Chef Danial Thorlby, Head Chef and co-founder of Pickle Dining.
Tucked away in a centuries-old shoplot in Kuala Lumpur’s Petaling Street, Pickle Dining is a modern eatery that champions the art of fermentation. “It was always on my list of things to learn about and it just so happens that many other restaurants around the world started the same thing,” says Danial Thorlby, the Head Chef and co-founder.
The age-old technique of fermentation can bring not only new depth of flavours to a dish, but also boost its nutritional value whilst also reducing waste as it allows the food to be stored for longer. We caught up with Thorlby who tells us about his fascination with the fermenting process and how he’s aiming to normalise work-life balance in the F&B industry.
How did your fascination with food begin?
It depends on who you ask, but I think for me, it started off with trying to cook family meals, experimenting and trying to eat new things. Back then, I was really into sports, I was an athlete as a young kid, so I was really curious about nutrition. It’s all those things combined, that kind of gave me that push to become a chef.
What sparked your interest in fermentation?
For me, it’s definitely a love of discovery. I think when it comes to food, I like to be open to new things. It was a nice way for all of us to discover how to ferment, how to use it properly, how we can enhance flavours and we wanted to be part of that. But at the same time, it was also the history that really fascinated me – learning where fermentation started from and how old it is. Some of these techniques were a necessity for humans to survive because it allowed food to be stored longer.
The other part was being sustainable. Fermentation is the process of keeping things in jars and a specific temperature so that it doesn’t go bad. That was our ethos here, trying to be as sustainable as possible.
How do you implement it in your menu?
We started off the first year doing very basic fermentation because it’s a whole team effort. And for the crew they need to take time to learn and acclimatise themselves. Now, we’re in our second year and we are kind of upgrading ourselves and being a bit more adventurous with our fermentation processes.
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Which dishes would you recommend that really showcase what Pickle Dining is about?
We have a lacto tomato dish that uses fermented mushrooms and sour plum where we ferment the mushrooms and use the juice. We then take the sour plum juice, mix it together and marinate the tomato. It’s so unassuming when you come to a restaurant like this, and we give you slices of tomato. But then when you try it, and all the flavours come out, you just know what we’re about. That’s what I like about taking an ingredient to the next level. You wouldn’t even expect it.
Another dish that I like is our ceviche. Typically, ceviche is made with an acid like vinegar, and that will cook the fish. But we took it one step further using calamansi and it turned out amazing with a little Asian inspired twist.
Pickle Dining is regarded as Modern French, but I see you highlight other cuisines’ fermentation techniques too.
We’re not limited to just French cooking. So, we have other fermentation ingredients like sauerkraut and pickles from all around the world. We alsohave miso which we’re experimenting with. We’ve also made a few bottles of tuak here.
As a restauranteur, are you optimistic about the Malaysian dining scene?
Frankly, Pickle Dining would never have survived four or five years ago. I say that because I think that after COVID, a lot of young chefs and young entrepreneurs decided to be a bit more adventurous. And I think also as a consumer, when everyone was at home a lot, they cooked a lot and got really into baking and cooking. I think that in terms of Malaysia’s direction, it’s going really well. I think we are going in a way that people are more open-minded and more explorative and I think it’s cool.
Why is the work-life balance aspect of your work so important to you?
I started my kitchen life early in the 2000s, this is when head chefs were coming from the 80s and 70s and the way I was trained was very like Hell’s Kitchen – very rough and intense. For me, being a very calm person, I didn’t really like that. And I didn’t like that we were degrading people or making the kitchen into a military environment, even though sometimes it’s kind of necessary.
This is a really hard job, and I get it and why that was happening, but I was determined that I could change that perspective. I can run a kitchen and a restaurant without having all those bad criteria, and we can do it with love, fun and good energy. Work-life balance is something that I want and something that I want for my staff. I’m responsible for these human beings. Now, I have to step up and take the harder road. In Malaysia and around the world, chefs are short- handed, so we need to keep what we can get.
I’m all about teaching and motivating and cultivating the next generation. They say that at least the first 10 years of your chef life is all about learning and maybe it’s more for some people, but then the next part of your career is all about teaching. You’re not going to be here forever and these are the next people in line.
