Esca, Latin for “food”, is Chong’s latest culinary outlet (All photos: Shahrill Basri/ The Edge)
“I still don’t consider myself a chef, as much as people like to call me one,” professes Chong Yu Cheng, better known as YC. When he sits down to discuss his latest restaurant, Esca on Petaling Street, he awkwardly disclaims that he “hasn’t done his homework” for the interview. But as the conversation unfurls, it becomes apparent his unabashed insights and deeply faceted interpretation of the culinary world are emblematic of a sincere passion for his work.
This new venue, which began operations in mid-January, resonates with an earlier period in Chong’s foray into the realm of cooking, when a newly minted enthusiast of wine and food was studying the craft however he could and grabbing every challenge by the horns.
“I wasn’t classically trained. I actually opened my first place before I knew how to really cook — that was Above Gastrobar in Ipoh, six years back. I fell in love with wine, seven or eight years ago, and felt Ipoh could use a more boutique wine bar. But sooner or later, the market made it known that you can’t just do wine without food. That’s how I accidentally started a wine restaurant.”
After a falling out with his consulting chef at the time, resulting in the kitchen staff’s resignations, Chong rolled up his sleeves and resolved to absorb all he could before their departure, gleaning whatever else from YouTube videos and culinary lectures where he watched chefs of different nationalities prepare their traditional and modern dishes. “From there my approach was just, ‘This looks cool, let’s try doing it’. There wasn’t a sense of things being too technical or difficult — when you don’t know anything, it all looks possible,” he explains, adding how the Ipoh locale’s offerings were guided by a brave, anything-goes attitude that welcomed daring experimentation.
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“[Esca] is a return to my old days. It’s a very free-form way of cooking, where recipes or ideas are not confined by national or cultural borders. We can have dishes that are at once Spanish, Malaysian, Indonesian and Pan-European. It’s pretty much all over the place,” Chong chuckles, framing this venture as a literal and figurative outlet for his creative urges. While his Taman Tun Dr Ismail outpost Terra serves modern Malaysian fine dining using elevated techniques and applications, he notes how the long recipe development cycles required had begun to awaken a longing for the simpler, more rebellious work he started out with.
“I missed this kind of off-the-cuff cooking,” he reminisces. “Here, if we try something and it tastes good, it can be on the menu next week. It’s kind of cathartic — I can very quickly materialise a thought in my head, whereas an idea at Terra could easily take months to finalise.” At the same time, the astute businessman in him identifies a growing fatigue from customers with the haute dining scene. “A lot of people want to dine at a place where a meal won’t take three hours or require loads of thinking. I wanted to give people this place where you can wind down. Not every meal needs to be an intellectual pursuit.”
Very quickly, our table begins to fill with a kaleidoscopic myriad of colourful plates, selected by the owner himself, who guides us through each item as we tuck into the meal together. The first is a Cantonese classic: toothsome, crunchy prawn toast made from chopped whole tiger prawns. For extra intensity, the crustacean heads are infused into an oil and used to make the ebiko mayonnaise, while the topping of pickled shallots and cornichons give enough acidity to cut the shrimpiness. This is followed by a refreshing serving of barramundi crudo, which Chong describes as “Thai meets Peruvian”. This enticing appetiser features chopped fish cured in lime and coconut water for a tropical tang, combined with finely diced green mango, lychee, four angled beans for texture and a dressing of cili padi, palm sugar and fish sauce.
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One of Esca’s most popular items is an inventive spin on the Spanish pulpo a la gallega, or octopus and potato. The chunks of crispy triple-cooked spuds (“Because boiled is boring”) and sous vide then grilled octopus are dotted with two types of sauces — a salted devilled egg filling and Balinese sambal matah perfumed with coconut oil — to add a bit of exotic intrigue to each bite.
But our personal favourite has to be the lamb baos, a “Chinese-Indian-Mediterranean love child” of sumptuous lamb keema with yoghurt dressing and “sautéed” spinach in a fluffy, sweet bun. “The keema is braised, and you can’t put grilled flavour on a braised thing, so we needed to find a way to add wok hei. I found grilling spinach in a sieve directly over charcoal worked, just letting it get kissed by fire.” He uses this same technique in the biryani which accompanies the uber-tender chicken leg with an unconventional green paste tandoori, allowing the mix of rice, spices and dried cranberries to attain a profound charred fragrance.
“One thing I learnt from my days in Ipoh, a lot of Malaysians dislike lamb because of the gaminess. I found crusting it in citrus prevents oxidisation, which causes that flavour,” says Chong. The lamb saddle, therefore, is crusted with a sambal of dried shrimp as well as orange peel and juice, imbuing a perfect amount of spice into the juicy grilled slices, and the whole affair served with carrot purée in the style of Indonesian bergedil made with fried shallots, garlic confit, Italian parsley, pepper and cumin.
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The dessert, named Textures of Yam, is a more than enjoyable closing act that celebrates the popular purple root vegetable. The chewy pillows (à la Taiwanese taro balls), roasted yam and cinnamon cream and baked-slash-fried flakes with a bit of brûléed pineapple are a splendid finale best shared.
In the short time Esca has been up and running, Chong observes that the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with several diners commenting how well-thought-out the menu is despite its casual, playful energy. “I think guests resonate with the food because we really had a lot of fun while creating the menu. Yes, there were frustrations, but when it came to the actual cooking, we really had the time of our lives. It drives the whole team too, that personal enjoyment,” he offers.
So what is on the cards for this house of methodical madness? “No lofty goals, but I want to bring up the team, so they understand fine dining is not the be-all and end-all — despite me being from that background. There’s fun to be had and things to be learnt from a casual restaurant,” Chong affirms warmly. As we scoop the valuable last bites onto our plates, he leaves us with another bit of wisdom: “If you make food with love and pour your heart into something you want to be good, it will be good. You will find ways to make it good. I want that to become the long-term culture here. It’s all about the people — I say that genuinely.” Yes, chef.
135G, Jalan Petaling, KL. Open Tues-Thurs, 5-11pm; Fri-Sun, 5pm to 12am. For reservations, contact 017 722 6686.
This article first appeared on Feb 24, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
