In the kitchen with Chef Raymond Tham | Prestige Online

Fresh off the back of his newly minted Michelin star, Chef Raymond Tham takes a moment to sit down with PRESTIGE and give us some insight into the food, the man, and everything in between.

It’s on rather short notice that I received the message telling me I’m scheduled to interview Raymond Tham at the new Skillet location. Short notice it may be, but when you get the chance to take a dip into one of the country’s foremost culinary minds and indulge in his latest menu afterwards, any allusions to reluctance or irritation are performative at best. Upon arriving at the new restaurant in Menara Hap Seng 3, I’m greeted warmly by Alex Cheah, one of the Co-Founders behind Skillet and Chef Raymond’s other occupational abode, the Michelin-starred Beta KL.

Alex then retrieves the man of the hour who, I learn, is on a bit of a tight schedule. Dinnertime is fast approaching, and Raymond informs me he has to leave for Beta shortly to ensure preparations are in place for what is sure to be an unforgettable evening for whoever walks through their doors. Raymond and I sit down for a hastily arranged interview in which we’re both caught a little off guard. Curiously enough, I find the interviews that begin along these lines to usually be the best ones. When both parties are forced to find their footing as they go along, all preparation goes out the window, leading to some unexpected detours and some of the most organic interactions.

I gather it will be good to kick things off by asking how he got his start. “I’ve been interested in cooking since I was very young, about six or seven. I would watch my grandmother and my mother prepare things in the kitchen, and I would learn something from them. And of course, I’d watch all the cooking shows on the TV as well,” he says, echoing what is a surprisingly common origination I’ve heard from some other well-regarded chefs.

His initiation into the culinary industry was a fortuitous one, both for himself and the local dining scene as a whole. But it’s one that threatened very nearly not to happen. He’d expressed an interest in plying the culinary trade when his mother asked him to consider his options very carefully. “My mum asked me, ‘Are you sure? It’s going to be a very tough career,’ and because of that, I enrolled in a local college to further my studies in hotel and catering management. After that, I went to the UK to study for my business degree, and it was there that I was sort of, perhaps lucky, to get a scholarship to study the culinary arts.”

It wasn’t straight out of his finals and onto the frying pans for Raymond though. Upon moving back home, he found himself employed as a lecturer and had a stint as a chocolate consultant for one of the world’s biggest chocolate companies—I wanted to say it must have been a ‘sweet gig,’ but stopped myself just in time. His time as a chocolate consultant has come in handy for preparing one of Skillet’s signature dishes that’s also one of the few constants in an ever-evolving menu. However, as you’ll see, even that’s not quite constant.

“There’s a dessert you’ll taste later that’s been around for the past nine years [as long as Skillet has], and every season, it keeps changing. From Valentine’s Day to Chinese New Year, and all the different seasons, it’s a signature dish for us. It plays with the senses. You must smell it a little bit and then feel it, the different temperatures. In certain seasons, you might even get a pine scent from it, like during Christmas for instance.”

The topic then turned to the use of unconventional ingredients, ones that perhaps require a measure of courage to grapple with and can possibly even turn into something of a trademark for certain chefs. I’m curious to know what Raymond has up his sleeve and his answer doesn’t disappoint. “Recently, I’ve liked bambangan from Sabah. It’s kind of like a mango, but it’s not really.” Bambangan? Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it, what’s it like? “Well, if you don’t use it carefully, it might end up smelling like petrol! So, to balance that one is quite challenging.”

He’s also recently joined the ranks of a rare cohort, the inhabitants of gastronomy’s pinnacle, as an awardee of the Michelin star. It’s not often you get to speak to a member of this illustrious fellowship, so I take the opportunity to ask how his world has changed with this recognition. “Of course, people look at you differently, but I’m still the same person,” he says, giggling sheepishly.

I believe him, too. There tends to be a characterisation you’d expect these culinary geniuses to fall into. You might picture an individual with an almost manic intensity or perhaps a spaced-out eccentric who seems only partially there. There’s none of that with Raymond though; he just comes across as somebody who’s above all the fuss and just wants to get on with the cooking—that and leading the next generation of kitchen virtuosos. “I hope I can groom more talented young chefs in Malaysia. That’s also one of the reasons I moved back here. Maybe when I’m, you know, getting older or when I’m tired … maybe then I’ll go back to teaching.”

I thank Raymond for his time and let him know that I won’t be keeping him. As much as I’d like to pick his brain a little more, I’m not the only one in need of his attention. His kitchen at Beta calls, and he must be going. Even so, he takes the time to escort me into the dining room and introduce my colleague and I to the kitchen as well as to the staff on the floor.

Introductions made, it’s now time to dive into the food and see what the boys and girls at Skillet have in store for me. First up is the spot prawn amuse bouche. Subtly flavoured, it has a coagulated gelatinous sort of texture that contrasts beautifully against its crisp outer shell. The flavours of the quail egg croquette are similarly subdued, fermented soybean and chili playing a supporting role without the slightest jostling for centre stage.

As much as I enjoy flourishes of gourmet artistry and precisely orchestrated flavour pairings, one of the things I look forward to at every meal is the humble dinner roll. At Skillet, this takes the form of a crisp golden-brown bun made of longan bread, served with a side of truffle butter. Served hot at the table (you can see the steam coming off it still), it almost begs belief how good this roll is. Sure, it singed my impatient fingers when I reached to pull it apart, but all was immediately forgiven upon the first bite. Softly sweet and contrasting delightfully with the richness of the truffle butter, it is some of the best bread I’ve ever had and, very possibly, the best outright.

I have a hunch that most won’t be content with just one, and this was confirmed shortly after by Faiz, a dutiful attendant at our table all evening. I’m about halfway through the first one when he asks me if I’ll be needing another—clearly anticipating a common request around these parts. He says that many diners ask if they can buy the bread and that they’re all inevitably disappointed when they’re told it’s not for sale.

We venture through a few more captivating courses that are an education on the different ways to balance texture and flavour. One of these is the Amur caviar with its intriguingly grassy aftertaste, and another is the Cameron Highlands asparagus with firefly squid and burnt butter that has a strong cheese-like flavour to it. This is an apt prelude to the much-anticipated mains to follow.

For my main course, I elect to get the threadfin topped with wild garlic leaves that I’m told are found only in spring. This is then drizzled in a fish emulsion made with Shaoxing wine. The clean tasting, slightly sweet fish set the perfect backdrop for the creamy emulsion to impress, the sauce being rich but never in danger of becoming cloying due to the addition of the cooking wine. I eat half of it before trading plates with my colleague who’s opted for the Japanese wagyu striploin as her main.

The beef is as tender and succulent as you would expect, but what really catches my attention is the spice mix sprinkled on top that gives it a novel rasam-like flavour. The courgette blossom that comes with it is a refreshing change of pace from the richness of the beef with its floral taste and minty undertones. It’s then back to the savoury for me as I dig into the foie gras placed to the left of the beef.

The foie gras is, to put it in a word, divine. As soon as it graces my palate, the world seems to melt away, and all I want to do is bask in every dimension of the flavour in my mouth while it’s still there. Sumptuous and decadent to the extreme, this is melt-in-your-mouth pure umami. As much as I’d like to go into the dramatically presented dessert that necessitates a mallet to unlock it, or the after-dinner tea service that rivals it for showmanship, there simply isn’t enough space here to describe all that is good about Skillet.

It’s not too often I’m as impressed by dinner as the one I had at Skillet, or at the down-to-earth authenticity of somebody who occupies so elevated a position in his field as Raymond, but this evening has exceeded what were already heightened expectations. I can wax lyrical about the food, the attentiveness of the staff, the humility of the Epicurean mastermind behind it all, but none of what I tell you will be the scantest substitution for the real thing. What I’m saying is, please don’t take my word for it; go and experience it for yourself.

This story first appeared in PRESTIGE Malaysia’s May 2024 issue. Pick up a copy in store or subscribe on Magzter.

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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