Chef Wan And The Dish He Never Outgrew

Chef Wan has cooked for royalty and eaten his way across the world. But ask him about the meal he thinks about most, and the answer is disarmingly simple.

Some chefs collect titles. Chef Wan collects moments. Malaysia’s first celebrity chef and perhaps its most beloved culinary son, Datuk Dr. Redzuawan bin Ismail has spent more than three decades doing what few manage to sustain—keeping the world genuinely curious about Malaysian food. Trained in New York and Paris, he has carried the flavours of home across continents, into television kitchens, royal banquets, and the pages of global publications that rarely turn their gaze this far east. Recognition has followed, as it tends to do for those who move with both conviction and warmth.

Yet for all the grandeur that has marked his journey, it is a plate of nasi goreng that lingers longest. His mother’s, to be exact. We caught up with Chef Wan for a few questions on travel, taste, and the meals that stay with you long after the table is cleared.

You’ve eaten your way around the world—what’s one destination you still think is wildly underrated for food?

It has to be Uzbekistan. As well as Iran actually, if you’re gonna ask me for two places. Because I think a lot of people tak pergi (have never been) and never really understood much about Persian cuisine and food from Central Asia, and they’ll be so shocked to see the variety that they have, and how delicious it is. When I went there for filming, I saw everything and tasted so many things, and I was like wow, so underrated, you know?

You’ve dined everywhere from street stalls to royal tables—what impresses you more today: flawless technique or unforgettable flavour?

I think, for me, what is so unforgettable today is always something that comes from literally a kitchen that’s from mak mak (mothers) and dapur dapur (home kitchens), that sometimes it’s just so delicious, that sometimes food like that can cost so little, but taste so delicious. 

Which cuisine best matches your personality?

I think it’s Japanese. That’s my favourite cuisine, cause I like the art, I like the seriousness about presentation, cleanliness, hygiene, the source of where they get all these foods, and things have to be really at this peak flavour. I’m very meticulous about that, so I think Japanese it is.

After decades of travel, what’s one meal you still think about all the time?

I think if there’s anything, that one meal that I’m always thinking about, is none other than my mother’s favourite fried rice. You know, she passed away three years ago, and sometimes when I sit down for breakfast or lunch, I can literally still smell my mother’s nasi goreng. She passed three years ago, at ninety years old, and that memory of her fried rice is always in my mind, in my nose, and it’s in me all the time. I feel like sometimes she’s living in me.

All images are courtesy of Chef Wan Restaurants