Away from the eight-seat counter in Singapore, Chef Masa keeps a quieter habit. He travels. He eats. He watches how others cook and care for their food.
In the sixth episode of Behind the Counter, that habit takes him to Penang, Malaysia, a place he had been looking forward to, drawn by its reputation for good eating. What he finds is not a famous name from a guidebook, but a small tea house and the woman who runs it.
A Tea House Called 茶堂
Chef Masa makes his way to 茶堂 (Chatang), a modest tea house tended by a host known as Auntie Bey. It is the kind of place that rarely appears in standard tourist recommendations, easy to walk past, easy to miss.
Rather than direct the meal himself, Chef Masa hands the choice to Auntie Bey. “I leave it all up to you,” he tells her. It is a small gesture, but a telling one. At his own counter, guests place their trust in him. Here, he offers that same trust to someone else.
Comfort Food and a Salty Tea
What follows is a spread of Malaysian comfort food. One dish catches him off guard with its heat. “Spicy! Wow, this is spicy!” he says, the reaction plain and unguarded.
Then comes the tea, and this is where his attention settles. The tea tastes salty, and Auntie Bey explains why. When the miners once made their tea near the sea, ocean winds carried salt into the drink. The flavour is not an accident but a mark of place, shaped by where the tea was brewed and by the people who brewed it.
For a chef whose own work turns on ingredients tied to season and origin, this idea clearly resonates. He listens closely. The story behind the cup matters as much as the cup itself.
Why He Seeks Out the Quiet Places
Chef Masa does not chase the well-known restaurant or the crowded table. He looks for the humble room, the local host, the food made with a strong sense of where it comes from.
This is where his curiosity lives. A conversation with Auntie Bey, a spoonful of something unexpectedly fiery, a tea flavoured by the wind, each one teaches him something about how people cook and why. His openness to a food culture far from his own says a great deal about the person behind the counter.
His time in Penang is not over. The next episode continues the exploration.
Behind the Counter exists for moments like these. It lets you follow the experiences that feed Chef Masa’s curiosity, even when they sit far from sushi. Here, you meet not the chef at work, but the man who never stops wanting to learn.
