Malaysian restaurant Dewakan has claimed the 46th spot in one of Asia’s most notable lists of best restaurants. Dewakan’s name combines the Malay words “Dewa” (God), and “Makan” (eat); in other words, “Food from God”.
Dewakan, which serves modern Malaysian food, originally began as an entrepreneurial effort of KDU University College in Malaysia. Its current chef, Darren Teoh, was previously a culinary lecturer, and many of his alumni now work at Dewakan with him. Even today, Dewakan continues to train younger cooks through its internship programme.
Dewakan is currently situated in the institution’s flagship campus at Utropolis Glenmarie, Shah Alam, about 23km from Kuala Lumpur’s city centre.
On the official Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants website, the reviewer particularly praised Dewakan for breaking boundaries.
The description mentioned that “Chef Darren Teoh takes rare and forgotten ingredients from peninsular Malaysia – from sea, mountain, jungle and farm – and elevates and transforms them into fine dining dishes that diners have described as ‘modern art’.”
This years number one spot went to Odette, a French fine dining restaurant based at Singapore’s National Gallery, replacing Bangkok’s Gaggan which had previously held its position for four years in a row.
This is a significant jump for Odette, which was ranked as number 5 in 2018’s Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. It was also number 28 on last year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.