The classy interior of Elegant Inn. — Photos: SS Kanesan/The Star
Wesley Ng’s adroit skills with the wok used to draw an audience to the open kitchen at Elegant Inn Hong Kong Cuisine, then in a shophouse in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. It also led to the courting of his life partner who used to watch him cook his delicious Dancing Fried Rice.
Today, the chef rules the kitchen in the Michelin-selected Elegant Inn at Menara Hap Seng, Kuala Lumpur.
(The Cheras outlet closed in 2014.)
Ng, 43, started out by helping his parents in their small Chinese restaurant in Kota Baru, Kelantan. In 1999, he came to Kuala Lumpur for college but ended up as a kitchen helper in a Chinese restaurant in Klang. From cleaning fish and vegetables to prepping chicken, he eventually took charge of the orders coming into the kitchen. In between, he cooked the staff meals.
He worked at another restaurant in Subang Jaya before a relative introduced him to Elegant Inn in 2002. Initially, he just prepped ingredients and cooked staff meals. Then, the Hong Kong sifu at Elegant Inn taught him how to cook with good wok hei (breath of the wok).
“I learnt all about the Hong Kong style of cooking and double-boiling soups. Two years later, the sifu left and restaurant’s boss asked me to join her as a business partner. It was a lot of pressure at first, but the customers liked my food and came back,” he says, adding that business improved at the new premises when dim sum was introduced for lunch. Ng also had to learn about restaurant operations, flavours and cooking styles.
Having been with the company for 21 years, he is grateful for the opportunities to improve his skills.
Ng preparing the double-boiled soups.
“Before the (Covid-19) pandemic, we used to go to Hong Kong regularly to eat there, learn about Hong Kong flavours and get ideas to create new dishes,” he says.
Asked about his best dishes, he named Salted Egg Crab, Braised Sea Garoupa in Claypot, Lobster in different styles – salted egg, salt and pepper, and Lobster Roe in Yee Meen, sauteed with French goose liver, among them. His exceptional skill is realised in the Yau Cham Soon Hock (oil-drenched soon hock fish) that is slowly bathed with oil until the skin turns crispy on the outside, with the flesh still smooth and moist.
I asked him what’s a perfectly steamed fish in his books.
“In Hong Kong terms, it’s steamed till the fish stick to the bones, but it’s not raw. ‘One red spot’ (yat tim hoong) on the bone is the way to go and that’s what you get at Elegant Inn.”
Ng credits Jeannette Han, his “boss” and co-owner of Elegant Inn, for sharing ideas with him and his team.
“She encourages us to experiment and create new dishes, and constantly introduces new ingredients.”
Han travels to Hong Kong several times a year to buy ingredients, and firmly believes in quality, service and cleanliness in her restaurant, as well as proper management of ingredients.
“I make my staff understand the reason for a dish, the story behind it. We prepare what we want the diner to enjoy. I want to do real food, and good ingredients are a prerequisite,” she says.
The balcony offers a good view of the city.
It was by chance that she came upon the old Elegant Inn in Cheras in 1991, then run by a Hong Kong couple.
“It was like a coffeeshop. The first time I ate there, I spent RM60 on simple dishes. I was impressed with the salt and pepper squid, and returned to try the snow crab and geoduck which cost me RM900.”
Han later found out the couple owed suppliers money. She solved their money woes, became the majority shareholder and renovated the place. But working with them was too difficult, so she asked them to leave.
“We started from scratch with Ng, then a young, inexperienced chef. It was very tough, but we pulled through. We worked hard and stayed with our belief in being honest with what we do. Elegant Inn is all about quality and consistency,” says Han.
It’s very telling when two-thirds of her kitchen crew has been with her for more than 10 years.
“We invest in people and that’s how we pulled through the pandemic.
“Chef Ng has been a very hardworking and co-operative partner. He gives his heart and soul to his work, and is not calculating or demanding in return,” says Han, 60, who hails from Singapore.
For someone who didn’t care much about her studies, Han has excelled in her business life. She has worked as a sales promoter, quality control inspector in a firearms factory and even inspected parts of a missile!
Han is one of the partners at Elegant Inn. — Photo: PATSY KAM
Always eager to learn more, promotions came swiftly for Han. From a management trainee at KFC, she became assistant supervisor at Delifrance, rising through the ranks to become regional operations manager and eventually, general manager for Malaysia. As regional general manager before the company was listed, she opened every first Delifrance in Malaysia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Australia and the Philippines.
Han came to Malaysia in 1991, but by the time Delifrance was listed, she no longer found it challenging and left in 1997. She has also invested in a Swiss patisserie in Singapore with a former Swiss pastry chef from a five-star hotel, supplying breads and pastries to hotels. She later sold the business.
“Basically, I invest in under-performing companies and turn them around. Elegant Inn is the only company which I’m deeply involved in,” she says.
“We are not trendsetters; we want to be in a league of our own. EIegant Inn is more of a passion, not just a business to me. I’m happy my customers appreciate it,” Han adds.
Throughout the years, Elegant Inn has been named one of Asia’s Finest Restaurants by the Miele Guide, the Top 20 Restaurants in Tatler Dining 2022 and recently, one of the Michelin Selected restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. It’s certainly an investment that’s paid off in many ways.
