PETALING JAYA, Dec 27 — Tucked away within the sleepy confines of Petaling Jaya’s Section 17, Hello! By Kitchen Mafia has been attracting the crowds since it opened this October.
Avid viewers of the Asian Food Channel (AFC) would recognise the familiar faces of Johnny Fua and Sherson Lian in the open kitchen. Both chefs starred in AFC’s original productions Great Dinners of the World as well as Reality Bites which took you behind the scenes of their previous restaurant, Elegantology Gallery & Restaurant.
Previously Johnny helmed the fine dining restaurant Tanzini while Sherson starred in a number of culinary programmes like 5 Rencah 5 Rasa, Reality Bites and Dapur Selebriti. His latest television appearance on AFC’s Family Kitchen with Sherson sees him working side by side with his mother.
This venture is owned by Johnny, Sherson and four more partners who are all close friends. As Sherson explains, “We all want the same thing... a simple humble place of our own to hang and chill out or invite our friends over.”
Most times the restaurant’s operations is left to the duo but when needed, the partners also chip in if they are short handed. One of their partners also designed the restaurant, choosing a mix of themes from industrial to slick in keeping with what is currently trendy.
With Hello, the duo studied trends that have made inroads in the local F&B scene and incorporated them to ensure no missteps. “Every time we do something, we want to deliver our best before we just jump into it. We are not people who’ve got loaded bank accounts so everything we do is well calculated and of course, speaking from the mistakes we have experienced.”
The name Hello was picked for the restaurant, because they found out that the trend overseas is just to use the simplest and easiest to remember names for restaurants. “We thought let us try hello as it’s the start of everything. I mean when you meet someone, the first thing you say is hello.
“It is an opportunity and again it promotes socialising and that’s what we want this place to be... a place where people socialise over good food and drinks, and random people get to know each other in a very non pretentious and humble place,” said Sherson.
While everyone else is about hipster, vintage and minimalist looks, the Section 17 neighbourhood was selected since it resonates with a ‘stuck in time’ vibe. “Whether we like it or not, at some level we have to adapt to the trend in order to not be in our own world,” said Sherson.
Once they opened, they discovered a neighbourhood that welcomed them with open arms. “It became a neighbourhood cafe where people all around are supporting us on a weekly basis,” said Sherson.
With its laid-back atmosphere and a more casual vibe, Hello is a far cry from the duo’s fine dining days. As Sherson explains, it is a reflection of how they themselves are no longer patrons of those places, which he labels as fussy and pretentious.
“We always look for simple places where we spend on food and drinks. It’s very comfortable and cosy... the kind of place you sit down, have no pressure and don’t mind going back.”
Echoing that, there is a wall at Hello with the quote.. ‘You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.’ “That literally says you do not be rich to eat good food. What we are serving here is not expensive but then again it’s good quality food that we are serving,” added Sherson.
The menu is a diverse one, from chicken liver pate in their tapas section to Asian staples like fried rice and even more elaborate main courses like spiced lamb rack served with potato ratatouille.
“The menu caters to all customers. Some days you want a fried rice or char kway teow, or you can bring your date to wine and dine or something better,” explained Johnny. Most importantly it offers various experiences for their diners, drawing them back again and again.
Daily specials are also available on the board which gives you a nice surprise element with your dining experience here.
The duo also bring to the table their own expertise. For instance, Sherson grew up cooking in cafes similar to Hello. “I came from a background where I started out doing fried rice and noodles. That was where I was groomed as a cook. I handled a wok pretty well and it’s my strength.”
He believes it is not necessary that a cafe only serve special and unique food to attract diners, but staples like fried rice and chow mien are essential to draw people back again and again.
Johnny who is a trained chef focuses on the processes to ensure that operations work smoothly. “The menu looks like an every day small little cafe but there is a lot of work behind the preparation, the storage space, the equipment and ingredients we use. These elements are the fine dining part.”
With his architecture background, he also conceptualises their dishes in sketches incorporating colours and textures which makes it easier for Sherson and the crew to create the same in the kitchen.
“I do use my architectural background for some of my dishes as I like to sketch them out. They do not necessarily look the same but it gets down all my crazy thoughts and at the end of the day, it has to be something tasty but that sketch shows how we want to achieve that and do certain things,” said Johnny.
Mindful of the pitfalls of being celebrity chefs who ride on their names to open restaurants like Gordon Ramsay, the duo prefer to market Hello instead as a venture of their brand, Kitchen Mafia.
“The reason why we use Kitchen Mafia as a brand is because we do not want to put our faces here. Once people know that it belongs to us, they come here and expect to see us. That’s not true. We are building the standard of the brand so in future, if we open another outlet which is totally different, but by Kitchen Mafia, people will feel confident about the brand.”
Set up about two years ago, Kitchen Mafia also does food styling and events catering. It also plans to extend its services to offer restaurant consulting for start-ups or restaurant makeovers, using Hello as a template.
“We went through a lot of research and study before we opened up Hello and there are a lot of things we have learned throughout so we will offer that as a service with Kitchen Mafia.”
Most importantly the duo also realise that it is a team effort with Kitchen Mafia rather than just both of them. “I mean what can two men do, four hands, two heads, four legs... there is only so much we can do. It has to be a group effort and that is why we’re not even putting our faces to whatever we do. It’s the brand.... us and the people working with us.”
You may think that the word mafia sounds kind of sinister. In this instance, the duo likens their working relationship with their crew to be like a mafia family where there is a lot of loyalty, honour and trust. “The reason why we call it Kitchen Mafia is not that we are damn power. We believe that these guys who work with us, they spend more time with us than their actual family. In this kitchen mafia organisation, everyone is treated as family and in that way we always have each other’s back,” explained Sherson.
In the F&B industry, it’s common that chefs jump to different places. In that respect, the duo see themselves as giving their crew a platform to grow as chefs and eventually grooming them to run their own kitchen or even be a leader in the industry in the future.
Both of them have a solid working relationship since each of them have absolute faith in what is best for Kitchen Mafia, whether it’s the restaurant or their crew. “We both want the best of everything. Any job we can get, whether it is Sherson or mine. We have the same direction,” said Johnny.
It’s interesting to discover that Sherson actually met Johnny about eight years before they filmed Great Dinners of the World in 2011; he bought a motorbike from him before after he answered a classified advertisement.
After that production, Sherson invited Johnny to collaborate with him on a number of projects which kickstarted this partnership. “We just felt comfortable working with each other, telling each other off and correcting each other. As business partners, that has been the skeleton of the relationship,” said Sherson.
Fans of Hello can look forward to more things from Kitchen Mafia sometime next year as they have recently taken up a space upstairs that is slated to be their prep kitchen and storage area. “In the future, there is a possibility we will turn it into a supper club where people can do events and pop-up dining. We can do that, as it’s a house anyway... .it’s Hello’s house,” said Sherson.
Hello! By Kitchen Mafia is located at BG7, Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13, Section 17, Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-79321929.
https://www.facebook.com/hellobykitchenmafia
