KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — Jenny was the “perfect hostess” while Popo was very creative with Asian dishes, a Dutch journalist remembers.

Malaysia-born Loh Yan Hwa, 54, better known as Jenny, and her husband, Fan Shun Po, known as Popo Fan, were among the 298 people aboard Flight MH17 who died last Thursday when their Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over Ukraine.

The couple ran two restaurants, with one that had even earned a Michelin billing called Asian Glories in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Both were travelling with Loh’s Malaysian mother, Tan Siew Poh, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Their sudden deaths stunned Frank Van Dijl, the editor-in-chief at de Buik Van Rotterdam, who frequently featured the couple and their cooking in his website on the city’s food culture, with the latest issue published just a week ago.

“As a couple they were very loving and respectful to each other. Jenny was the perfect hostess,” he told the Malay Mail Online in an email interview today.

Van Dijl said he and his wife were regulars at the Fans’ restaurant for the past 20 years.

“I knew Jenny much better than Popo, also because he was very shy and hid himself most of the time in his kitchen,” he said of the 60-year-old Hong Kong-born.

“Jenny was open, warm and always interested in how you were doing and the family.”

Van Dijl said the food served at Asian Glories was different from the ones served in other restaurants and that Popo was very creative and is constantly inventing new dishes.

“The pancakes with Beijing duck were a classic and most famous in Rotterdam were Popo’s dim sums,” he said.

Their restaurant had earned a Bib Gourmand rating from Michelin for its excellent budget meals.

Van Dijl said when he swung by Asian Glories two days ago, flowers had been piling up high outside the restaurant. A note on the window, said in Dutch: “’Due to circumstances, temporarily closed’.

On the Asian Glories Facebook page, the Fans’ son, Kevin, 26, had posted a picture of his parents and a short message.

“July 17, 2014 for me was a tragic day because of flight MH17. The loss of my mother, Jenny Loh, father Shun Po Fan, and grandmother Siew Po Tan, is indescribable.

“Thanks for your messages of support,” he wrote.

But Van Dijl is confident their son, a sous chef, will reopen his parents’ restaurants one day soon.

“Yes, Kevin will continue both restaurants with a little help from famous Rotterdam chefs Herman den Blijker and François Geurds.”