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

Getting ingredients from the market to the restaurant meant he had to load up his motorcycle and make the trip each time supplies were running low.

In these early days, some of the first dishes served to guests were the result of using only what they could get. Local prawns were served with pucuk paku (fiddlehead ferns), pegaga (pennywart) and a drop of bunga telang (butterfly pea) oil. Elsewhere on the menu, the goreng pisang (fried banana fritters) ice cream was a hit amongst its early diners, a dessert that was at least familiar.

“The restaurant’s ambitions back then and where the local dining scene was not congruent,” said Teoh. “We had to dial back a little bit on who we thought we are, to what would get us bums on seats.”

While goreng pisang ice cream might seem simple, it revealed the meticulous understanding of the business of restaurants as much as the building blocks of flavour and texture in any single ingredient.

In an interview with Timeout Kuala Lumpur, Teoh spoke of the goreng pisang: “There are two things in it. One is the batter that’s been fried up, that becomes the emulsifier, and also some oil, which the pisang soaks up when it fries. So, the oil gives you the creamy mouthfeel, that’s why our ice creams are so smooth.

DEWAKAN, NOW

That approach of deconstructing the qualities of a common food item like goreng pisang is one that he carries out to this day, especially since his dishes require ingredients never been used in fine dining.