Chef Stories
Seven chefs. Seven stories. Each meal is an autobiography — of heritage discovered, techniques mastered, and a deep love for Malaysian cuisine preserved.
Chef Darren Teoh · DEWAKAN
Malaysian cuisine is not a fixed thing — it is an ongoing conversation between land, people, and time. My job is to listen to what this land is saying, and translate that into something you can taste.
— Chef Darren Teoh
Chef Darren Teoh's DEWAKAN — which takes its name from the Malay word for "heaven" — became Malaysia's first restaurant to earn two MICHELIN stars, and remains the pinnacle of modern Malaysian fine dining. His cooking draws deeply from indigenous Malaysian ingredients and ancient techniques, reimagined with a contemporary culinary lens.
For Santap Lah, Chef Darren has translated his iconic Dewakan Laksa into a format that travels without compromise. It is the same dish served at his restaurant — just now it can come home with you.
Modern Malaysian · Indigenous Ingredients · Two MICHELIN Stars
Chef Kim Hock Su · Restaurant au Jardin
I grew up eating rendang at every kenduri. What I wanted to do was honour that memory while asking: what happens when French technique meets this Malay soul?
— Chef Kim Hock Su
At Restaurant au Jardin, Chef Kim Hock Su has built a quietly revolutionary kitchen — one that refuses to choose between the classical French brigade tradition he trained in and the Malaysian heritage he was raised on. The result is a singular culinary voice: rigorous, precise, and deeply personal.
His Hericium Mushroom Rendang for Santap Lah is a perfect expression of this identity. The mushroom — chosen for its remarkable umami depth and silken texture — undergoes the same long, patient rendang process as beef, resulting in a dish that is both familiar and entirely new.
French-Malay Fusion · Plant-Forward · One MICHELIN Star
Chef Aidan Low · akar
Dabai is a fruit that barely anyone outside of Sarawak has heard of. That is exactly why I cook with it. Malaysia's biodiversity is extraordinary — we are only beginning to understand what we have.
— Chef Aidan Low
At akar — the Malay word for "root" — Chef Aidan Low has built a kitchen philosophy around deep sourcing: understanding where ingredients come from, who grows them, and what they are truly capable of. His menu reads like a love letter to Malaysia's indigenous culinary heritage.
The Dabai Curry Rice for Santap Lah represents this philosophy in its most accessible form — a dish designed to introduce Malaysians across the peninsula to one of East Malaysia's most precious ingredients, through the universal language of a great curry.
Roots Cuisine · East Malaysian Heritage · One MICHELIN Star
Chef Raymond Tham · Beta KL
The kadok leaf grows wild across Malaysia. It is everywhere, and yet nobody cooks with it seriously. That gap between abundance and recognition — that is where I like to work.
— Chef Raymond Tham
Beta KL has long been one of Kuala Lumpur's most adventurous dining destinations — a restaurant that mines Malaysia's extraordinary pantry of wild herbs, jungle ingredients, and forgotten produce. Chef Raymond Tham leads this kitchen with a restless curiosity and a deep intuition about flavour.
His Kadok Chicken Rice for Santap Lah distills this philosophy into something comforting and elemental: a perfect rice dish, made extraordinary by a single powerful Malaysian ingredient that most people walk past every day without tasting.
Wild Malaysian Herbs · Creative Malaysian · One MICHELIN Star
Chef Darren Chin · MICHELIN Selected · Gai by Darren Chin
Tom yam and ramen should not exist in the same bowl — and yet when they meet, they create something that feels completely inevitable. That tension between "it should not work" and "it absolutely works" is what drives me.
— Chef Darren Chin
Chef Darren Chin is one of Malaysia's most instinctive and playful culinary voices. At Gai by Darren Chin, he has built a reputation for bold flavour combinations that somehow feel completely natural — a gift for finding the invisible bridges between culinary traditions.
His Tom Yam Ramen for Santap Lah is a perfect encapsulation of this gift: the bright, aromatic heat of a great Thai tom yam, given structure and depth by Japanese ramen technique.
Cross-Cultural Fusion · MICHELIN Selected
Chef Nurilkarim Razha · MICHELIN Selected · Jawi House
Nasi minyak is the food of celebrations — weddings, festivals, homecomings. When you taste it, you do not just taste rice. You taste memory. That is what I wanted to put into a Santap Lah meal.
— Chef Nurilkarim Razha
At Jawi House, Chef Nurilkarim Razha has revived the Malay-Arab culinary heritage of the Straits — a rich, fragrant tradition that travelled with trade winds across the Indian Ocean and found its home in Malaya's port cities. His cooking is deeply rooted in this history while remaining entirely alive to the present.
The Rose Chicken with Buttered Rice for Santap Lah draws from this tradition: the florality of rose water, the richness of nasi minyak, the gentle spice of braised chicken — together, they taste like celebration.
Malay-Arab Heritage · Celebratory Cuisine · MICHELIN Selected
Chef Johnson Wong · MICHELIN Selected · gēn根
Gēn means "root" in Mandarin, and that is what I am always searching for — the root of a flavour, the root of a tradition. Buah kulim brought me back to the root of what Malaysian food can be.
— Chef Johnson Wong
Chef Johnson Wong's gēn根 has become one of the most talked-about restaurant concepts in Malaysia — a deeply philosophical kitchen that asks hard questions about provenance, sustainability, and what it means to cook "Malaysian." His menus are built around foraged and indigenous ingredients that many chefs have long overlooked.
The Buah Kulim Noodle for Santap Lah is Johnson's love letter to the Malaysian rainforest: a rare forest fruit, a centuries-old noodle-making tradition, and a chef who has devoted his career to making both matter again.
Foraged Ingredients · Roots Philosophy · MICHELIN Selected
Santap Lah Chef Stories
The video story for this chef is currently in production. We are bringing you an intimate look into their kitchen, their culinary philosophy, and the creation of their Santap Lah signature meal. Coming soon.