The best of both worlds
A collaboration between two popular food entities has come together intheformofa brand new restaurant.
ENSCONCED on the ground floor of the popular 163 Retail Park in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur is the spanking new Belly & Mel. The eatery is the brainchild of Jeff Yap, the director of Mads Group (which runs brands like Belly & The Chef ), and Damien Lee and his wife Melanie Pong, the people behind the popular CC by Mel and fine-dining haunt Zen by Mel.
Creative collaborations aren’t entirely new, but typically they take the form of collaboration dinners. Meshing together two disparate brands – in this case, Belly & The Chef and CC by Mel – into a single restaurant can be messy and chaotic if not done well or right. Thankfully, Yap and fellow collaborators have earned their stripes over the years.
Interestingly, none of the trio was in the F&B industry until the Covid-19 pandemic. Pong was previously a florist while Yap was in the construction industry.
“I changed trajectory when the pandemic first hit. I was deep in debt because there was no work coming in so my business was really suffering. So I pivoted and ended up turning my office into a small kitchen. That’s how I started my healthy food delivery business,” says Yap.
In 2021, Yap opened his first physical restaurant called Belly & The Chef while Lee and Pong also opened CC by Mel. Yap, Lee and Pong have since become good friends which is why they decided to collaborate on this project.
“Lee and Pong first opened a branch of CC by Mel at this same lot in Mont Kiara but because they do Japanese fusion fare, it didn’t work so well because competition is very stiff here, especially for Japanese food. Another modern Asian restaurant that they opened after that also didn’t work out well, so that’s when we decided to collaborate.
“For me, it also made sense because I have Belly & The Chef branches in Segambut and Petaling Jaya, so if I opened another outlet here, I would have been fighting my own brand. So we decided to combine our skills, which is a better option for both of us,” explains Yap.
The menu reflects each brand’s individual strengths and highlights European, Chinese and Japanese fusion fare.
To begin, indulge in the classic CC by Mel item, Trio Taco (RM30). The original CC by Mel gained prominence and traction after introducing these nori tacos, essentially taco shells fashioned out of deep-fried seaweed. These receptacles are sturdy and in this trio, you will find each taco layered with sushi rice as well as three main proteins served sashimi style: tuna, salmon and ebi prawns.
Eachoneisdeli
cious and if you’re opting to eat this on your own, a filling, satisfying meal is guaranteed.
Up next, try the Ocean Capellini (RM20) which features salmon and prawn quenelle, goma truffle and capellini. This is a simple, uncomplicated dish that highlights the bounty of the sea and has a strong aquatic quality running through its veins. The salmon, ikura and prawn are both fresh and this is underscored by the capellini, which still has a firm bite while the sesame-based sauce adds a sweet-salty note to the meal.
One of the most interesting menu options right now is Yap’s Not-so-classic Carbonara (RM25). As its name implies, this is a far cry from any traditional iteration of carbonara you are likely to have encountered.
“Normally, you will find carbonara slathered in cream, cheese and egg yolk but here we actually use fermented bean curd so it is more Chinese. The tofu gives it an aroma and a lighter creamy texture as well,” says Yap.
It’s so odd to taste a carbonara with tofu in it, yet it magically works. The tofu acts as a binding agent but also isn’t cloying or overly rich. And the addition of chicken floss adds a touch of umami to the meal, detracting from the creamy qualities of the tofu and adding an interesting counterpoint to the dish.
For more unusual offerings, definitely look at trying the Nomad Smoked Chicken (RM38). Here, a half portion of chicken has been smoked for two hours with Oolong tea leaves in a Combi oven. The chicken is served with a yellow wine sauce and Szechuan pepper salt. The
chicken is very tender and has undulating smoky notes and this is punctuated by the yellow wine sauce, which offers herbal notes and a deeply nourishing quality to the meal.
The Szechuan Duck Confit (RM38) is also well worth your time and attention. Here, duck leg is cooked confit style and this is accentuated by a risotto enhanced with pickled mustard greens. The duck boasts crispy burnished skin that segues into tenderly yielding meat inside with a salt quotient that is dang near perfection. But truly, it is the risotto that is the star here – perfectly cooked, with a flavour profile that absorbs the qualities of the pickled greens and gives the dish a nourishing, home-spun quality that quickly proves very addictive.
End your meal on an aquatic high with the Suan Cai Yu (RM35) a Western-esque riff on a classic Szechuan-style dish that is essentially hot and sour fish with pickled mustard greens. Here, the fish has been dipped in batter and fried to a crisp. The sauce on the side offers acerbic, pungent, lip-puckering qualities that dole out sweetsour-tangy proponents on the palate. It’s a weirdly wonderful combination with plenty of attractive qualities designed to spark joy.
A meal at Belly & Mel takes you on a pleasure cruise through East and West, straddling unfamiliar territory against comfortable terrain with equal aplomb. Expect the unexpected in a meal here and enjoy welcome surprises in every bite.
Moving forward, Yap says there are no plans to expand Belly & Mel throughout the Klang Valley as both individual brands also have their own expansion works in progress. Instead, they hope the restaurant will be a successful one-off that showcases how two brands with different DNA structures can come together in triumphant glory.
“It’s quite hard for us to duplicate a crossover brand, so this will remain the only one. Both Lee and Pong and I will go ahead in terms of duplicating our own individual brands, but if people like this crossover, well, they will only be able to find it here because we wanted to make it something special,” says Yap.
Belly & Mel
G5-05, 163 Retail Park 8 Jalan Kiara
Mont Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-325 8966
Open daily: 11am to 10pm