What happens when a lifelong vegetarian and a five star hotel chef obsessed with meat open a restaurant together?
You don’t get a compromise. You get a revolution.
Welcome to Naughty Root Malaysia, the vegetarian restaurant Malaysia didn’t know it needed, but now can’t stop talking about.
A Friendship Built on Food Fights
Henry and Eason have been friends since they were 12. One loved steak.
The other hadn’t touched meat since childhood.
Every birthday dinner? Stress. Every celebration? Negotiation.
Finding a place that satisfied both a strict vegetarian and a meat-eater in Malaysia wasn’t just hard, it was almost impossible.
So they made a decision that would change everything. If the perfect restaurant didn’t exist… they’d build it.
Not just another vegetarian restaurant in Malaysia.
But one where plant-based dining felt bold, indulgent, and celebration-worthy.
From Five Star Kitchens to Fearless Innovation
Before Naughty Root, Henry wasn’t experimenting with mushrooms in a tiny kitchen.
He spent over a decade working in luxury five star hotels in Singapore including W Hotel and Marriott. He cooked in VIP rooms. For presidents. For ministers. For people who expect perfection.
Then he did something unexpected.
He walked away from fine dining meat kitchens to build an innovative vegetarian food brand with his childhood friend.
No mock meats.
No boring sweet-and-sour “fake fish.” No playing safe.
Instead, Henry applied elite culinary techniques to plants. And that’s where the magic started.
The Dishes That Made Malaysia Look Twice
Their legendary banana blossom fish and chips doesn’t rely on processed substitutes. Henry layers banana blossom so precisely it flakes like real fish.
Some customers were so convinced, they complained about “fish bones.” Plot twist?
It was banana fiber.
Their vegetarian Wellington? One of the first of its kind in Malaysia. Crisp pastry. Savoury filling. Pure drama on a plate.
Even their “chicken chop” is made from king oyster mushrooms, juicy, meaty, unforgettable. This isn’t an imitation.
It’s innovation.
Naughty Root Malaysia isn’t trying to copy meat. It’s redefining what plant-based dining can be.
The “Idea” That Paid Off
Most people would open in a high traffic mall. Henry and Eason?
They chose an industrial factory area. No foot traffic. No crowd. No guarantees. Henry even called it a “crazy idea.”
Day one: zero customers. That silence? Loud.
But they didn’t panic. They posted. Shared. Showed up online. By day two, the first customer arrived.
By day three? A boom.
The vegetarian community in Malaysia drove out of their way to support them.
It got so crazy they had to slow down orders because the kitchen couldn’t keep up.
From zero to overflow in 72 hours.
That’s not luck.
That’s community meeting courage.
More Than a Restaurant A Mission
The F&B industry is brutal. Thin margins. Staff turnover. Endless pressure. Henry says if you’re in it just for money, you’re in the wrong place.
For them, it’s about nourishment. Not just food people.
They want Naughty Root Malaysia to become one of the biggest vegetarian restaurants in Malaysia.
But they’re thinking bigger.
They want the brand to be as recognizable as Maggi. As iconic as McDonald’s.
They want tourists landing in KL to hear one thing:
“You can’t leave without trying Naughty Root.”
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t just about vegetarian Wellington or banana blossom fish. It’s about rewriting old rules.
About friendship turning frustration into opportunity.
About daring to build something different even when it looks crazy at first. Henry and Eason didn’t just open a restaurant.
They proved that innovative vegetarian food in Malaysia doesn’t have to play small. And if this is just the beginning?
Malaysia’s plant-based dining scene is about to get a whole lot naughtier.
