“We take sustainability very seriously in terms of ingredients and people, sourcing local ingredients not only to support the local farmers but also to reduce our carbon emissions.”

Char-grilled ox tongue with spiced turmeric purée, pickled baby star fruit and toast; inverted karipap – curry puff – with fried curry leaf and edible gold leaf; and banana dessert inspired by local banana fritters and apam balik (pancake): mashed and dehydrated banana turned into banana roses with caramelised banana ice cream, sesame, and peanut.

BETA KL is a modern Malaysian restaurant with a striking turquoise and aquamarine tiled bar and dining room dominated by a floor-to-ceiling batik mural. The colonial-era hill station in Western Malaysia’s Pahang region is beloved for its emerald-green mountains blanketed in tea plantations, fruit orchards, and strawberry farms. It is there that Chef Raymond Tham has been seeking a small farm to buy to grow produce for BETA KL, a royal salutation for kings and sultans. Until then, Tham and his team of young chefs, whose training and mentoring the former culinary instructor takes seriously, continue to work with local suppliers to source ingredients, such as budu, a fermented fish sauce from Kelantan on the northeast coast.

“Raymond has used his research of regional cuisine and ingredients to craft a menu that celebrates humble and familiar dishes in new and surprising ways.” –John Lim, Time Out Kuala Lumpur