Jun Chan is the chef-owner of Bowls of Steel (BOS), a modern Malaysian noodle bar in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, that prides itself on its “handcrafted ramen noodles, local flavours, and sustainability”.

Here, Chan talks with Set The Tables about the complexity of his dishes, labour shortages – a primary factor behind why his establishment is temporarily closed at present – and why sustainable eating is the future.

Set The Tables: Why did you decide to open a noodle shop in such a competitive and crowded foodland as Uptown?

Jun Chan: Taman Tun Dr Ismail was my first choice as I really wanted to be closer to all my buddies. I waited patiently for almost two years but had no luck securing a decent lot. I then widened my search area and Uptown appeared on my radar.

I had initial reservations as Uptown is such a saturated market offering all sorts of cuisines and price points. But the space has an incredible amount of natural lighting. I love the way the setting sun streams through our windows every evening and bathes the restaurant in a warm glow.

Practically speaking, I also really like that we face the SPRINT highway, making it great for our signage and quirky name.

What drew us to your menu is the combination of cooking methods within a bowl. How would you describe your approach?

BOS is all about good food made sustainably. My inspiration comes from so many different places: things and people around me, what’s in our markets, suggestions from our customers, what we see on Netflix…

Most of all, inspiration comes from the flavours that I love, whether that’s a rich and savoury beef noodle soup from the local hawker, or a layered mutton curry at my favourite banana leaf shop.

I truly believe Malaysian food is one of the most exciting in the world. Our cultural heritage and local produce have given birth to such diverse and unique flavour combinations that are truly unrivalled.

My goal with BOS was to pair these flavours with my lifelong love of noodles to create intricate, handcrafted noodle bowls that you won’t find anywhere else.

What makes BOS stand out?

Many noodle and ramen places rely heavily on MSG and artificial flavouring. There are so many wonderful textures and flavours when cooking with real food; all it needs is a little more time and love to coax these flavours out, which is what we pride ourselves on doing.

We handmake 95% of our elements in-house, from our own noodles to flavoured oils, dashi (a table sauce) to flounder powder, edible bone marrow to black garlic mayu.

Our simplest bowls have about 12 elements, and the more complex ones around 18! To get a kick-ass bowl, we layer our flavours – mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, confit onions, smoked seafoods – in each bowl until we achieve an explosion of natural savouriness, colours and textures.

People eat with their eyes – or cameras – first, followed by their nose, and only after does it hit the palate. We try to take all that into account in the hopes of creating that “perfect” bowl.

We also want to push the envelope with what a bowl of noodles could be, testing our own creativity and technique as well as the appetite of our customers – all while supporting local produce, and trying to be sustainable as we can in our use of ingredients and how we manage waste.

How did the name Bowls of Steel come about?

A good name goes a long way, especially for an F&B brand these days. I actually dreamt of the name Bowls of Steel. When I woke up the next morning, I jumped out of bed and Googled it. Nothing came up – all I saw was a bunch of pictures of steel bowls, and that’s when I knew I had found my name!

Eventually we started referring to ourselves as BOS, which sounds pretty awesome, too. Being a proudly Malaysian establishment, we use @myBowlsofSteel as our Instagram handle and that, I thought, also had a nice ring to it.

Tell us about the restaurant space.

From the start I knew I wanted a space that allowed us to feel connected with our customers. Hence, we opted for an open kitchen, which really gives us the opportunity to interact with people and share the stories of our bowls, as well as hear first-hand their thoughts on our food – both good and bad.

We didn’t have a very structured design process. I wanted this to feel like home, so I brought a lot of myself into the space. It’s a bit of everything – grungy, quirky, tongue-in-cheek; a mix of textures and influences, whether that’s my Penang roots or my love of the outdoors.

The entire space is filled with my favourite trifecta of steel, cement and recycled wood.

I also love art in all its forms – from intricate to raw, funk to classic, old-school to minimalist. And I wanted to reflect that in our restaurant space. So, I forewent a high-tech salamander grill and fancy lighting to make budget for a graffiti wall instead!

We were lucky to engage the talent and services of Malaysian artist, DrewFunk, to perform his magic on 3.5m of our wall space. I love Drew’s style that draws on elements of animals and nature, tied in with his proud Malaysian roots. The entire mural took him about 12 days, and it’s amazing to have been able to witness him transform a plain white wall into a stunning masterpiece.

What’s the biggest challenge for the industry right now?

The obvious one is trying to achieve a sense of normality coming out of the pandemic. It’s been such an unpredictable and long couple of years; the industry is reeling from staff shortages and hiking food prices.

I’m also mindful that people are suffering from mental stress and anxiety, and our teams are not immune to that. The pandemic has heightened the highly stressful environment our F&B teams already work in.

In the longer term, I truly believe sustainable eating is the future. As an industry, we do need to be more mindful of the impact of our food sources and practices on the environment.

How do we start to change this? I don’t have the answers, but the least I can do is manage the footprint of my own restaurant as responsibly as I can, while sharing my philosophy with those who walk through my door.

Bowls of Steel is temporarily closed owing to the abovementioned staff shortages. Stay updated via its Instagram and Facebook profiles.

This article was written by Theri Burhan for Set the Tables. Set the Tables is positioned to inspire and educate those in the industry as well 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. Follow them on Instagram.