Cover Akar, the fine dining restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, champions Malaysia’s indigenous ingredients (Photo: Akar)
Akar, the fine dining restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, champions Malaysia’s indigenous ingredients (Photo: Akar)
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Both Tatler Best Asia 100 awardees this year, Hide and Akar offer compelling reasons to explore Kuala Lumpur’s dining scene, each with a distinctive interpretation of Malaysian cuisine
Kuala Lumpur is one of the world’s most dynamic food cities, yet it is not always the first destination that comes to mind when you think of gastronomic journeys. When travellers plan culinary trips across Asia, Tokyo and Bangkok usually dominate the conversation with their high-profile street food and Michelin stars. Kuala Lumpur deserves equal standing.
Spend even a weekend exploring, and its depth becomes obvious: hawker stalls cooking with decades of heritage, an ambitious new crop of chef-driven restaurants, and inventive cocktail bars shaped by Malay, Chinese and Indian traditions. That rich tapestry is what you will rediscover the trip—made even sweeter by the fact it is less than an hour’s flight from Singapore.
Among the restaurants making the case for Kuala Lumpur as a dining destination are Hide and Akar, both recognised in the Tatler Best Asia Asia Pacific awards this year. Their approaches differ, but both explore what Malaysian cuisine means today, drawing on the country’s culinary heritage, ingredients and cultural influences to create something distinctly their own.
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Akar Dining
Above Akar culinary team, one of the Tatler Best Asia awarded restaurants in Kuala Lumpur
Akar culinary team, one of the Tatler Best Asia awarded restaurants in Kuala Lumpur
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Named after the Malay word for “root”, Akar is grounded in chef-owner Aidan Low’s belief that Malaysia’s biodiversity and culinary traditions hold a wealth of untapped gastronomic possibilities. Now in its sixth year, the restaurant champions indigenous ingredients and lesser-known local produce, encouraging diners to look beyond familiar hawker fare.
“I want people who come to Malaysia to not just make a beeline for hawker food. Malaysia has one of the oldest rainforests in the world and abundance in this biome. There’s more than meets the eye,” he says.
His Mekar (“bloom”) tasting menu puts this philosophy into practice, translating indigenous ingredients and traditional food practices into a contemporary dining experience. Research is central to its evolution, with the team venturing into local jungles alongside purveyors and indigenous communities to uncover unfamiliar ingredients and learn about their uses.
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Above Seasonal harvest forms the menu at Akar, the fine dining restaurant in Kuala Lumpur
Above Chef-owner Aidan Low brings Malaysia’s indigenous ingredients to the table at Akar
Seasonal harvest forms the menu at Akar, the fine dining restaurant in Kuala Lumpur
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The experience begins at Rumah Anjung, a waiting area modelled on the communal guest hall of a traditional longhouse, where guests are introduced to a display of seasonal harvests. Inside, woven textures, considered lighting and warm hospitality lend the space the intimacy of a family home.
The menu features house-made cassava noodles dressed with a tomato trinity and sawtooth coriander; marble goby, with crisp skin and tender flesh, served over fisherman’s broth with starfruit jelly and tepus (wild ginger) chilli oil; and Sabah mud crab claypot rice, accompanied by a spiced blue swimmer crab and coconut broth.
For Low, Malaysian cuisine has no boundaries. “The limitation isn’t in the ingredients or cooking; the limit is ourselves. As long as we continue to tell this diverse story of Malaysia, there really is no stopping it,” he says.
Hide
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Where Akar looks to the land, Hide draws on chef-owner Ng Yi Shaun’s memories of growing up in Kuala Lumpur. Concealed behind a painting at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, the intimate chef’s table places diners around a marble counter overlooking the open kitchen.
Rather than recreate traditional dishes, Shaun draws on the memories and emotions associated with familiar foods, expressing them through contemporary techniques. His tasting menu pairs Malaysian herbs and produce with exceptional ingredients from further afield.
“The food begins with memory. The technique is simply how we choose to express it today,” he says. This comes through in dishes inspired by his childhood. Beetroot keropok reimagines the familiar Malaysian cracker, retaining its characteristic crunch while replacing the traditional seafood base with beetroot and torch ginger. Gunkan combines seasoned rice, crisp nori and sashimi with fried shallot paste, an aroma closely associated with Malaysian home cooking.
Above At Hide, chef-owner Ng Yi Shaun taps into memories of growing up in Kuala Lumpur to create his menu
Above Ng’s version of nasi ulam, which recalls the herb-rich rice served at his grandmother’s table
At Hide, chef-owner Ng Yi Shaun taps into memories of growing up in Kuala Lumpur to create his menu
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The Box of Memory distills the simple meals his mother prepared, bringing together steamed fish, rice, soy and garlicky vegetables in a single bite. Nasi ulam, meanwhile, recalls the herb-rich rice served at his grandmother’s table. Mixed at the table, it preserves the communal spirit of the original while showcasing the freshness of local herbs.
Suffice to say that at Hide, Malaysian identity is expressed through personal memories and the many cultural influences that shape the country's cuisine. Ng’s cooking preserves the emotional connection to familiar food while giving it a contemporary voice.
Two Perspectives, One Malaysian Story
Above Akar chef-owner Aidan Low
Above Hide chef-owner Shaun Ng
Akar chef-owner Aidan Low
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Akar and Hide approach Malaysian cuisine from different directions, but share a desire to explore what the country has to offer. At Akar, this means uncovering the biodiversity and culinary traditions of the land. At Hide, it is about revisiting the flavours and memories that define home.
Both offer contemporary interpretations without losing sight of their roots, making a compelling case for Kuala Lumpur as a dining destination in its own right. For travellers who have long treated the city as a stopover, these two restaurants offer good reason to stay a little longer.
Credits
Images: Akar and Hide
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
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