Ep 29: Darren Teoh (Head Chef & Owner of Dewakan - Asia's Top 50 Restaurants 2019)

Chef Darren Teoh Min Guo is the head chef and restaurant owner of Dewakan, where in April 2019, it became the first Malaysian restaurant on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list at 46th place with the title Best Restaurant in Malaysia. “Dewakan” derives its name from a combination of two Malay words: Dewa (meaning “God”) and “makan” (meaning “to eat”). And at Dewakan, Chef Darren is known for taking rare and forgotten ingredients from peninsular Malaysia – including the sea, mountain, jungle and farmlands – and elevating them into unique dishes that diners have described as ‘modern art’. But how did it all begin? In this STIMY episode, we talked about: 2:00: Why Darren once considered doing fashion or graphic design 3:38: Being good with his hands 5:15: Studying at Ternas, which had a dual program with Institute Cartel 7:13: Why he moved to Singapore to work 10:25: Being caught sauteing mushrooms in a pan that wasn’t hot enough 14:58: Working in the cafeteria of KDU 15:46: Lecturing on molecular gastronomy at KDU 17:14: Unexpected challenges in running Dewakan 18:44: Diving into the history of “Malaysian” cuisine 21:12: Figuring out how to use local, often forgotten, ingredients in Dewakan’s menu 23:17: Developing relationships with local producers like Langit, Chocolate Concierge & A Little Farm on the Hill 24:09: Differentiating good/bad local producers 29:04: Impact of being on Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants List in 2019 31:55: How listeners can help Darren 36:38: Be very, very good at failing Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/29