The past five years have borne witness to an epoch in the Malaysian dining scene, bolstered in part by the addition of the Michelin Guide a few years ago. But the other part of this calibration is a growing breed of innovative new chefs, eager and able to elevate Malaysian cuisine. As a result, there has emerged a small but steady drive towards progressive Malaysian restaurants, anchored by a burgeoning framework of local producers.
While talented local chef Shaun Ng was initially not part of this brigade, he has since changed trajectory and reconfigured his acclaimed Michelin Selected restaurant Hide KL based on his own connection with his heritage and identity. “Last time we used to do a mix of Korean, Japanese, Brazilian and American cuisines. Now, we focus more on Malaysian cuisine.
Whether it’s Chinese, Malay, Indian ...
it’s all the flavours of what we eat every day,” he says. Ng has built a name and reputation for himself in a few short years. Having first studied law, he eventually ended up at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.
From there, he went on to work at restaurants in the United States like Eric Ripert’s legendary Le Bernardin, and Kato, where he was part of the team that helped earn the eatery its first Michelin star. Ng is a passionate young chef who is now championing progressive Malaysian cuisine, based on the flavours he grew up with and loves. “I was at a point where so many people my age were years ahead of me.
I needed to push m.