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Chef Darren Teoh and his team at Dewakan show off four dishes from their upcoming new menu that shine a light on the amazing produce Malaysia has to offer and how far the restaurant has come since beginning.

1. The Next Chapter

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Above Chef Darren Teoh and his team | Photo: Courtesy of Dewakan

Modern Malaysian in every sense of the word, Dewakan has always been a unique entity in our culinary scene, embracing the rich tapestry of our country through its natural ingredients and produce and combining it with contemporary techniques to create an exciting dining experience.

Sensing that it was time for the restaurant's next chapter, chef Darren Teoh has revamped 60 to 70 per cent of the Dewakan's new menu to showcase both new and exciting ingredients as well as the progression of his kitchen team. 

To give us a sense of what diners can expect, Teoh invited T.Dining and other members of the media to an exclusive tasting session of four dishes that reflects what their new menu has achieved.

2. Banana Heart & Kerdas

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Above Photo: Courtesy of Dewakan

Crunchy with a strong smoky garlic flavour that comes from kerdas, a flowering plant of the pea family that bears a taste similar to garlic, and smoked daikon, the steamed banana heart itself is surprisingly soft with a texture resembling eggplant. Kerdas chips, garlic shoots, fiddlehead ferns and pickled roses complete the dish, making for an incredibly tasty assemblage of local ingredients that also doubles as a conversation topic.

3. Prawns Warmed In Starfruit Juice With Herbs

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Above Photo: Courtesy of Dewakan

This dish showcases Dewakan's ingenuity at fusing a variety of cooking techniques with local ingredients, resulting in a very fresh and green forward menu item. The prawn slices featured in this dish are brushed with a paste made of coriander stems and salted lime skin before being warmed in starfruit juice and kaffir lime leaf oil. A combination of herbs, leaves and shoots sit atop the prawn slices, which gives the dish its fresh almost mineral taste, complemented by the sweetness of the prawns and the tartness of the sauce.

4. Roast Eggplant With Keluak & Candlenut Oil

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Above Photo: Courtesy of Dewakan

This new entry in Dewakan's menu is quite an intense flavour trip, thanks to a keluak paste that imparts a rich umami feel to roasted eggplant. The eggplant is then garnished with petai belalang at the top and paired with foam made of mushroom stock and candlenuts. When taken together as a whole, the strong flavours of the dish should be savoured and shouldn't be rushed. The taste of keluak lingers on the palate and the combination of earthiness from the foam and smokiness of the eggplant makes for an alluring aroma and taste.

5. Sweet Leaf Sorbet & Nam Nam

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Above Photo: Courtesy of Dewakan

The restaurant ends our tasting experience on a sweet albeit green note. The dessert features cooked nam nam, a local fruit that tastes similar to pear, a sorbet made of sweet leaf (sayur manis) and is completed with a dehydrated milk crisp dusted with roselle powder. The dish itself is bittersweet with a fresh and light sensation, with sweetness coming from the cooked nam nam and sorbet itself and the bitterness resulting from the vegetable's chlorophyll tang. The dehydrated milk softens the bitter blow on the palate but the cool green taste of the sorbet is undeniably refreshing.

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