It was a fondness for grilling on charcoal that gave the name Carbon to David Tay’s fine-dining restaurant in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Fired up with passion for his craft, it has been a long road to getting where the chef/owner is today. Today, ensconced in a spacious restaurant within a three-storey building he co-owns with partner Yeoh Wei Chieh, Tay recalls the roundabout journey of his.
You would think culinary studies would have been a first choice for Tay, 37, but it didn’t happen that way. He started with a diploma course in mass communications at Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College in Penang where he lived, as culinary studies was too expensive. “The skills I picked up have come in useful in writing materials for the restaurant,” he quips.
In 2009, opportunity knocked and Tay finally did his culinary degree at Taylor’s College in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. In between colleges, Tay took on several temporary jobs, including being an ice-skating instructor, waiter and even salesman! Yeoh cooking the duck over charcoal. As soon as he finished his studies, it was off to Singapore where he got a job as commis chef at Epicurious Café in Singapore.
He went on to work at various restaurants there, such as Labyrinth and Oxwell & Co, as well as Resorts World Sentosa. In total, he spent 10 years working in Singapore, although in between, he came back to work briefly in Penang. He also dabbled as head chef in a restaurant in Petaling Jaya for awhile, which was where h.
