The EDibles – Villa Takun, Templar Park
Words: Jacob Weber
Photos: Han Sen Hau
I can’t personally recommend anything at The EDibles.
Because I have no idea what will be on the menu when you visit.
I’m pretty sure the chef doesn’t know either. And that’s all part of the fun.
The EDibles, located in Villa Takun, is a private dining experience like no other in KL. A one-man show performed by the visionary self-taught chef Edwin Eiap Y. L., an evening at The EDibles (RM488/pax) combines creativity, science, and storytelling in a cosy, intimate setting.
Chef Edwin has never worked in a professional kitchen or had formal culinary training. And he prefers it that way. Following a strict no-waste policy and a garden-to-table approach (using ingredients from the Edible Garden), Chef Edwin employs all kinds of techniques to create dishes as edible artwork, challenging perspectives and preconceptions. There are no rules, no recipes, just a deep commitment to discovery and innovation. Chef’s fascination with chemical reactions and ingredient dynamics drives an R&D process that conjures up the unusual, the unexpected, and the unique.
The intrigue starts with the menu — or, the lack of it. Instead, we’re looking at a cryptic collection of hand-drawn sketches, depicting … well, we’re not entirely sure. And that’s not because they’re bad drawings! These look familiar — there’s a bento box, maybe, and I’m pretty sure that’s a scallop shell — but without any more context, we’re lost. And it’s exciting.
In fact, Chef Edwin (whose illustrations they are, of course) tells us in no uncertain terms that we’ll only understand the menu once we’ve finished our meal. So, we sit back in our comfortable chairs and let the show unfold.
Private Dining Experience at The EDibles
The curtains are drawn, and individual spotlights illuminate our place. Epic classical music gets louder. Talk about theatre. And this is quite a performance. Chef Edwin personally prepares and presents every course, and there’s quite a story behind the sustenance.
Our first dish, ‘Persephone’, tells the story of the goddess of spring and the underworld. It begins with the ‘seed of life’—a crispy pani puri filled with jellyfish, chestnut, and seaweed cracker. Chef dramatically unveils the second half of the dish: two types (torch- and butter-seared) of perfectly cooked scallops, which he describes as “vessels for the salt.” Wait, what? Suddenly, six varieties of salt appear on the table – and if, like me, you thought the Himalayan pink variety was as fancy as salt could be, you’re in for a pleasant surprise.
There’s Persian Blue rock salt from Iran. Seaweed Sea Algae from Norway. Swabian Smoked Salt from Germany. A Hawaiian Volcanic Black Lava Salt, pungent and intense and sulfuric. And indeed, what better vessel for these precious minerals than these delicious, fresh, light scallops? Every bite is a fascinating spectrum of smoky, sweet and savoury flavour.
The next dish draws inspiration from Arion, the mythical winged horse. Served in a multi-tiered box, it begins with crispy seaweed wraps filled with turnips, bonito furikake, and edible flowers. A hidden compartment reveals an artisanal three-flavour toast topped with smoked tahini, chickpeas, and chestnut puree. Next, generous chunks of trout cured with roasted beetroot for 80 hours on a 3D-printed cracker made from salted fish powder and gochujang, with a sauce made of jalapeño and chipotle. It’s layer upon complex layer of contrasting flavours and textures, all beautifully balanced.
Demeter, Persephone’s mother, inspired the next course, a ‘Demeter Salad’. An iceberg lettuce bowl coated with a luxurious sauce of porcini, coconut, fermented anchovies, and fish roe conceals smoked turkey, hazelnuts cooked with vanilla, and more roe. It’s a light and refreshing touch after the smokier and more substantial opening courses, and served with rose-infused coconut water complete with mountain-shaped moulds, as a nod to the stunning surrounding scenery of Templer Park’s limestone cliffs.
The next dish is deceptively ambitious: skinless tomatoes, sour rainbow mango, passionfruit-soaked Granny Smith apples, and Japanese sakura shrimp. It’s topped with a Thai-inspired dressing made with garlic, fish sauce, palm sugar, and long beans. Again, it’s sweet and salty and sour and soft and crunchy all at once, without feeling excessive.
Time for a palate cleanser: fresh and sweet strawberries, with a very special surprise. Chef has sourced some red crystallised ‘rose honey’ from China, so-called because the local bees pollinate the rose farm nearby. Crushed down with a vanilla pod, it coats the bottom of these beautiful strawberries with a subtle sweetness that makes the taste buds tingle.
Mushrooms take the stage for the final savoury course — although your eye will be drawn to the jet-black chicken leg that peeks out of the bowl. A hearty herbal soup featured a medley of cordyceps, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms, cooked in a rich broth made from pasture-raised black chicken, which has been roasted for four hours, pressure-cooked for five, and cooked again with mushroom tea for another 28 hours. Even the chicken leg (complete with chicken foot) has been sous-vide for eight hours then clarified-butter seared. It’s earthy, bitter, nutritious, packed with vitamins and minerals — and it’s far too much for me, I’ll admit. I don’t like mushrooms at the best of times … but I can appreciate the obvious passion that went into the preparation of this dish.
Dessert arrives on a ceramic pillow, naturally, with a luxurious-looking loaf of toasted banana cake looking very comfortable on top of it. There’s crushed hazelnut, two types of dark chocolate (85% and 99%, so, very dark), pisang mas — one of the last-known wild species of banana in the world — and a gorgeous topping of mascarpone mixed with crème brûlée made from duck egg yolk, vanilla seeds, honey and bamboo salt. Pecan, almonds and cashew nuts cooked with pandan and coconut add a sweet, familiar tropical touch. Three decorative feathers, made with chestnut, egg white, French butter, finely ground flour and cinnamon, represent Arion.
I’m a huge fan of this course. There’s a lot going on, as usual, but none of it is screaming for attention, nor is this an attempt to put as many nice things in there as possible and hope for the best. No, this has been put together methodically — I imagine the taste-testing phase was fun for this one — and again, it’s a well-balanced dish, with the bitter dark chocolate bringing out the sweeter flavours and the ripe banana pairing well with the crumbly cake.
For the final flourish, Chef serves up a cherry, rhubarb and strawberry pomegranate sorbet, with dehydrated kiwi and freeze-dried white peach. Then he hands us each a little torch. Before we can ask why, the lights go out. It turns out that pouring fresh peach and pineapple juice over our sorbet makes it glow in the dark and change colour in the torchlight, giving our theatrical dinner a final touch of magic. (Tastes great, too.)
We won’t forget tonight in a hurry. From the cryptic menu to the creative interpretation of locally-sourced ingredients, Chef Edwin’s lack of formal culinary training might be his greatest asset. We can’t wait to see what he comes up with next — and there’s absolutely no way we could ever guess.
Reasons to visit The EDIbles: unique and unpredictable fine dining experience: intimate, immersive and engaging, and a departure from traditional techniques and classic culinary showboating; zero-waste philosophy and garden-to-table ingredients; constantly changing menu; theatrical ambience in a sophisticated private setting.
The EDIbles
Villa Takun
6, Jalan 3/3A, Templer Park
48200 Rawang, Selangor, Malaysia
www.villatakun.com @villatakun
Link to Villa Takun location on Google Maps
*Strictly by advance reservation
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