This is a proud moment for Malaysia restaurants and local food lovers.
For the first time ever, a Malaysian restaurant has made it on to Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list – with Dewakan coming in 46th at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019 awards.
The local restaurant which first opened in 2015 was also named the Best Restaurant in Malaysia.
Dewakan is a name from two Malay words. “Dewa”, the Malay word for god and “Makan” which means to eat or just simply; food.
“To us Dewakan means food from God, and as a restaurant we want to honour the bounty and the blessing given to our land. We want to connect the ingredients from our seas, farms, mountains and jungles to a canvas that is our plate in the most interesting way we know how. We hope that you too will share this experience with us,” is how the restaurant labels itself in its website.
Located at the Lower Ground Floor of KDU University College in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, this restaurant is helmed by chef Darren Teoh.
Teoh is quite well-known in the F&B scene for being an innovative champion of local produce.
His menu is largely made up of indigenous local ingredients like goat sourced from local farms, organic local vegetables and herbs like ulam raja and torch ginger flower (bunga kantan).
Other lesser-known ingredients that he has worked with include kulim (a kind of forest garlic) and cendawan kukur.
Voting for Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants is done by a panel of 318 food experts based in Asia who each cast 10 votes for restaurants they have had the best experience at in the preceding 18 months before the voting deadline.
The Top 10 restaurants in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019 list are:
- Odette, Singapore (Best in Singapore & Asia)
- Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand (Best in Thailand)
- Den, Tokyo, Japan (Best in Japan)
- Sühring, Bangkok, Thailand
- Florilège, Tokyo, Japan
- Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China (Best in China)
- Mume, Taipei, Taiwan (Best in Taiwan)
- Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan
- Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
- Burnt Ends, Singapore
Also read:
Dewakan catapults Malaysia into the coveted Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2019
