HOMECOMING

Chef’s Kiss: Three fine dining establishments at the vanguard of locavorism.

- NIKITA NAWAWI

EAT AND COOK (@EATANDCOOK.ASIA)

Navigating life amid the unnerving war on Covid-19 proved rough sailing for all. Restaurateurs, especially, were thrown into what seemed like an infinite limbo with constant pushand-pull of dine-in-no-dine-ins. Lee Zhe Xi and Soh Yong Zhi were among the collateral damage. Having lost their jobs to the pandemic, the two chefs took the plunge and started Eat+Cook—a six-seater eatery that highlights ingredients from the heart of our homeland. It was a gamble that paid off in spades as the restaurant, now rebranded as Eat and Cook and relocated to a relatively bigger space in Bukit Jalil, began raking up nods of recognition including American Express One to Watch citation as part of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022.

Why do you opt to champion locally sourced ingredients?

We want to create value for our products. Do you know how much of our seafood is being exported to other countries? Hundreds of tonnes of tiger prawn from Sandakan are shipped to Hong Kong and Japan every month. But even with all that, we’re rarely heeded in our own market because of the price point. Malaysians tend to think that they shouldn’t “settle” for a local product if they could add a small amount of money for an imported one regardless of its quality.

But you have used imported ingredients such as the Indonesian tuna and Canadian scallops in the past.