Mui’s cooking is very personal. — Photos: ART CHEN/The Star
The East Asian restobar Shhhbuuuleee, located on the top floor of RexKL in Kuala Lumpur, is now two years old. The kitchen is helmed by head chef Mui Kai Quan, 33, who draws his influences from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
“I want to highlight food with drinks and feature small plates done well, with good ingredients. Sharing plates is a very good way of eating. I think it’s a trend. I don’t want it to be too serious,” he says.
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That’s in keeping with its name, Shhhbuuuleee, coined from two words - “shhh”, as it shares a space with BookXcess, and the Chinese word “bu lee” which means “don’t pay attention to”.
There’s a choice of dining alfresco.
The concept? “Just relax and enjoy the food and drinks,” says Mui.
There’s sake, high balls, shochu and craft beer offered on this rooftop space of an old cinema dating back to 1947. And the menu includes quirky items like pig’s head terrine, smoked ox tongue and other avant-garde dishes.
“It’s how I would want to eat. We’re in Chinatown and get more tourists. I love pork and I want to highlight my Chinese inspiration. French cooking also uses a lot of pork and cured meats; Italian food as well.
“I would never put steak on the menu. Instead, I prefer certain cuts such as the hanger steak, oxtail, beef tongue and other parts of the animal,” he adds.
Seating at ShhhBuuuleee is informal and fun. — Photo: PATSY KAM
His family in Johor is Hakka, but Mui admits he never learnt how to cook Chinese food even though he did work in a Chinese restaurant when he was 15.
“I could carry up to eight plates of food, with oil splashing on me, or a whole suckling pig.”
He fell in love with cooking by watching the chefs at work, and started cooking at home for his mum.
After scoring 7As in SPM, he knew what he wanted to do.
Upon completing his culinary course at Taylor’s University in Selangor, he saved up through working at Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza in Singapore for two-and-a-half years.
Sitting at the bar counter also gives a view of the kitchen behind.
While young culinary graduates were still floundering over their career paths, Mui already had his mind set on working gratis at Michelin-star restaurants in Europe to gain experience.
He wrote to several, including Frantzen in Stockholm, Sweden, Le Mirazur in France, and Maaemo in Oslo (3-star Michelin restaurants), and the 2-star Ledbury in London, where he eventually landed a month-long stint.
“It’s one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Its focus is on game meat: the chef would shoot deer, wild rabbit, grouse and quail in Scotland, and bring them back to the restaurant in Notting Hill,” says Mui. “According to the chef, cooking the meat well is the most respectful thing to do.”
Mui, then only 22, later moved on to Maaemo in Oslo, where he was hired as chef de partie. “Three months there really opened my eyes to the use of ingredients from around the region. There was lots of seafood and fermented food, but not much vegetables because of the cold climate, so these were often turned into pickles.”
Sweet Argentinian Red Prawns.
Expectations ran high in Maaemo as any moment he could get thrown out of the kitchen if he was too slow. He encountered some racism in Europe as there was a general belief then that young Asians can’t cook.
“The world has changed so much since,” he notes.
When he returned to Asia, he went to work at Spanish tapas bar Esquina in Singapore. After a year there, he teamed up with a friend to open his own restaurant, Sprout in Johor Baru which offered a Euro-centric tasting menu. Ahead of his time, it was an extremely challenging and ambitious venture for a young person of 25.
“I had to do everything, from marketing to sourcing for supplies and cooking; it was very stressful. But I learnt a lot,” he recalls.
After four years, he closed Sprout and sought opportunities in Kuala Lumpur. Through a mutual friend, he met up with Shin Chang, architect and owner of Chocha Foodstore in Kuala Lumpur, who got Mui onboard.
Thick-cut smoked gyutan.
“By then, Chocha had been around for three years and Shin was planning to push it to the next level,” says Mui.
“Chocha is pork-free and its focus is always about improving while keeping to its core values – how to cook better and offer more depth while using local ingredients.
“My cooking is very personal. Everything I do in Chocha and Shhhbuuuleee go back to basic French or European. The creative process can be anything from a few days to a few months.”
He confessed that initially, he struggled a lot in Chocha.
“I wanted to cook Malaysian, but didn’t know much about it. I want to understand the history and culture of food, the diversity of ingredients, and not be shallow and disrespectful about it.”
Pig head terrine.
Mui spends most of his time at Shhhbuuuleee as he feels there’s still much to be done, and on the rare occasion when he’s not creating a new dish and is off work, he enjoys Chinese and Japanese food.
These days, he gets his dose of comfort food downstairs at Mario, a new Italian restaurant under the same management that he’s also overseeing.
It’s exciting for him − two very different entities, and of course, a lot of hard work.
Obviously, Mui has found his groove and Shhhbuuulee has become his culinary playground where he can test the waters with experimental dishes.
For example, his unique Pig Head Terrine has the meat and soft cartilage brined for 48 hours, then simmered in a stock.
The result is quite amazing, and not to be missed if you’re dropping in for a meal.
