Playing with local flavours

SELF-PROCLAIMED PJ-boy Johnathan Teh chose to open his restaurant at a nook on the fifth floor of Jaya Shopping Centre three years ago because he used to frequent the old Jaya supermarket when he was younger, besides the fact that he grew up in the area.
His restaurant, Good Food & Co, serves satisfying and homey fusion dishes with a distinct Malaysian twist.
Teh, 37, is a self-taught chef. He left the corporate world after close to a decade to travel abroad with his wife.
He recalls: “You reach a point where you are just not happy with your job [and] I think everyone faces that eventually in life. So, we just decided to drop everything and went travelling."
After six months in New Zealand, the couple found themselves in Perth, Australia, where Teh decided to pursue his food dream for the next three years in Western Australia.
He started work in a commercial kitchen for the first time. Even though he was just a kitchen hand, he was adamant this was his new path in life, and took on kitchen roles in multiple other establishments.
“I’ve worked in burger joints. I’ve worked in a college cafe where you have to do bulk cooking for all the students … cafes, bars, and bistros."

Teh even tried his hand at fine dining, working for free just to get a deeper understanding of food. “They don’t need you technically. You want to learn, then they allow you to cook but they won’t pay you. Maybe you will get a staff meal, but that’s about it."
On returning home, his first thought was to open a burger joint but found that market “a bit too saturated”, and so decided to combine his experience picked up in Perth with local flavours, to open up Good Food & Co.
Although he initially started with modern Australian cuisine in mind, Teh realised that Malaysia, like Australia, is a country that is home to a mix of different cultures, which is also reflective in their food.
He found increased joy in playing with local flavours, as evident in most of his best-selling dishes, like the laksa pesto pasta and his signature roast chicken.

“A lot of places have roast chicken, for example, but the thing that makes mine different is the gravy. I don’t do the usual black pepper or brown sauce, [instead] mine is vegetable based. I make my own spice mix so the flavour is sort of like curry but it’s not curry."
Teh serves his roast chicken on top of a medley of pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes, so “everyone thinks it’s pumpkin sauce but there’s no pumpkin in it”.
Citing as his “best creation so far” is Teh’s favourite dish: his laksa pesto pasta.
Tweaking and improving flavours as he goes, the current version of the dish is at number three, after getting feedback from his regular customers.
He also says that pesto simply means paste in Italian but most people generalise is as made only with basil and pine nuts. “It could be anything, any green leaves, so I use local versions like daun kesum [and] bunga kantan."
Another standout dish is his take on shakshouka, a popular North African dish.
According to him, the tomato stew-based dish might look simple but actually involves a variety of spices, some of which he substituted with locally available aromatics.
“It’s actually quite similar to the real deal because I’ve had people who have been to Morocco [and] had the real thing tell me that it’s close.
“When people [give] compliments like these, you know you’re doing something right."
From fresh bread, spice mixes, and even condiments like mayonnaise, Teh prefers to keep it free of preservatives, and most importantly, packed with good flavour.
“I try to source locally as much as I can but certain things like beef, I still get Australian beef. We order the beef and portion it ourselves. Whatever we can do on our own, we do it on our own."
One other philosophy he picked up from his travels and work abroad, and applies today, is to support local businesses.
A lot of the drinks sold at Good Food & Co are locally produced, like homegrown soda brand, The Tapping Tapir. “These are all local small businesses like myself, so we try to support each other."
And being not too fond of baking, he opts to get his supply of cakes from a church friend.
He explains: “If the sauce is too salty, you can still save it. If it’s not salty enough, you can fix it. With a cake, once it goes into the oven, that’s it.
“I don’t like to cook like that. I like to freestyle a bit, that’s why I came up with all these recipes … I just like simple, rustic kind of food.”