NEW RECRUIT: Malaysian chef at Park Regis Kris Kin

New Malaysian chef at Park Regis Kris Kin, Tengku Norlinda Binti Tengku Ali, predicts Malay food will soon become just as famous as Chinese or Thai

What drew you to the role at Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel Dubai?
Kris restaurant at the Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel Dubai is an amazing Asian restaurant with a unique concept. Here under one roof diners can enjoy an incredible selection of the finest dishes from some of the world’s greatest cuisines such as Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese, Indian and Arabian.

When I saw the opening at the restaurant I was immediately interested as I specialise in Malaysian cuisine and felt it would be a great challenge to take up. Our objective is to serve the most authntic Malay cuisine to our guests.

Is Malaysian food well represented in the Middle East?
Malay cuisine is slowly getting the recognition but is still not as popular as Chinese or Thai cuisine.

We need more Malay chefs in order to provide the authentic taste of the food. If a chef is originally not from the country he may have an idea of how to cook the food, but the authentic taste may not be there.

Here at Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel Dubai, we ensure the authenticity of the products and chefs who hails from a certain country is taking care of a particular cuisine from his own country of origin. For example, here we have a chef from China to cook Chinese food and a chef from Thailand to cook Thai food and so on.

What would you term as Malaysian specialties and will any feature at all on the menu at Park Regis Kris Kin?
Some of the most popular Malaysian specialties are Rendang, Kurma Ayam, Laksa and Ikan Bakar. A few of these dishes are already on our present menu. Hopefully we will be able to feature new dishes soon which we will be launching next month. We always try to come up with new ways of presenting dishes but ones that still focus on the original taste and flavour.

What are your favorite Malaysian/Asian ingredients and why?
Some of my favorite ingredients are lemongrass, galangal, Malay chili and panda leaves. The lemongrass has a wonderful smell and aroma. Galangal is more subtle than ginger. Malay chili is smooth and pandan leaves give added aroma.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I have been here in Dubai for the past 15 years and have met a lot of interesting people from around the world.

My passion and dedication to my work has brought me where I am today. Looking back, I think I did pretty well. The most notable highlight of my career was when I received an Oscar award for Future Manager of the Year in 2010. Also, I have been nominated as Chef of Year in 2011.

What do you want to achieve through your time at Kris restaurant?
I would like the Kris restaurant, to be recognised as the best restaurant with Pan Asian cuisine in the city. I would like to continue training my team and make them aware and understand the best that Malay cuisine has to offer.