CLICK clack. Click clack. I could hear the staccato-ed rhythm of my heels hitting the sidewalk as I weave my way impatiently around ambling pedestrians and whizz past unfamiliar shops that, on any other day, I'd be sure to wander into.
Even the lure of rows and rows of florists bursting with colourful blooms in my periphery cannot distract me from my mission: To locate Warong Old China, a restaurant specialising in Peranakan and Southeast Asian cuisine nestled along Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
"You would soooo love this restaurant dear! There's so much heritage, and the food is just your kind of thing!" My friend's enthusiastic recommendation just weeks earlier ring in my ears as I finally find myself standing in front of a classy looking shoplot, its pristine white facade reminding me of a colonial mansion.
"Restoran Warong Old China" — the words, bold and black, stare back at me and I heave a sigh of relief. Up above, the sky is a tranquil canvas of blue, but the heat from the sweltering midday sun compels me to hasten my steps towards the intricately carved wooden doors flanked by antique stain-glass panes in front of me.
It's the sight of the glass panel above the entrance, complete with a rendering of an ornate crown, that stops me momentarily. Somehow, the juxtaposition of a glorious European crown and trails of lush red cloth (remnants of the recent Chinese New Year) framing the door seems a little incongruous.
"Intriguing though," I find myself thinking as I leave behind the humidity and rat-like scurrying of the world outside into one where time has evidently been standing still, and where the rat race is simply a malaise of the modern world.
BACK IN TIME
The first thing to greet me the moment I enter is a charming yesteryear cashier booth, which immediately makes me feel like I've somehow time-travelled. Up ahead, a grand and ornate hall partition, complete with carvings and plaques, divides the front portion of the restaurant from its more private inner sanctum. In another nook, a pair of blackwood armchairs replete with mother-of-pearl inlay stand regally on each side of a half-moon table.
Pretending to ignore the curious stares emanating from a cluster of gentlemen seated around a marble-top, kopitiam-style table to the side, I make my way to the back of the restaurant, my heels click clacking again, this time against well-worn but delicate tiles.
The sight of a Peranakan wedding bed and a long colonial dining table, complete with heavy set wooden chairs, stops me in my tracks — again. It's just like stumbling into someone's home from a bygone era. "Welcome! Come and sit down," a friendly voice slices into my thoughts and I find myself looking into a pair of smiling eyes framed by dark-rimmed glasses.
"I'm Leonard," the man introduces himself before motioning for me to join him at the table. Ahh, THE Leonard Tee, a Malaysian film producer who's worked extensively in the Malaysian film industry, most notably with independent directors, AND the man behind Warong Old China.
In fact, Tee, together with his business partner, Johnni Wong, are also the chaps behind Old China Cafe, located a stone's throw away from Chinatown, as well as Precious Old China, found inside the tourist haven of Central Market.
"Yes, this is our third baby," reveals Tee, his smile wide when I tell him just how much I enjoyed going to Precious Old China back in the days when the sun shone brightly and the threat of an unseen virus was the sort of stuff you saw only in movies.
"When we leased this place back in 2019, we didn't realise that we were going to be hit by a pandemic," confides the youthful 50-year-old, before adding with a shrug of his shoulders: "I guess it was just bad timing!"
Before the birth of the restaurant, this building housed a crockery business. The property had belonged to Kwong Yik Seng Crockery Sdn Bhd, which imported and sold crockery from China for over 80 years. "No one wanted to take over the previous owner's business so he decided to lease the whole property to us. We actually got the keys during the Movement Control Order (MCO) back in 2019," shares Tee.
Approximately six metres wide and 30m in length, Warong Old China officially opened with modest fanfare on October 13 last year, a date believed by the owners to be the most auspicious day on the lunar calendar.
"We'd been quietly putting all these things together during the MCO period," says Tee, his arms sweeping with pride at the paintings adorning the walls, the eclectic mix of furniture around us, the light fixtures, and all the other bits and pieces that have come together to create the restaurant.
"See that there?" he poses, enthusiastically pointing to the space above us. Adding, he shares that the ceiling was previously quite low so they ended up taking it off. "We decided to leave the space exposed in order to get that industrial look."
Meanwhile, all the heavy-set furniture used to furnish "Warong" came from the owners' personal collection; pieces which they'd painstakingly amassed over the years. "I'm just a hoarder lah!" exclaims Tee, a conspiratorial twinkle in his eyes.
The concept for this restaurant, which straddles two floors (the upstairs is a multi-functional art space that doubles up as a lounge, private dining hall, and a cosy space for performances and product launches), is pretty much in line with the duo's other restaurants under the "Old China" brand.
"The idea is to evoke a sense of nostalgia the moment you enter," shares Tee, before adding: "You'd expect to sit on a real Tok Panjang. Tok means table in Hokkien, and Panjang is long in Malay, so Tok Panjang is a long table. But in the Peranakan terminology, when the household is hosting a Tok Panjang, it actually refers to a grand elaborated feast laid out on a long table."
Continuing, Tee says: "You'd also be sitting on real antique chairs and be surrounded by beautiful paintings and traditional items from the Peranakan home. It's how I lived, and it's an experience that I want to create for our customers. When your eyes feast on these beautiful things around you, the rest of your senses would follow suit. And of course, when it comes to the food, that's when the real feasting begins!"
PRECIOUS PERANAKAN
"Warong" as a name was selected by the duo to conjure that sense of "casual", Southeast Asian vibe that emanates from the venue. "Old China", meanwhile, is essentially the partners' long-established brand; a brand that has been around since the early 1990s when Tee and Wong had their first restaurant in the heart of Melaka's old quarters, at Jalan Hang Lekir, which they called "Old China".
"In this restaurant, we basically serve more Southeast Asian cuisine, which means that we have a nice selection of Peranakan, Thai, Indonesian, and of course, local offerings," shares Tee, as he motions to a waiter for the menu. Adding, he says: "We just want to reminisce the nostalgia of the Chinese communities from the past."
Tee himself is a proud Peranakan from Alor Setar, Kedah. The Peranakan are descendants of the earliest Chinese settlers in the Malay Archipelago. Their culture, especially in the more dominant Peranakan centres of Melaka, Singapore, Penang and Medan, is characterised by its unique hybridisation of ancient Chinese culture with local cultures of the Nusantara region, the result of a centuries-long history of transculturation and interracial marriage.
"My own Peranakan family traces its branch to Penang and Thailand," elaborates the genial Gemini, adding: "The palate of the northern Peranakan is very much influenced by Thai cuisine. Up in the north, the emphasis is more on the acidic, tamarind taste. When you go to a Melaka Peranakan kitchen, you'll see that it's more on spices and herbs; in Singapore, the taste is sweeter."
The Peranakan offerings in the menu at "Warong", shares Tee, are not too "north-centric", instead, they've taken "pinches" of flavours and "dashes" of colours from the various Peranakan culinary "branches" to offer their customers a wonderful journey into Peranakan cuisine.
Where are the recipes from, I couldn't help asking, as the delicious aroma of food begins to waft tantalisingly from the kitchen down the long corridor. "Me!" exclaims Tee, eyes dancing. "You can cook?" I retort back, and his head bobs for emphasis.
"Yes, I learnt from my grandmother," he adds, a fond smile crossing his face.
THE KITCHEN HELP
Home, for the young Tee, who had three siblings, was the Kedah capital of Alor Setar and Penang. The family resided in a typical Peranakan house in a shoplot. "You would probably call it a heritage home. But to me it was just home," recalls Tee, brows furrowing at the memory.
Proudly, he shares that one of his favourite activities was hanging around in the family's big kitchen watching his grandmother, who had eight children, cook. Remembers the talented Kedahan: "She'd ask me to help her in the kitchen and of course, we'd talk. She'd often tell me that it was good for me to learn how to cook because one day the skills would come in handy when it's time for me to leave the family's nest."
Of course, as a child, he wasn't tasked with all the heavy cooking. "I was more of a kitchen help," continues Tee, adding: "I did all the cutting, slicing, pounding, and I'd use the heavy pestle and mortar. In those days, we didn't have a gas stove. Everything was cooked on charcoal or wood fire. My grandmother cooked with much love. Definitely, the kitchen was a nostalgic place for me."
Along the way, Tee, who left home at the age of 18, was able to hone his skills and pick up on familiar — and favourite — tastes. "I'm currently working on recalling those tastes which I loved from my grandmother's kitchen," he says, before confiding that to this day, his favourite food cooked by his grandmother is her curries.
His own specialties today are his curries and rendang, a rich dish of meat (most commonly beef), that has been slow cooked and braised in a coconut milk seasoned with an herb and spice mixture, until the liquids evaporate and the meat becomes tender.
Is there a secret to good rendang, I ask Tee, furtively eyeing our table which is slowly filling up with dishes after dishes specially chosen from the menu by our host. "It's the rempah (spices)," he replies almost instantly, adding: "You have to source for the correct rempah. I don't use ordinary rempah or those that you buy off the shelves. I get mine fresh from this one rempah shop in Melaka."
Tee, who's a business graduate and aspired to be a businessman growing up, goes on to share that before cooking all the ingredients, the rempah needs to be "awakened". The look of bewilderment etched on my face causes him to chuckle momentarily. "My grandmother used to say that ingredients go to sleep when we go to sleep. So, you need to wake them up," he begins, his words slow as if unsure whether I'm taking him seriously.
Continuing, he elaborates: "To wake them up, before I pound or grind, I'd put them in a pan on a slow fire and stir first. Let the ingredients wake up slowly. And then do what you need to do. This is one of the lessons my grandmother taught me. I don't know whether it's just a superstition or what, but I believe that doing this does wonders to the taste of the food in the end."
The maverick movie-maker, who'll be releasing his latest documentary called Alive (he's the executive producer), together with a coffee table book, sometime in May, suddenly turns thoughtful. His gaze earnest, Tee muses: "I make movies. But the restaurant business is my bread and butter. I consider myself very lucky to be doing the things I love."
Continuing, he says: "Making movies and doing this restaurant business and cooking… do you see the connection? I'm doing things that in its own way, make people happy. If you cook a good meal for people, they're happy. If you make movies that leave an impression on people, they're touched. I do feel very blessed."
As for his end game? Tee dreams of creating more "Old China" concept restaurants around the country. "Here in this country, we're a bit slow. We need to keep spreading our wings and promote what we're good at. We need to be more aggressive. And I'm going to start with Malaysia first."
PICK OF THE SPREAD
PIE TEE: Here's a really lovely starter to kick-off your feast. The Pie Tee, a thin and crispy pastry tart shell kuih, eaten with fillings comprising radish, carrots, mushrooms, minced chicken and seasoning, is a popular Peranakan dish, especially during festive seasons. The Pie Tee shell, which is made in house here, is created in the shape of a lady's hat, much like those hats sported by the British ladies when they descended on the turf club back in the days to watch a game of polo.
POMELO SALAD: A truly refreshing salad, and one of the big favourites among customers, is the Pomelo Salad. Whilst pomelo is the main ingredient, it's joined by a medley of kaffir lime leaves, bunga kantan, chilis, dried shrimps, peanuts, and cilantro. Just need to toss all the ingredients together, much like how you would with Yee Sang.
NASI LEMAK WITH CHICKEN RENDANG, ACAR, SAMBAL, PEANUTS AND ANCHOVIES, EGG AND PAPADOM: Fragrant coconut rice infused with the butterfly pea flower for that exquisite hue. Tee introduced this flower in his nasi lemak back at the Old China Café, more than 27 years ago. "It was again my grandmother's thing. I remember growing up, we (the children) didn't really like to eat rice. But grandmother believed that we needed to in order to grow big and strong. So, to tempt us to eat rice, she added the colour in, believing that at least if it looked colourful, it would be more appealing to us. In fact, a lot of Peranakan kuih uses this indigo blue colour in them."
TAMARIND PRAWNS: Otherwise known as Assam Prawns, this is another favourite Malaysian Nyonya dish. Succulent prawns are soaked in tamarind juice and marinated together with pepper and salt for hours, before being deep fried. The sweet, sour, and savoury flavours of tamarind pair well with the prawns. Crispy and succulent, don't forget to dip the tasty crustaceans in the special cili sauce for a dish that's huge on flavour.
MEE SIAM: The unassuming Mee Siam, or Siamese Noodles in Malay, a dish of thin rice vermicelli, served with prawns and roast chicken, is definitely one of my favourite dishes. As the name suggests, it's adapted from Thai flavours. 'Warong's' version is delightfully tasty and this I attribute to the sweet and sour gravy, made from tamarind, sugar, shrimp, taucheo (soya bean paste), and soya sauce.
Warong Old China
144, Jalan Tun H S Lee, City Centre, Kuala Lumpur
Opens: 11am to 9pm. Close on Wednesdays.
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