Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter , or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates. Recently a Malaysian restaurant, Laut, in New York received a Michelin Star. The restaurant, in New York City’s upper west side is currently owned by Chef Salil Mehta who took over the restaurant in 2010.
However, the highlight of this is that Chef Salil has never been to Malaysia. This came to light during an interview with CBS . In the interview, he also mentioned that he never knew what a Michelin Star was.
This could probably be because Salil initially graduated with a fashion degree and was very passionate about fashion. Salil said he had come to New York to become a designer. He was born and raised in New Delhi in a household of 40 family members.
Salil added that he initially quit design to work in the food sector to “pay the bills” and mentioned that he is a self-taught chef. He said that he did a lot of research to learn how to cook. One of the ways was that he used to visit a Buddhist temple in Elmhurst, Chicago in the state of Illinois where the Thai community would cook for the monks.
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and I just went there, I took food, and I started talking to the local Thai ladies,” he said in the CBS interview. At Laut, his popular main course is the Dragon Breath Char Kway Teow. There are many recipes from Malaysia in the restaurant including the iconic Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak.
Chef Salil runs several other eateries including another Malaysian restaurant nam.
