Dewakan
What they say
“We’re passionate about discovering local produce from local producers who have a holistic approach to quality or forgotten endemic and indigenous ingredients from Malaysia. We are focused on creating an enjoyable experience through compelling dishes and sharing our love for these ingredients with our guests.”
Signature Dishes
Temuan chocolate with cocoa from Pahang’s Temuan Indigenous people, jaggery ice cream and banana cream; mango curry with keralan, curry of fruit on banana leaves with rice; and Prawn Umai with brined Ming prawns, green sambal, torch ginger, peperomia pellucida, and wood sorrel.
What we say
“Dewa” is Malay for God and “makan” means ‘food’, so at Dewakan you can expect to sample the food of the gods, or something close: creative contemporary Malaysian cuisine rooted in native ingredients foraged by Malaysia’s indigenous peoples from the jungles, mountains, and sea.
Headed by Chef Darren Teoh, Dewakan is Malaysia’s most exciting restaurant, run by KDU University College’s School of Hospitality Arts.
Two tasting menus are offered, the seventeen-course Kayangan and ninecourse Nusantara, and pre-ordering is encouraged to prevent food waste. Expect to try anything from jungle vegetation traditionally used in folk medicine to luscious Kedah oysters supplied by Bakau Hijau, which uses proceeds from sales to fund afterschool tuition for village children.
Teoh is compiling a culinary compendium of native ingredients to inspire more chefs to use them, to elevate their value and increase income for indigenous farmers and foragers.
What
A focus on serving indigenous & endemic Malaysian ingredients