How Malaysian chef Darren Teoh took Dewakan from a restaurant in a university to 2 Michelin stars in KL

When Darren Teoh opened Dewakan on the ground floor of a college birth air of Kuala Lumpur in 2014, Malaysia’s diners maintain been in two camps: It might possibly well well presumably either be a excellent success or drag into the tropical jungle of foul tips.

The title Dewakan is an abbreviation of two Malay words — “dewa”, which method god, and “makan” which method to eat. Its premise became bright: To plate up indigenous fabricate for the honest dining desk, at honest dining prices.

This became a time when Malaysians associated these ingredients with primitive, rootsy affairs. Assume how other folks are far extra mindful of the model and texture of portobello mushrooms, than then will almost definitely be with ‘cendawan kukur’ (wreck up gill mushrooms) regardless of it being native or endemic to the negate. It didn’t aid that the restaurant became on the ground floor of a college and faced a football discipline, giving it the charisma of an tutorial experiment.

“It became a crazy thought, however I became furthermore on the point where I became bored of valid instructing,” he mentioned laughing, relating to the length where he taught culinary arts to college students at Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU). “I wished to opinion on the attention-grabbing landscape that we maintain and fabricate some if truth be told attention-grabbing food.”