The past five years have borne witness to an epoch in the Malaysian dining scene, bolstered in part by the addition of the Michelin Guide a few years ago. But the other part of this calibration is a growing breed of innovative new chefs, eager and able to elevate Malaysian cuisine.

As a result, there has emerged a small but steady drive towards progressive Malaysian restaurants, anchored by a burgeoning framework of local producers.

While talented local chef Shaun Ng was initially not part of this brigade, he has since changed trajectory and reconfigured his acclaimed Michelin Selected restaurant Hide KL based on his own connection with his heritage and identity.

“Last time we used to do a mix of Korean, Japanese, Brazilian and American cuisines. Now, we focus more on Malaysian cuisine. Whether it’s Chinese, Malay, Indian ... it’s all the flavours of what we eat every day,” he says.

Ng has built a name and reputation for himself in a few short years. Having first studied law, he eventually ended up at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. From there, he went on to work at restaurants in the United States like Eric Ripert’s legendary Le Bernardin, and Kato, where he was part of the team that helped earn the eatery its first Michelin star.

Ng is a passionate young chef who is now championing progressive Malaysian cuisine, based on the flavours he grew up with and loves.

“I was at a point where so many people my age were years ahead of me. I needed to push myself as much as possible to catch up.

“By then you pretty much just want to make sure that there is no Plan B; you have to succeed no matter what. I think that was my biggest driving force,” he says.

Ng’s trajectory took yet another unexpected turn when he returned to Kuala Lumpur for a short period while en route to a job in Singapore. When the pandemic happened, he ended up being “stuck” here. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because that’s how Hide came into being.

Perched at the edge of the Ritz Carlton Residences, Hide is, well, as it’s name so aptly implies, hidden. A huge piece of artwork doubles as the door to the eatery and a gentle push yields entrance to a small but imposing 13-seater eatery, set against the backdrop of an impossibly tiny kitchen.

The eatery is small and compact, seating only 13 people.

The menu is built around Malaysian flavours – reimagined, reworked and reconfigured into novel ideas. The dinner menu is RM650++ with an option to tack on an additional RM208++ for a non-alcoholic beverage pairing.

The meal starts with one-bite wonders like the Scallop, Heirloom Tomato, Kalamansi which serves up plump, velvety scallop countenanced by the acidity of the tomatoes and the zestiness of the limes.

The Begedil with Black Garlic and Smoked Bone Marrow meanwhile has an unctuousness that runs quietly through its veins while the Kaya Toast is fashioned out of meringue encased with cashew praline, apple gel and kaya. Kaya toast – or the modern version of it – is making its rounds in restaurants around the city – and Hide’s is light and almost fairy-like but perhaps a tad sweet for a savoury course.

The char-grilled pineapple with cinnamon and curry leaves is delightful from start to finish. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star

The non-alcoholic drinks at Hide are concocted entirely in-house and there are streaks of brilliance interspersed throughout. The first drink, for instance, is infused with kedondong and sparkling yuzu in what proves to be a fabulously, fun drink that starts with a nose-tingling quality, followed by a lip-puckering first sip and then ends with a riotous ninja-like emergence of carbonation.

On the meal front, there’s the more substantial Sea Bream, Sambal Matah which is a clever, clever dish that sees cold, clean supple fish wrapped around sambal matah, rounded off with lime and ice plants in what proves to be an astoundingly good combination of freshness, tartness and heat all interlocked into one meal.

The crab noodles with belinjau and belimbing buluh is one of the most triumphant entries in Hide’s menu.

Perhaps one of the most triumphant offerings on the menu is the Belinjau, Mud Crab which is a noodle dish that makes use of belinjau, a small, tubular shaped fruit that is native to the Malay Peninsula. The addition of hand-picked mud crabs and belimbing buluh complete this assemblage, which honest-to-God, is so good, you’ll want to eat it by the bucketful.

The crab flavours are concentrated and pronounced and the noodles are cool to the touch and pack a slurp-worthy punch, while the belinjau and belimbing buluh add acerbic notes and a kick through the guts of this meal. It’s a very memorable journey through Malaysian underwater produce and fruits of the forest.

The tandoori lobster burger is delicious from start to finish and makes use of disparate local flavours and ingredients. — Hide KL/Instagram

The Maine Lobster, Tandoori is essentially a burger but like none other that you’ve tried before. The char-grilled lobster is cooked with tandoori butter, paired with a Kelantanese budu cream cheese and topped with shallots. If I’m being honest, the description sounds anything but enticing. Tandoori and budu? Can this magician really pull this out of the hat?

And yet, Ng does exactly that. This burger is one of the best things you’ll put in your mouth this year. It defies belief that such disparate ingredients could collude to create such a pleasurable explosion of flavours and yet, you’ll fall in love quite possibly at first bite.

On the drinks front, the tomato with garum (fermented fish sauce) enhanced with pepper is another one of those dichotomous offerings that sounds oh-so strange but makes so much sense once you take a sip. The drink has soothing mellow tomatoey undertones underscored by a sourish funk that is really quite fantastic.

The colourful Nasi Ulam is packed with a rich array of herbaceous, fruity flavours.

The Ikan Bakar, Turmeric pays homage to a classic dish by turning it on its head. Here, the grouper has been dry-aged for three days to intensify the flavours. This is enhanced with a sambal butter and turmeric alongside charred fiddlehead ferns layering the base of the plate.

The fish commands the marinades used in ikan bakar and emulates the smokiness, courtesy of the paku in this constellation, but otherwise does not imbibe too much from this classic dish.

Perhaps the zenith of the non-alcoholic pairing is the char-grilled pineapple with cinnamon and curry leaves. This is a drink that hits every one of your senses – a pretty sunny yellow little thing that instantly indulges your nostrils with an intoxicating scent.

On the taste front, it has smoky charred notes and traces of the Indian sub-continent interspersed with a fun, spiced riddled undercoat. In many ways, it is a cheerful, far more tropical (and significantly less alcoholic) take on a classic European mulled wine.

The Lamb, Spiced Coconut and Nasi Ulam features a deliciously aromatic, tenderly pliant lamb that is as supple as a baby’s bottom, juxtaposed against a riotous parade of colourful ingredients in the nasi ulam – from bunga kantan to pomegranates, pomelo and four winged beans.

It’s a wonderfully fun exploration of good, old-fashioned nasi and lauk but elevated to whole new, exciting levels.

This sweet treat is a tropical delight. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star

For dessert, there is Crystal Mangosteen, Hibiscus – a sweetly floral, fruity concoction that is laced with the tropical nuances of mangosteen. It is perhaps a slightly less memorable addition to the meal, but one that celebrates local depths and dimensions.

Hide has been gaining traction since the day it opened, and it isn’t hard to see why. Because if this is the future of modern Malaysian cuisine, we can all be very proud of what’s on the horizon.

“It feels good to represent the food that we grew up eating. That’s what kind of nourished us to be who we are today,” says Ng.