The eatery is wide and expansive with a huge open kitchen. — Charr Dining
On a high floor in a condominium in Kuala Lumpur’s busy Persiaran Stonor is the brand new restaurant, Charr Dining. It boasts a dramatic entrance that segues into a large space with sprawling views of the city skyline.
A long open kitchen with hot wooden logs in the background forms the beating heart of the restaurant and offers a bird’s eye view of the kitchen team in action.
The brainchild of friends James Leong, 33, Wah Yin Xing, 31, and Kenneth Ngai, 32, Charr came into place when real estate developer Ngai approached his childhood friend Leong with the idea of opening a restaurant.
(From left) Leong, Wah and Ngai are the passionate people behind Charr Dining.
Leong had spent years honing his culinary craft in Singapore. He and Wah met while working in the kitchen at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Wah eventually went to work at the renowned Michelin-starred Burnt Ends before coming back to Malaysia where he teamed up with Leong and Ngai to open Charr.
The restaurant concept is built around the power and beauty of wood-fired cooking – something that Wah – who heads the kitchen – is a huge fan of.
“I have studied a lot of cuisines like Chinese banquet style, Thai, Western and even Japanese, but in the end, I realised I really like to cook with real fire,” says Wah.
CAN USE SMALLERThe eatery is wide and expansive with a huge open kitchen. — Charr Dining
At Charr, the wood-fired element of the kitchen is anchored by mangrove wood. With the predominant cooking technique nailed, Wah says he could play around with different flavours and opt for borderless global cuisine.
Which is why you’ll find all sorts of elements at play here – from Thai to Chinese, Indian, Western and so much more interspersed in a single meal.
Everything at the restaurant is also made from scratch, from the mayonnaise to the taco shells, so expect a compact menu stuffed with carefully constructed and calibrated meals.
Start your meal with the Chicken Wings (RM26). Here, chicken wings are stuffed with Thai pad kra pao (minced chicken with Thai basil), then grilled and charred to perfection.
The chicken wings have been cooked over fire to attain a blistered, burnished skin that still yields to flesh that is tender and juicy. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The wings have been charred so the skin retains a blistered surface that yields to the incredibly plump and juicy flesh.
The pad kra pao adds a meaty countenance to the meal and the hot sauce served on the side puts a fiery spin to the dish.
The Beef Tongue (RM45) meanwhile is made up of beef tongue, naan, harissa yoghurt and a quail egg.
The tongue is brined for a week before being braised for four to six hours. It is then diced up and served on the homemade naan.
Beef tongue and naan make for lively, flavourful bedfellows. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The beef tongue is really fantastic – the meat perfectly succulent and tender and couched in a Middle Eastern-Indian confluence of flavours, all of which are soaked up by the fluffy, doughy goodness of the naan.
Then there is the Foie Gras (RM79) which features a slice of brioche topped with pandan kaya and soy salt.
While the foie gras is meant to be the operatic lead in this star-studded ensemble group, its unctuousness and velvety nuances are a little lost in this constellation as the pandan kaya ends up taking the wheel and overwhelming the palate with its rich sweetness.
Pandan kaya and foie gras may sound interesting in theory, but in reality, the kaya really overwhelms the natural beauty of the foie gras. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Move on to vegetable-forward terrain with the brilliant Burnt Onion (RM23). This could quite possibly be one of the best things to have come out of Charr’s menu.
The onion is charred over the fire skin-on, then has its skin removed. Chimichurri, Stracciatella cheese and ikura round this concoction off.
It’s such a strange thing to say an onion now has a hold on your heart, but that’s actually what this multi-layered allium will do.
The charring has removed the pungency so deeply associated with onions, giving way to sweetness and a smoky undercoat that forms the underpinnings of this dish.
The cheese and chimichurri sauce add salty opulence and a lick of potency to this meal, which races straight to a gold medal podium finish in your memory banks.
Charred corn kernels are the highlight of this corn-tastic dish. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Another vegetarian offering is the White Corn (RM32) which is inspired by Mexican street food and the classic corn-in-the-cup so ubiquitous throughout Malaysia.
Here, fresh corn kernels are grilled, then topped with fermented jalapeno, homemade fried shallots and parmigiano Reggiano.
Together, this combination forms an unstoppable force, buoyed by the sweetness of the corn kernels which also have blasts of smoke and char laced through its veins.
The fermented jalapeno imbues the meal with a slight tang while the cheese pumps richness through the core of the dish. It’s a configuration that really plays to each ingredient’s strengths admirably well.
The steak has been cooked carefully and retains a charred surface that yields to juicy, succulent meat. — Charr Dining
From the big plates, look at indulging in the Sanchoku Wagyu MB7 (RM225). The dish utilises flank steak, which is Wah’s favourite cut of beef. The beef is grilled and served according to the doneness of your liking.
I had it medium rare and it was very, very good. The charring on the surface is superlative, giving it a crusty carapace and smoky nuances yet yielding to meat that is perfectly pink in the middle, supple to the touch and silken smooth on the palate.
The natural bovine qualities of the meat really come through and the beef jus served on the plate serves to accentuate the beef’s au naturel components.
The chocolate lava tart is a sweet seductress that will bewitch you from the very first mouthful. — Charr Dining
For dessert, opt for the Lava Tart (RM32). This bewitching chocolate temptress has a steady build but once you dig your spoon in, you’ll discover a biscuit base that is firm yet succumbs easily to a brittle structure.
The promised dark chocolate lava spools out immediately from the core of the tart and this seduction is taken to another level by the smoked vanilla ice-cream served on top, which adds peaty notes to this nirvanic temptation.
Trust us, you’ll be smitten from the very first bite – resistance is futile.
Moving forward, the trio aim to continue to partner together and create more restaurant concepts throughout the Klang Valley.
“This is actually our first restaurant business together. So we want to spend time building up our reputation and letting everyone know more about us and have diners gain confidence in our food as well. This will make it easier for us to open our second outlet which will be aimed at comfort food,” says Leong.
