Stealing a taste of home

THE story of Breakfast Thieves began in Melbourne, Australia, on April 20, 2011. This neighbourhood cafe was often listed as one of the top five cafes in Melbourne.
Co-founded by Malaysian-born Brandon Chin, Kevin Foo and Edwin Koh, it was only a matter of time that they opened their second cafe, which they did in 2016 in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
The outlet is located inside what was once a printing plant but now home to several hipster-style cafes and restaurants.
Chin explained during an interview that all three partners actually met in Melbourne and worked with each other.
They are all permanent residents of Australia, with Chin having been living in Melbourne for 13 years.
“Edwin used to own a bar and I worked for him back then,” said Chin.
“One day, he said he was tired of the bar life and wanted to do something with food. He suggested we start something.”
And that was how Breakfast Thieves was born.
The name was inspired by an incident in Thailand when Chin was having breakfast with friends and a monkey jumped on their table and took off with some of their food.
“We wanted a catchy name. We knew it was going to be a breakfast joint. We thought, even the monkey wanted some breakfast ...”
Then the name Breakfast Thieves popped up.
Chin said no matter where you are, you always need a piece of someone’s breakfast, so we are all thieves when it comes to food.
The reason they opened the second outlet in Kuala Lumpur was because they were all from here and wanted to see if they could cater to the local tastebuds.
Chin said there was a lot of tweaking during the first three months to come up with a menu that will appeal to regular clienteles.
“We are still pushing the boundaries of having European cuisine with some Asian influences as well,” he added.
Chin, 33, moved to Australia when he was 20 to study graphic design.
“Back then, I thought design was my passion and cooking was my hobby. Actually, it was the other way around.”
His culinary background started when he was 15 and he needed some extra spending money. His father suggested he get a job and Chin started work as a dishwasher in a Chinese dim sum restaurant.
“I saw it was quite fun even though you had to work all day without sitting,” he recalled.
Chin continued to work in restaurants while studying in Melbourne. He did try working as a graphic artist but soon realised that his heart was not in it.
Chin then took up a culinary course for two years and worked as an appreciate in a Melbourne restaurant called Punch Lane.
His mentor was renowned chef Martin Webb, who was one of the earlier British chefs who came to Australia and helped established the culinary scene.
“European cooking was fairly new to me then. It was my mentor who taught me European cuisine,” said Chin, adding that Webb also taught him how to run a restaurant and cafe.
Chin is still very much a part of the Breakfast Thieves operations in Melboune.
He flies down there every two months to tweak the menus based on seasonal ingredients or special occasions. He is also a strong advocate of locally-sourced ingredients.
However, Chin admitted that setting up Breakfast Thieves in Kuala Lumpur was not as easy, as he did not know the local suppliers well enough to work with them.
It was the local chefs he hired who helped him in that aspect as well as to come up with suitable alternatives for pork in the dishes that are considered the restaurant’s signature items.
The food served at both restaurants are similar except for the fact that the outlet here is pork free to suit the local clientele.
One signature dish is the Leprechaun – crisp sweet corn and zucchini fritters with beetroot puree, cauliflower mousse, buttered corn, honey-confit carrot and poached eggs.
Another is Mr Terry Benedict – 24-hour braised-shredded beef cheek in Sarawak crushed black peppercorn, charred cauliflower, crisp patatas, poached eggs with burnt butter hollandaise on toast.
Despite people raving about his cooking, Chin said his mum’s is the best.
“I grew up with it. No matter what she cooks, I can’t cook it the same.”
He said all the chefs who work with him are fans of home-cooked food too. It is something comforting.
He laments the fact that younger people are opting more for instant food.
For the interview, he prepared a special coffee steak sandwich, topped with panko crumbed poached egg salad of crisp kale, romaine lettuce, coconut mousse, charred-confit shallot and tomato avocado salsa.