Aidan Low of Akâr Dining on nurturing his team and what first sparked his interest in food

If anyone knows about having aspirations, it is Low—his love for the culinary arts began at the ripe young age of 10, cooking with his parents and grandparents. “Initially, it wasn’t so much about cooking, but more about time spent together in the kitchen,” he says. “My family were all very busy, so I always looked forward to spending quality time with them in the kitchen or around the dining table.”

Low smiles as he recalls the sense of contentment he would feel after turning a set of ingredients into a complete dish and having his family enjoy it. “I remember a lot of fried rice, eggs—occasionally with shells in them—and frying fish with odd combinations of seasonings such as kicap manis, rosemary, and thyme,” he chuckles. The KL-born chef’s family were incredibly supportive, and at the age of 15, he opted to take culinary arts as a major.

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While his hobby was now something he was pursuing as a career, this did not work to reduce Low’s love for the craft. He felt as excited as ever, so much so that he wanted to expand his horizons beyond what was offered by local culinary institutes.

“I applied to Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, Japan, and managed to get in, but the catch was that I had to learn Japanese from scratch,” he says. Undeterred, he moved to Osaka and enrolled in a language course. He worked in restaurants during his free time until he picked up enough of the local language to begin the culinary course.

Low speaks fondly about his time in Osaka; though there were a lot of authoritarian rules, he feels this honed his craft and increased his attention to detail: “Living in Japan shaped and disciplined how I now work.”

After five years in Osaka, Low was selected for Tsuji Culinary Institute’s advanced course, which took place in Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. “This was an immersive, 10-month course, which consisted of a lot of practical role playing before going on to internships around France,” he says. 

Comparing his time in Osaka and Lyon, he believes that while his time in Japan sharpened his skill set, his time in France nurtured his love for food. However, his years abroad were not easy—Low often faced isolation as he could not converse fluently in local languages, and in Lyon, he was the only Asian in his cohort. “There were definitely times when I questioned if I chose the right path,” he admits. “But I always persisted, not taking no for an answer.”

While Low planned to stay in France for a few more years, an opportunity at Ed.ju Omakase resulted in Low returning to Kuala Lumpur. After working for two years, he began hosting pop-ups and eventually opened his own restaurant.

Akâr Dining began as a French-Japanese concept a few weeks before the pandemic. “When the lockdown hit, I had time to reflect on its direction,” Low says. “While it was a safe choice, it did not fill me with much purpose.” He soon realised he felt an affinity for local produce, which aligned with his learnings from abroad.

“The more I looked at the great cuisines from Japan and France, I realised what made them special was that they made use of the fresh, surrounding ingredients,” he explains. “Coming to Malaysia and exploring the local produce we have, I decided to apply these takeaways to Akâr Dining.”

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One of the dishes that is a staple on the restaurant’s seasonally changing menu is Terrior, which aims to showcase what the team refers to as the Malaysian harvest: “It is a combination of hyperlocal herbs and vegetables that come together in a medley of textures and flavours that is uniquely Malaysian.”

Low hopes that Akâr Dining will become a meaningful destination where guests come without expectations and leave fulfilled, knowing they have learned something new.

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