Although relatively new to the Kuala Lumpur dining scene, Molina has already cemented its status as one of the best European fine dining establishments in the city. The venture, owned by epicurean Datuk Alex Tan (the FACE Hospitality) in collaboration with Chef Sidney Schutte (of the Michelin-starred Spectrum in Amsterdam) asked Belgian Chef Guillaume Depoortere to helm the kitchen via a text message while he was still working in Germany.
“The first message from Sidney came out of the blue, asking if I was interested in working in Kuala Lumpur. I was like, ‘What is he talking about?’ because I wasn’t aware he was going to Asia. He gave me a call shortly after and explained about the opening of Molina and when Chef Sidney Schutte calls you about a new project, it is hard to refuse,” says Deepoortere.
Here, he tells us about his journey of moving to Asia to helm Molina and his thoughts on the local dining scene.
How did you come to know Chef Sidney Schutte?
I have always been intrigued by Sidney, his creativity and his career path. In 2018, I started at Librije (now known as Spectrum). At that time Sidney wasn’t working there anymore, but of course, he is a true legend over there as he, of course, was the one receiving the 3 Michelin Star at the Librije. Sidney has a unique and bold style that is exciting and colourful with a lot of flavour. It is a real honour to be working with him, I am learning and growing a lot.
Chef Guillaume Depoortere.
Tell us a bit about your fascination with food and how you ended up in this career.
“It is a very boring and straightforward story, to be honest. My parents have their own business; a hotel and restaurant as well as my grandparents and great-grandparents, so it goes way back, I think I have been born with gastronomic blood.
However, I was a very difficult and fussy eater when I was young, so no one really thought I would ever become a chef. But at some point, the idea came to my head and I went to do Gastronomic School and started as Front of House, although not in the kitchen. Then I had to do my internship, I chose to do the kitchen side first, just to get it over and done with it. But surprisingly I fell in love with cooking and the kitchen and never looked back since.
Congratulations on the Michelin star! How did you feel when you found out Molina earned its first star?
Of course, we are very proud and honoured that Michelin gave us our first star within such a short period of time, so soon after our official opening in June. The team has been working very hard for it, I am super happy and excited for what is ahead.
The journey has been amazing, especially from starting up a restaurant. It wasn’t that busy all the time, but since the Star, we are really at the level that we want to be. The restaurant is very busy, there are a lot of guests, and the team is flowing, learning and growing. Everyone is really doing their thing. It has really been from the beginning until now a very big learning experience. We have learned so much from setting up, calculating costs, and how to run a business. We are very happy that we are so busy and blessed to be where we are right now.
Do trends influence the work that you do?
Not really, there are always some things that we can learn from certain trends, techniques and basic techniques. But for me, fine dining is a trend on its own.
What are your thoughts on the Malaysian dining scene?
The Malaysian dining scene surprised me a lot, and I am not just talking about fine dining here, but the entire dining scene of the country. It is so surprising because it has so many different cultures, so many different flavours, spices, ingredients and food that all come together. So, it is really amazing to see and there are so many products we can use. Talking about fine dining, it is still quite
new over here, there are super interesting restaurants, and we are happy to be part of what is the start of fine dining in Malaysia.
What have been some of the challenges of running a European-centric dining establishment in Malaysia?
First of all, we do want to use local products, wherever we find the quality we want, we use them, but that said, we are using a few European products, and that sometimes can be a bit of a challenge. Getting them in on time and ordering the products, the challenge is to get them in as fresh as possible and to receive the best quality. Also, the way of dining, and the actual dining experience in Europe are different.
Dining in Europe is a lot slower, while guests over here in Malaysia like to dine faster. We really like to “make it a night”, we sit down, enjoy, have a glass of champagne, have this add-on, extra cheese course at the end, enjoy the conversation with friends, and order another bottle of wine.
While over here, people really come for the food, but they do want to eat quickly, not have too much time in between the courses, they don’t want to sit for a very long time, it is a much faster and higher pace, which for us, (especially in the beginning) was something we had to get used to, it was a big challenge in the beginning. But now we have adapted to it, and we try to do it the best we can.
We found our flow and systems for it, without compromising the standard of food and service. We have found a way to combine both.
What is your vision for the menu in the coming months?
I think that in general, our menu is always going to be focused on seafood, we have our style, we use a lot of techniques, and we have and use a lot of fine things. The vision and the goal will always be in that style, a modern European fine dining restaurant that tries to look and search for new techniques and maybe some new combinations together.
For the upcoming months, my goal will be really to start elevating and refining what we have been doing with the new dishes. Adding some more show elements, the Molina dining experience is already really good and big, but I really want to look for the next step to make the experience even bigger and even more surprising for our guests, to make it even more worth visiting the restaurant.
