“I love cooking for people; I especially love seeing the smiles on their faces as they eat my food,” says the humble 39-year-old.
Nestled in his clinic in Kuala Lumpur is a small, well-stocked makeshift kitchen, where he cooks for his friends and volunteers after a long day of treating patients. A ring light, which he uses to make TikTok videos, stands next to the electric stove.
During FMT’s visit last week, he prepared three of his signature dishes: mutton varuval, chicken kicap, and kam heong prawns. All three were rich and flavourful.
“The chicken kicap was marinated for 24 hours and it is actually my Amma’s specialty dish, whereas the kam heong prawns is a family favourite,” he says.
When he was in secondary school, he and his three siblings used to cook after their parents had gone to bed.
“We would experiment with different dishes and create a mess in the kitchen,” he laughs, adding that they would face the “consequences” the next day as their parents are pretty strict.
Madhu began cooking more frequently while he was pursuing medicine in Bangalore with his older brother.
“We would give Amma a call and she’d guide us over the telephone,” he says, adding that he would cook for his friends and for various events.
“They especially loved our nasi lemak and chicken with kicap manis,” he recalls.
Madhu is primarily inspired by his mother’s cooking “but no matter how I try, it’s never as tasty as my Amma’s food” – citing her thosai, chicken curry, idiyappam and sothi, a mild coconut curry.
“My father used to cook for us, too,” he adds. “His signature is macaroni with sardines.”
His own favourite is mutton varuval, the recipe for which he makes a point to obtain from friends and family members. “I would combine the different recipes and come up with my own,” he says.
During FMT’s visit, the varural contained a special ingredient – oyster sauce. Indeed, Madhu is fond of “secret sauces” in his cooking, such as Lingham’s chilli sauce, which he uses in many of his recipes.
After returning from his studies in India, Madhu did his housemanship in Kota Bahru. “After two and a half years, my friend and I opened a restaurant, ‘Black em White’,” he says.
The big kitchen of the restaurant allowed him to experiment with food. One of his favourite memories, he says, is of cooking “buka puasa” meals for his staff during Ramadan.
Despite having to juggle two jobs, he loved running the restaurant. Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, he had to return to KL.
“I then told my father I wanted to open a restaurant here. He told me to shut up and open a clinic, so here I am,” he says, laughing. He has been working at Klinik Yap & Looi in Cheras for the past nine years.
Besides numerous pictures and thank-you notes that decorate the walls of his clinic, there are many packages containing essential items donated by his patients to be distributed to those in need.
“There are always people coming to collect diapers, groceries and whatever else they require,” he says.
Naturally, Madhu charges a lower rate for patients with financial difficulties. “But you’d be surprised that they are the ones who contribute items when they have some extra money. Even a packet of biscuits can help someone else,” he points out.
Madhu sleeps in his clinic during weekdays and goes back to Klang every weekend to spend time with his family.
In 2015, he started a free mobile clinic, which provides medical care to the homeless and urban poor in KL. Teddy Mobile Clinic operates every Wednesday at Anjung Kelana, a community centre in Taman Desa, from 8.30pm onwards.
Then in 2019, Madhu started Dr Teddy’s Food Lab, a food truck business which serves, among other things, nasi lemak kambing, nasi goreng sambal udang kering, and chicken and mutton varuval rolls.
Business hours were from 4pm on weekdays, as well as on Saturday and Sunday nights, but due to the pandemic, the food truck has been out of commission.
Madhu says he can’t wait to resume business once it is safer to do so, and plans to eventually bring Dr Teddy’s Food Lab to orphanages to feed and entertain the children.
He adds that customers will also be able to purchase meals to be donated to the needy.
As for the future, Madhu says plans to open a restaurant are always in the back of his mind, but he is aware of the challenges of adding another responsibility to his list.
For now, he’s looking forward to making more cooking videos on TikTok, saying his aim in life is to make people happy. “Even when I’m sad or angry, there’s always a smile on my face, as I don’t want people around me to be sad because of me,” he says.
To Madhu, friends and family are everything.
“I spend all my money on charity work but I also know if I became homeless one day, I have people who would take care of me,” he says.
“Plus, I know which NGOs provide food!”
Check out Madhu’s cooking videos on TikTok. For updates on his food truck, follow Dr Teddy’s Food Lab on Facebook and Instagram.
To learn more about his mobile clinic, check out Teddy Mobile Clinic’s Instagram and Facebook profiles.