This June, Kuala Lumpur and Penang celebrate the very best of Malaysian restaurants with a series of collaborative food events, helmed by MICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024 restaurant chefs. This celebration will encompass themed multi-hands dinners and pocket-friendly weekday lunch menus for all.
Organised by FunNow Malaysia, GastroMonth 2024 expect local flavours from the diverse Chinese, Indian, Malay, and Peranakan canon, along with a pinch of international fine dining accents — all in service of great food, wherever that may be.
For the haute dinner series, which is only available for 10 evenings, 20 chefs from restaurants recognised in the MICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur and Penang 2024 will come together to curate multi-course menus in line with various dinner themes each weekend in June.
Here are the spots to keep an eye out for at this year’s GastroMonth.
Dewakan
Two MICHELIN StarsMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Malaysian chef Darren Teoh pays tribute to indigenous flavours and traditions at Dewakan, a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur whose name translates from Malay to mean “food from god”. Come hungry for a tasting menu centred around locally and responsibly sourced ingredients, prepared exactingly to best represent the rich bounty of Malaysian gastronomic diversity.
Au Jardin
One MICHELIN StarMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Contemporary Franco-Asian cuisine is the name of the game at MICHELIN-Starred Au Jardin, the charming warehouse restaurant nestled in George Town’s historic Hin Bus Depot, where chef-patron and born-and-bred Penangite Kim Hock Su, blends his culinary heritage with fine dining finesse.
Beta
One MICHELIN StarMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Executive chef and restaurateur Raymond Tham takes Malaysia’s playbook of time-tested culinary eats and turns it on its head with contemporary flavours and modern plating techniques at Beta, the sole new restaurant to be recognised with one MICHELIN Star in this year's selection. You won’t be in a hurry to get through the restaurant’s whimsical tasting menu and equally vibrant beverage pairing, as you’ll be busy soaking in the sights of the luxuriously decorated restaurant.
Neighbourwood
Bib GourmandMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
If its name wasn’t enough of a clue, Neighbourwood is an unabashedly laid-back family-style restaurant that isn’t afraid to pair Asian-influenced European plates with freshly baked Madeleines, tarts, and crusty sourdough loaves to go. Khaw Chee How, chef-owner of the charmingly cosy joint, switches up his menu regularly to keep things interesting — though you can enjoy evergreen staples like roast chicken au jus.
Akâr
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
This MICHELIN-Selected Kuala Lumpur joint has a name that also means "roots", but now in Malay. We’re talking about Akâr, a restaurant that similarly embraces Malaysian terroir with a tasting menu anchored on seasonal local produce. Think raw seafood from Terengganu, a dash of gula apong (Sarawakian palm sugar), and some toddy (palm wine) as the base of innovative and exquisitely crafted dishes.
Cilantro
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
A marriage of Japanese and French cuisine, both shining stars in the world of fine gastronomy, is hardly novel. But executive chef Takashi Kimura executes the well-worn fusion concept at Kuala Lumpur stalwart Cilantro with such ingenuity that it feels more like the warmth of familiarity than unoriginality. Come early for unassuming French bistro fare, or a little later to be regaled with a proper fine dining experience heaving with exquisite French-Japanese plates.
Eat and Cook
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Buddy chefs Lee Zhe Xi and Soh Yong Zhi turned sudden unemployment at the hands of 2020’s pandemic into a culinary windfall when they came together to create MICHELIN-Selected Eat and Cook, a chef’s table concept that plays on the regional bounties of Malaysia’s 13 states. Expect locally sourced ingredients like Ipoh mountain duck and Sabah slipper lobster uplifted with contemporary French and Italian accents.
Entier
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Fukouka native Masashi Horiuchi wields nose-to-tail dining with aplomb at Entier (the French word for entire), his minimally appointed restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that’s big on Japanese-French flavours. Wastage, of course, is kept to a minimum, too, with dishes like turbot served with a jus made from its bones and head, and garnished with its own crisped-up skin.
Gēn
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Meaning "root" in Mandarin, MICHELIN-selected Gēn in George Town, Penang, places the profound appreciation of one’s roots at the centre of everything it does. Expect a celebration of chef-owner Johnson Wong’s culinary origins and cultural memories, as reflected through the careful preparation of fresh, seasonal and truly Malaysian ingredients.
Hide
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Chef Shaun Ng, an alum of the Culinary Institute of America, has turned his tutelage at the three-MICHELIN-Starred Le Bernadin in New York into Hide, a Kuala Lumpur-based chef’s table experience focused on seafood — and lots of it. Look out for a heavy dose of Japanese and Chinese inflections in his creations, along with — what else? — some Malaysian flavours to boot.
Jwala
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Custom-made copper tandoors, Sarawak mangrove wood charcoal, and the elemental power of fire are the weapons that chef Ramesh Thangaraj wields to bring unbridled, smoky char to proteins both conventional and unusual at Jwala, a Kuala Lumpur restaurant named after the Sanskrit word for flame. Mughlai staples like chicken and lamb chops feature heavily in the restaurant’s arsenal, alongside less conventional flairs in the form of hamachi collar, marinated with pickled spices, and yuzu then char-grilled to finish.
Ling Long
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Chinese classics are given an inspired Francophile spin at Ling Long, chef Lucas Lam’s gorgeously appointed Chinese oasis hewn from stone, wood and terrazzo tiles. Think seven-day-aged duck slathered in a buttery, Chinese herb-infused sauce; Maine lobster paired with a fermented chilli ice cream; and homely egg tarts spiked with unctuous foie gras.
Nadodi
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Kuala Lumpur’s Nadodi peddles modern South Indian flair with a tasting menu that veers from the coasts of Sri Lanka to Kerala, the vast state of Tamil Nadu, and everywhere in between. It’s a fittingly roving journey for a restaurant whose name literally means “nomads” in Tamil.
The Brasserie
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
The Brasserie dishes up a modern French café experience in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, both in terms of its regal, but inviting, setting, and the food that’s on offer — contemporary French-Mediterranean gastronomy with some light Asian influences, whether you’re there for a full-length degustation or Sunday brunch.
Seed
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Seed pays homage to its MICHELIN-Starred parent restaurant in Singapore, Whitegrass, with a menu equally anchored on an interplay of Japanese and French flavours while making the most with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Signature flairs from its war chest of “bistronomy” include an umami-rich amadai (sweet sea bream) and French poulet.
Skillet
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Having now settled into its new digs at Menara Hap Seng in Kuala Lumpur, MICHELIN-Selected Skillet continues to serve contemporary European nosh prepared with fine seasonal ingredients under the auspices of Raymond Tham (also of MICHELIN-Starred Beta). A signature that can’t be missed is its three-day-aged Cherry Valley duck, served with broccolini and a mandarin peel jus.
Ushi
MICHELIN SelectedMICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur & Penang 2024
Ushi, meaning cow in Japanese, presents an intimate omakase kaiseki experience structured around melt-in-your-mouth Wagyu from the singular Ozaki farm in Miyazaki prefecture. We’re talking marbled beef given a once-over with smoky binchotan, stewed with seasonal bounties, or served raw to best enjoy unadulterated beefy bliss.
GastroMonth, organised by FunNow Malaysia, celebrates its second edition this June 2024. This year's much-awaited gastronomic get-together will feature a series of multi-hand collaboration lunch and dinner events featuring over 20 chefs from restaurants recognised in the MICHELIN Guide Kuala Lumpur and Penang 2024, who will come together to curate multi-course menus for each weekend in June 2024. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity as part of FunNow Malaysia’s commitment to building a better future for all. Learn more about it here.
This post is brought to you in partnership with FunNow Malaysia
