine. Having worked at a panoply of Michelin-starred establishments like Oud Sluis in Netherlands, and ABaC in Barcelona, Chai impresses because his cuisine-like his demeanour-is considered, sophisticated and never gratuitous. Through his travels and sojourns with top chefs, he has distilled his journey into a culinary philosophy that is informed by inspiration, whether by individuals or even something as simple as a stroll through Little India. His wife and business partner Zee, whom he met at hospitality school in Switzerland, is, appropriately, his muse, and her front of house acumen and gregarious personality are instrumental in providing the perfect foil for the always exciting food that is produced from the Copper Kitchen.
Because, let’s face it, revolution doesn’t always happen with the firing of cannons, and it’s sometimes the stealthy coup d‘êtat that sneaks up on you in the still of the night that has the deadliest effect.
I’m not a gambler by nature, but I’d be happy to lay down some cold hard cash that these young restaurateurs will be front runners in helping to shape the gastronomic future of our country. Watch out for great things to come, but in the meantime, let yourself be thoroughly impressed by the food at the Kitchen Table and Copper.
At the Kitchen Table, try: their insalata caprese redux, here interpreted with surprisingly good local mozzarella by Bright Cow that boasts as its dance companions unapologetically concentrated tomato jam, a lively Thai basil pesto and julienned zucchini flowers. Also their creamy, dreamy, irreproachably succulent and unforgettably crispy chicken that’s fried in buckwheat flour batter, then crowned with Thai basil, ginger and a perilously addictive garlic ponzu sauce. For dessert, leave room for the dense but strangely weightless fudge brownies or the exquisite Earl Grey creme brûlee. Psst! The bread, made using a 200 year-old starter that Marcus inherited from Finnish bakers is absolutely de rigueur.
Copper’s adroit interpretation of Continental classics is especially evident in their hot vichyssoise with scallops and leek fondue, hamachi cooked a la plancha with an aubergine creme, tomato confit and fish crisps, and Catalan seafood stew that’s perfumed with Iranian saffron, and replete with fish, clams, prawns, calamari, potatoes and aioli. Flavours are typically restrained but succinctly nuanced, and perfectly encapsulated in their beet-cured salmon, salt-baked beetroot, shaved fennel, olive puree and citrus yoghurt salad. For dessert, the Earl Grey crema catalana with edible flowers and orange blossom pavlova with pistachios and passionfruit are as aesthetically captivating as they are delicious.
Follow Fay on Twitter and Instagram at @misskhoo.
Source:https://www.buro247.my/lifestyle/food-and-drink/main-courses-exit-stage-left.html
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