Marinated with curry powder, coconut milk and coconut powder, the inche kabin is fried twice to attain its delightfully crispy skin. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Along Penang’s Bishop Street, Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery stands out with its brilliant blue door and old-fashioned signage. An inscription on the floor outside the entrance of the restaurant reads "Renowned Jeweler" which seems strange and anomalous until you realise that the lot once belonged to heritage royal jewellers B.P. de Silva, which has been in operation since 1872.
Remnants of the jewellery shop remain, including the old-fashioned flooring and the main grilles. What was once a vault now serves as a private dining area.
The eatery opened in 2013 as a modest establishment built off the back of the talent of the eponymous, warm-hearted 71-year-old Beh Gaik Lean and the belief of her filial eldest son Adrian Tan, who wanted the world to see what he saw in his mother.
“Mum is a fantastic cook and she had been working very hard for years. Back then, she was hidden in a kitchen in Kuala Lumpur and was getting paid peanuts. So the day that I had a little bit of money, I said 'Mum, why don’t you come back to Penang? I will make you famous',” says the devoted Tan.
Beh laughs at this and says, “I remember he told me ‘Don’t die taking all your recipes with you!’."
The restaurant represents Tan's love for his mother Beh and her incredible talent for cooking traditional Peranakan food. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Tan was so confident in his mother that he named the restaurant after her without telling her. His faith in Beh was duly rewarded when the restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2022 – the first Peranakan restaurant in the country to attain a star – and retain it – for three years running.
Beh and Tan’s success is all the more amazing because the Michelin Guide typically rewards restaurants that traditionally fall into the category of “fine-dining”, something the humble, but delightful eatery is most certainly not. But in this regard, the restaurant has become something of a folk hero and a shining example of what can be achieved if you work hard enough.
But the road to success was paved with hardship and challenges. Having gotten married at 18, Beh said her little family’s impecunious circumstances meant she had to find a job to keep them on an even keel.
When she was 21, she became a pastry and "special functions" cook at a large factory, something she says was pivotal in giving her the culinary chops and training to become a highly-skilled maven in the kitchen.
“I had a family at a very young age, so that was the best profession that anybody could go in, but I was really passionate about my cooking,” she says.
She also sold kuih by the roadside – with Tan helping her from a very young age.
Beh eventually managed the cafeterias of other large organisations. In her 40s, she started training chefs in KL and eventually helmed the kitchen of a restaurant in the Klang Valley, before returning to Penang to open her swansong eatery.
After earning a Michelin star, Tan spent nearly RM500,000 refurbishing the restaurant. The walls are now adorned with mural art crafted by local artist Andha Ras. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Since those foundling years, the eatery has gained traction among both tourists and locals and after earning its first star, Tan spent nearly RM500,000 on extensive refurbishments that included commissioning mural art by local artist Andha Ras, as well as obtaining set pieces from the Crazy Rich Asians movie.
The food, however, retains the heritage, soul and back-breaking labour that Beh is so famed for. Beh learnt how to cook Peranakan food from her Nyonya mother and although she has received considerable flak for not including pork on her menu, she is steadfast in her belief that this is the right path for her.
“Many people are so upset. They say, ‘How can you do Nonya cuisine when you don't have pork?’ But I come from a small group of Nyonya people in Penang who observe pork-free days once a week on Thursdays. So my mum never allowed us to cook pork on that day.
“When I started working, I was trained to cook pork-free dishes, and I can tell you that cooking pork-free Nyonya dishes requires a certain skill set – it is actually challenging but I have been very successful at it,” says Beh.
The pie tie makes for a wonderfully flavourful meal opener. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Despite the naysayers and the “haters”, both mother and son are proud of what they have accomplished. Tan worked in the hospitality industry in Singapore and had an illustrious career where he served former Singapore Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Goh Chok Tong numerous times.
The two have carried their work ethic to the restaurant they built from scratch. Beh still makes all the pastes herself and keeps watch over everything that comes out of her kitchen.
“You point to any dish and I’ll tell you what I contributed to it,” says Beh.
The proof is in the eating and in this regard, the restaurant has plenty to whet the appetite.
To start, try the Pie Tee (RM30 for 10 pieces). It's very good – a crisp outer carapace that yields to a juicy, succulent jigsaw of flavours, offering an instant flavour bomb. It’s a satisfying opener and one that sets the tone for expectations throughout the meal.
The salted vegetable duck soup is a simple dish whose veins are charged with soul. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The Kiam Chye Ark (RM48 for two to five people) is a salted vegetable duck soup, which may look unassuming but actually has potency and power lurking in every spoonful.
The soup is light but flavourful with the salted vegetables adding a briny undercoat and the duck offering avian richness to the meal.
This theme is carried through with the Egg Belanda (RM22 for a small portion). It is heartening to see that despite earning a Michelin star, Beh remains rooted to her humble upbringing and roots, something that is epitomised in this dish, which Beh describes as “comfort food in poor homes”.
Here, the key element is the eggs, fried to perfection with frilly edges, fluffy middles and yolks that burst into ooey-gooey puddles. This is countenanced by a tamarind and sugar-laced sauce, enhanced with onions and chillies that give the eggs a vivacious edge.
Beh says the humble eggs Belanda is something her mum frequently made when she was growing up. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Perhaps one of the best items on the menu is the Nasi Ulam (RM22 for a small portion).
Nasi ulam is one of the most labour-intensive Nyonya dishes to make because it requires julienne-ing numerous leafy greens and herbs, which run through the veins of this dish. And Beh takes no shortcuts, incorporating up to 10 ulam in her dish, all of which she cuts herself.
The rice is sublime – a herbaceous undercurrent runs through its central nervous system, underscored by a tropical overlay and floral nuances.
The eatery's nasi ulam is a show-stopper filled with herbaceous undertones. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The Inche Kabin (RM32 for a small portion) meanwhile is a simple yet delightful treat.
The chicken is marinated in curry powder, coconut milk, coconut powder, and salt and pepper for a few hours and then fried twice to attain a satisfying crunch. The result is tasty, crunchy chicken that anyone will enjoy.
End your meal with the Pengat (RM12) which is a thick, cloudy coconut milk laced dessert brimming with sweet potatoes, yam and banana.
It’s a dish that dextrously balances different ingredients and yet somehow manages to put them all on an equal pedestal and give them their due – while giving diners a sweet send off.
The pengat features sweet potatoes, yam and bananas floating in a cloudy bath of sweetened coconut milk. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Now that Beh is 71, the question of legacy planning has come up more than once. Although she says she will do this until the day she dies, Beh understands that she has to train a successor. And so walking in her shadow is Tan’s wife, Jayna Tang, who has been slowly but surely learning all her recipes over the years.
With that sorted, Tan has one final act of devotion to his mother up his sleeve.
“We are halfway through creating my mother's memoir. The book will document her life and her recipes. That is the final thing I want to do for her,” says Tan.
