KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The profile of a chef has never been bigger than it is today. 

Food media — us included — are mostly responsible for that, and the trend really took hold in the early 1990s, when television turned the likes of Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, and later Gordon Ramsay, into household names beyond the restaurant world’s own circles. 

But the social media age has taken that attention further still. As restaurants scramble for new ways to stand out, even chefs well outside the fine dining circuit now find themselves increasingly under the ring light.

Every other week brings news of a four-hands dinner or a new restaurant opening by Michelin-starred chef so-and-so — never mind that the star goes to the restaurant, not the chef. 

Michelin-starred chefs don’t exist. I understand the appeal of the shorthand: it’s a simple way to transfer the prestige of one restaurant to another, via the chef who worked there.

This headline is arguably guilty of the same thing. But when I read about Koha Bistro’s recent opening on Old Klang Road, I was surprised at how little fanfare followed its co-founder and head chef, Yun Tan, who spent 2022 to 2025 as a chef de partie — a level below sous chef, one above commis — at Dewakan.

Three years at Dewakan — the restaurant that, more than any other, dragged Malaysian fine dining into a conversation about Malaysian terroir rather than imported prestige — is real pedigree. 

But it also raises a fair question: how does that kind of cooking, shaped by tasting menus and experimental ingredient-first thinking, translate to something as unassuming as all-day bistro dining?

Hits, mostly, but not without some minor misses.

The chicken pâté on toast (RM20) makes a convincing case early: chives and pickled grapes cut cleanly through the smooth, rich pâté. 

The warm broth (RM29) is something rarer. It’s a classically rustic slice of Italian cooking, filled with butter beans, orecchiette, soft, cooked-down tripe, laced with lemon juice, olive oil and herbs from the salmoriglio and topped with sea grapes for texture. It is restraint, not spectacle, and it is something we sorely need more of in restaurants like Koha — though I have my doubts as to whether it will survive on the menu.

The duck fat potato (RM35) isn’t quite a hit. Sweet potato in place of a regular one renders the duck fat all but undetectable — the one element the dish is named for, missing. Smoked crème fraîche and honey don't help; if anything, they tip it over into something cloying rather than satisfying.

From the mains, there’s a cleverly named K.F.C. (RM38) — Koha Fried Chicken — with hot honey, excellent shoestring fries, and a dip that tastes faintly of yuzu. 

It’s genuinely good fried chicken, which makes sense: Koha Bistro is a concept from House of Wheat. It’s a cafe brand with two locations, one in Chow Kit and the other in Cheras, where my colleague Kenny Mah has already written about their fried chicken making a strong case for itself at brunch.

The signature, though, is the aged duck breast (RM52), and it’s the most technically and conceptually accomplished dish on the menu. 

Duck breast has become something of a default these days — every other restaurant seems to have one on the menu, and most of them are dull and forgettable. This one isn’t. 

The skin is rendered crisp, the doneness is perfect, and the breast has been sliced thin enough to show it off. Apart from jus and an eggplant miso purée on the side, the roselle leaves are the detail that matters most. It lends the dish a slightly tangy, aromatic lift, and is a distinctly local touch that duck rarely gets in this setting.

The braised beef brisket (RM75) is the dish with the highest ceiling on the menu, and the one currently held back by its own supporting cast. The brisket itself is masterful: braised to a gelatinous softness, then crisped back up in the fryer, a great showcase of two completely different cooking techniques applied to the same cut. 

Shavings of horseradish on top are a genuinely brilliant touch, sharp enough to cut through all that richness. But the sunchoke purée alongside it is gooey nothingness — adding neither texture nor flavour — and the gem lettuce on the side lacks the acidity the dish needs to balance it out.

Amongst the four desserts on offer, the kuih with ice cream (RM18) comes with a choice of bingka or sarang semut. The sarang semut carries a lovely, rich gula melaka flavour, paired with jackfruit ice cream. It’s pleasant and competent, but otherwise just fine.

The signature, Absolute Coconut (RM28), is the showstopper. Coconut ice cream sits on a toddy granita, topped with crispy caramelised coconut oil bits — like a dulce de leche, but made with coconut oil, and crisp rather than soft. 

It's refreshing, creamy and toasty and nutty all at once. A complex construction, but immediately easy to understand and love. It is an outstanding dessert, and the clearest sign yet of what this kitchen is capable of when it trusts the idea completely and gets it right.

At Koha, the food speaks for itself. Nothing here seems to be trying to beguile or charm you, which is a harder thing to pull off over an all-day dining menu than any single showpiece dish. 

The potential is clear: at its best, the warm broth, the duck breast, and Absolute Coconut are all excellent dishes. Not everything lands yet, from the duck fat potato to the brisket’s supporting components, but on the whole, this is very accomplished all-day dining.

Koha Bistro by House of Wheat

3, Jalan Halimahton, 

Off Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily, 12-3.30pm, 5.30-10pm. Closed on Wednesday

Tel: 017-311 3930

Instagram: @koha.kl

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.

* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more chicken pâté and coconut desserts.