Here’s a funny pic of me with a group of friends at King’s Kitchen Klub at EEST in the Westin Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. David is director of kitchens at the hotel, and let me tell you there are many kitchens! I first met him many years ago when he was working At Darley Street Thai in Sydney with David Thompson.
EEST is the first of its kind in Kuala Lumpur, featuring five distinct Asian cuisines in one restaurant: Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and Malay, with authentic recipes prepared and presented with a modern innovative twist. I loved the Tandoori-inspired Black Cod (see today’s recipe), a clever adaptation of Japanese and Indian cuisine; the Lobster Tempura with Chilli Bean Cream and Pomelo; the Hot and Sour Oxtail and the Kobe beef satay. For dessert, you just have to try ‘A Study of Durian’, a cheeky way to encourage diners to try durian, that very smelly, strange looking tropical fruit so popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Love it or loathe it you can try it in a variety of ways in this clever dish, either as a spring roll, a burnt cream, a doughnut, a pancake or an ice cream.
With its open kitchens and ‘live food show’, it’s a real culinary adventure; an up-market version of the Night Noodle Markets currently in swing in Sydney’s Hyde Park (Mon-Fri October 12-23 – dinner trading, 5pm-9.30pm). Watching Chinese chefs strut their stuff with their woks always gives me a thrill because of its high energy charge; I also like watch them pleating dumplings, a more meditative but no less-skilled culinary skill (and something I have yet to master).
The King’s Kitchen cooking classes also include tours of the local markets. The day we were there, we were taken to the vibrant colourful market called ‘Bazaar Baru Chow Kit’, a daily morning market and the largest wet market in Kuala Lumpur by Farouk, one of David’s accomplished sous chefs. I can’t say I enjoyed seeing the grahpic scenes of chooks being slaughtered, but the fruit and vegetables were a delight. There’s a huge variety of fresh herbs, including assam leaf (which is used in laksa), betel leaf and screwpine (or pandanus), and others which I didn’t recognise.
Afterward we had breadfast at one of the local Indian restaurants ‘Restoran Sri Paandi’, on Jalan Pasar, and feasted on dosas filled with potato masal or egg, chicken and beef curry, ‘roti canai’ with dhal and steaming hot cups of ‘Teh Tarik’, a traditional strong Sri Lankan tea mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Then it was back to the hotel to learn how to cook the hot and sour oxtail (divine), a lamb biryani and stir-fried seafood.
If you’re staying in Kuala Lumpur, but not at the hotel, don’t miss having a cocktail at the Qba, dubbed “old Havana re-discovered”; or breakfast or lunch at The Lving Room, an all-day dining restaurant full of surprising nooks and crannies, an experience rather like entering Alice’s Wonderland.

King's Klub Kitchen