Atelier Binchotan Dinner

The 34-year-old chef and co-founder of Atelier Binchotan, Lau, spends most of his time with his back to diners, though he insists it’s not in his nature to be so withdrawn from them. His wife, Celine Choong, who opened and runs the restaurant with him, chimes in. 'If he does, something will burn.”

Together, the husband and wife team opened Atelier Binchotan back in 2020. Neither predicted — or planned — for the restaurant to one day become one of the hottest seats in Kuala Lumpur, with reservations sometimes full for months at a time.

'At the very beginning, we just wanted to do a cafe,” says Choong, 31. 'Every day I tarik the coffee and stand by, and I was boiling liong sui too.” Curiously, the cafe was still going to carry the same name and feature open-fire cooking.

'I was not happy with the name, I’ll tell you that. We were going to do open-fire cooking; all the proteins were going to come with the same garnish, a salad and mashed potatoes.”

Looking back, the couple acknowledges, in good humour, the peculiar nature of their initial plan. But it was all they wanted after years of working in some of the most demanding kitchens and dining rooms in Singapore.

A native of Batu Pahat, Johor, Lau left for Singapore immediately after graduating from culinary school.

'I started at The Fullerton Bay Hotel. I spent half a year at the poolside bar there, and then I transferred to the French brasserie for the rest of the year,” he recalls. 'That’s when I started to learn more about French technique, and history, then I moved to Robuchon.”

Lau spent two years at the Joël Robuchon Restaurant, which was Singapore’s sole three-Michelin-starred restaurant at the time. 'I was a commis there, and after one year I got promoted to chef de partie,” he adds. 'In the second year (2013), Celine joined.”

Despite meeting his future wife there, Lau didn’t stay for long. He joined another illustrious kitchen in Restaurant André, where he spent four years working under acclaimed Taiwanese chef André Chiang.

Atelier Binchotan was not uppity, just pure essence of good food. The place had the chef and his wife’s signature all over.

Every dish was above average - and we had a tough time choosing our favourites.

For me it was the sea bass and king prawns. Both easily 7.5/10

The others all hover between 7-7.25/10

I’m very sure on a different day, in a different mood/setting some of these dishes might even hit a 8/10. Paired with some quietly impressive wine list from Atelier Binchotan. Being my maiden visit I can confirm this is the real McCoy. Book your seats.