Architect Shin Chang is known for reviving old establishments and believing that every building has an identity and soul of its own.

His design philosophy has always been to let people experience the original structure of the building, by giving it respect and changing it as little as possible.

“This philosophy has given us incredible food spaces such as Chocha Food Store, a colonial shophouse that is over 100-years old; JOLOKO and Licky Chan, both of which are shophouses from the 1950s, and REX KL, an icon of Chinatown from the 1950s,” he said.

In this article, Shin Chang shares his journey as well as his philosophy in design, F&B and architecture.

Tell us about MentahMatter design.

After working with residential projects and architectural firms for a few years, Penny Ng and I started MentahMatter Design in 2013.

Mentah is a Malay word that loosely translates as “raw”. It means designing in its simplest form, its original form. We’ve never been a fan of fancy, complicated aesthetic designs.

How did you get started in the F&B industry?

Design concepts by themselves can be very idealistic. Designers are always very romantic and the design concepts we present to clients can be very idealistic.

Over time, I realised that we needed to understand what’s happening on-ground to gain perspective, and we started to venture out by learning how to operate a business. Plus, we love to cook.

F&B spaces are actually one of the most important platforms to get people to understand and appreciate space.

What’s the correlation between F&B and the importance of a good space?

Now, imagine yourself dining in a restaurant. Yes, you are there for the food but your subconscious is actually guided by the space.

When you step into a restaurant, observe the setup, the lighting, the colours and textures.

I like to think that touch is also very important, such as the chair you’re sitting on, or the feel of the table surface. Is it a rough surface? Cold? Warm?

You wouldn’t actually realise its impact, but you will remember these sensations in your mind.

What are some of MentahMatter’s F&B projects?

Here are four examples of the work we’ve done with F&B outlets:

• Choca Foodstore

The shop lot was built by the British over a hundred years ago. This is probably the most romantic project among the four that ideally showcases how I perceive the space.

As this is located in Chinatown, it is very important to shine a spotlight on the movement of the shophouse’s transformation from its original design to its current state.

When you step into Chocha Foodstore, you can see this triple volume of space that’s typical of old shophouse structures.

A key challenge with Chocha is the length of the space. In one shift, the operations team would need to brisk walk at least 4 to 5 km from one end to the other!

It is about 120 ft x 50 metres from the entrance all the way to the back.

Hence, we put our bar station in the middle and that would be the control point of the whole service flow.

Even though it is 4,800 square feet of space, we can only fit up to 100 pax seating capacity as we wanted to maintain the structure of the original shophouse.

Call it a celebration of “post-colonialism architecture meets modern Malaysian food”.

• Joloko

This shop lot was built in the 1950s by Loke Yew.

Now, stepping into Joloko is like a journey; you’ll be passing through a garden of lush tropical plants and palm and coconut trees before entering the restaurant space.

Joloko is mostly about intentionally crafting out different dining areas with four different cross-section dining spaces.

See if you can identify them during your next visit.

• REX KL

There are so many new yet underutilised developments or abandoned old buildings.

The old REX KL cinema was one of them.

REX KL aims to build up local communities with its own ecosystem of farmer’s markets, events, artisanal workshops, film screenings, food halls, social enterprise, retail.

On top of that, it also aims to start an incubator project to help young startups.

• Licky Chan

Licky Chan is all about fun. Its design is a tribute to our childhood in the late 80s and 90s using geometry and bold colours.

This project was inspired by renowned Mexican architect, Luis Barragán, as his work emphasises colour, light, shadow, geometric form and texture.

The different spaces, like the bench area where anyone can draw on and the outdoor brick area, feature the elements of a playground and are all about playing with elevation.

We just want everyone who comes in here to play around and feel like they’re a kid again.

What is one thing you would like clients to know?

Trust your architect or interior designer and tell them your story instead of showing them Pinterest images.

If I’m the business owner and you’re my architect, let’s have an in-depth conversation and an exchange of minds.

Let’s engage on why you are launching this brand and the story behind it. Your mindset, composition and your philosophy will help your designer.

This article first appeared on Set the Tables.

Set the Tables is positioned to inspire and educate those already in the industry as much as the aspiring reader who dreams of a future in the food business, and maybe even the merely curious tantalised by the vast and irresistible universe of food and drink.