Industry veterans Christian Recomio and Jenifer Kuah on why the customer shouldn’t always be right

“Our neighbours upstairs were leaving, so we flipped a coin to see if we should take over their space,” Kuah laughs. Obviously, the answer was yes, as Sitka Studio was born in 2016, allowing Recomio to focus on the curated tasting menu while the team ran Sitka as a more casual concept below. 

Kuah always wanted to open a neighbourhood café in Bangsar (partly due to the free parking), so when a lot along Jalan Bangkung became available, Alta Cafe was born. By that time, many modern Asian restaurants had sprouted in Kuala Lumpur, so Recomio happily drew from his roots with a selection of modern European plates. “From 2018 until 2021, everything was stable and busy, then the pandemic hit,” he says. The two planned to eventually shift out of Plaza Batai, so this moved their plans ahead.

The beloved Alta Burger was born during this period, and it seemed like the obvious choice for Recomio and Kuah to continue down the same trajectory with casual European fare. “The Alta brand is about feeding everyone,” says Kuah. “Now that we have started Alta Pizza, we are back on track to where we wanted to be three years ago.”

While Alta Cafe is their busiest venture to date, their anchor is Studio Restaurant, which opened in 2022 along Bangsar’s Jalan Kemuja and serves a tasting menu similar in nature to the original Sitka Studio. “It is exactly what we want to do and how we want to do it,” she smiles.

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Though different in concept, the tying factor between the three restaurants is Kuah and Recomio’s belief that good, high quality food can be achieved at every level. “The amount of research that goes into each venture is unique,” Recomio continues.

In the case of the Alta Pizza project, they brought the team to Naples for training, having been twice themselves, dining at different restaurants and even visiting the hills for cheesemaking: “Whatever concept we want to do, our dedication to it will go above and beyond.”

Such pride in their craft leads to confidence in every plate of food that is served: “We want to do what is current, not just here but in the world,” Recomio says. This sometimes results in uncommon items making an appearance on the menu. “When customers ask us to change a dish to suit them, we often do not, as we never compromise when it comes to the food we want to serve.” Kuah nods in agreement: “We have a combined 40 years of experience, so we do the food the way we want to.”

While different in nature, this is the binding factor that unites the pair. “We both believe there are fundamentals to running a restaurant,” she continues. “Everything feeds into the experience, from restaurant design and music to how a guest is greeted and how rude customers are handled—hospitality is not about telling the customer they are always right.” Recomio continues: “People don’t come to the restaurant to tell us what they want to eat, but rather because they want the kind of experience we provide.”

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When asked about their hopes for the future, Kuah and Recomio emphasise they want to remain original, current, and unique. Often visiting Alexis Bistro & Wine Bar for team meetings or casual lunches, Recomio notes how consistent the food is: “Honestly if we can achieve what they have at the standard it is at, I’d be happy.” 

With more heavily invested establishments sprouting in the dining scene, he ends with a reminder about how important it is to support your local restaurant rather than ticking off a list of trendy spaces on Instagram, using Moonfish Cafe (his restaurant in Aberdeen run with head chef Brian Mcleish) as an example. "I opened Moonfish Cafe in 2003, and right before the pandemic, we decided not to post anything on Instagram for 18 months," he says. To his pleasure, the restaurant was as busy as ever, due to loyal regulars. 

Kuah agrees: “Become a regular and go back again and again when you find a restaurant you love.” 

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