In late 2022, intrepid chef Ker Yang Hou opened Firewood in George Town, Penang, determined to champion charcoal-fuelled steaks in the northern island.
Firewood Penang has been a huge, celebrated hit and is now a Michelin Selected restaurant as well as the only Malaysian restaurant on the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026 list, where it came in at No. 76.
Late last year, Ker and partner Qaia Yew opened an outpost of Firewood in central Kuala Lumpur. At the KL outlet, Yew, who hails from Ipoh, Perak heads the kitchen, harnessing from years of experience in Singapore restaurants like Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay and Spago by Wolfgang Puck.
“Yang Hou and I both worked in Bread Street. When he opened Firewood Penang, I was a silent partner. But after seven years of working in Singapore, I came back to Malaysia because he asked me to take charge of the second outlet in KL,” explains Yew.
At Firewood KL – much like its predecessor, the focus is on charcoal grilled premium steaks sourced from Australia, Japan and Korea. Yew cooks over a combination of bakau-derived charcoal (sourced from mangrove wood) and binchotan (premium, Japanese white charcoal) with different ratios for meat, seafood and vegetables.
She says she relies mostly on her eyes and instinct to tell if the meat and other dishes have been cooked to her satisfaction. “It’s a one-second difference between burnt meat and charred meat. So I need to be there all the time to check on everything.
“When I look at the steaks, I know if they are done or not – I look at the colour, the glossiness and I use a testing pin too. You also have to train your nose to cook with charcoal,” says Yew.
A meal at Firewood is focused on the flavours eked through charcoal fire, so everything, from seafood to vegetables, gets a sound blistering.
Begin with the Charred Cauliflower Florets (RM32) which is a smoky, seductive dish that highlights how this humble cruciferous vegetable can transform into a stunning seductress in the hands of an able chef.
The cauliflower has a smokiness that permeates through its very soul. This is punctuated by the fact that it still has a firm, regal bearing that shows Yew’s dedication to maintaining the vegetable’s shape and figure.
Up next, indulge in the Charred White Sweet Corn (RM38) which features Cameron Highlands white corn, Parmesan cheese, a bearnaise sauce and homemade cookie crumble, which should be mixed together to unleash a wealth of potent flavours.
The sweet corn has been blistered so its edges are rustic but its insides remain sweet and untouched.
This is buoyed by the salty nuances from the cheese, a sultry edge courtesy of the sauce and the seemingly quixotic yet strangely ideal addition of cookie crumble, which takes the dish from savoury to a slightly dessert-laden edge.
It’s a quirky dish whose pulse beats in union with rebellion – yet it is clearly a rebel with a flavourful cause.
Yew’s Pan-Seared Foie Gras (RM122) is made up of charred foie gras cooked medium rare and rounded out by a yuzu soy sauce, grated torch ginger flowers, pine nuts and charred grapes.
This dish highlights the beauty of the foie gras in all its velvety, unctuous richness while still offering something different through the lens of the torch ginger flower, which adds a distinctive floral, tropical edge to the dish.
Then there is the Burnt Spring Onion Miso Cod Fish (RM198) with charred lemon and spring onion.
The cod is marinated for 24 hours in a miso sauce and then cooked to perfection. The result is fish with strong, crisp skin that yields to flesh that is so juicy that it’ll feel like it was plucked straight out of the sea.
It highlights how good cooking can elicit the natural flavours of an ingredient to fullest effect.
Now you’ll need to move on to the reason you probably came to Firewood in the first place: the steaks.
For most of the steaks on the menu, there is a minimum 300g order. Yew says customers have sometimes complained about this requirement but there is a reason behind this.
“The charcoal grill offers a very high temperature cook, so if you have a thin slice of beef, it’s very easy to overcook it. So that’s why we like to cook meat that is at least 300g to 400g – for the thickness and so that diners get the charred flavour but an interior that is still juicy,” says Yew.
From what’s available on the menu, try the Korean Premium Halal Hanwoo Sirloin (RM240/ 100g). Hanwoo is a breed of small cattle native to South Korea that until a few years ago, was rarely exported outside of the country. These days, Hanwoo is exported in minimal quantities to a select few countries, including Malaysia.
Its limited availability and highly-regulated production is also what has contributed to its premium price tag. Here, Yew does justice to this prized animal, giving it the princess treatment over the fire, where a char is carefully coaxed out, while still maintaining tender, juicy flesh.
This is a steak that is the dictionary definition of “life-changing” – the sort of meat that the gods have clearly favoured. On the mouth, you’ll instantly detect that tell-tale char – a smokiness that undulates through the outer edges of the meat while still eliciting flesh that has a rosy blush and is plush, lush, heartily meaty, with a good amount of chew and succulence radiating throughout its core.
Pair this with the house-made yuzu ponzu which imbues the steak with an astringent, citric agency that powers it to whole new levels.
Next, indulge in the Firewood Sirloin (RM198/100g). This is an ultra-exclusive steak that is the only one of its kind here and cannot be found in any other eatery.
This 600-day grain-fed MB9 (one of the highest scores for marbling) is exceptional. Under Yew’s stewardship, the beef is extraordinarily good – boasting a char telling of the craftsmanship of the person guarding the fire; and flesh that is incredibly, intensely hearty and robust.
On the palate, the meat succumbs willingly with just the tiniest bit of resistance. It’s the kind of steak that makes you take pause and remember that this is one of life’s glorious moments.
End your meal with the house-made Lemon Posset Brulee (RM28) a tangy operator with a soft, squidgy citrus heart that offers a light, easy epilogue to a carnivorous meal here.
Ultimately, Yew has worked hard to make Firewood as successful as the triumphant Penang original. Her next objective? To haul in a litany of awards for the KL outlet.
“Oh, that’s definitely one of my goals here,” she says, smiling.
