EQ continues to forge new culinary ground with the announcement of a guest residency by two Michelin-starred chef Alex Dilling at the hotel’s fine dining restaurant Sabayon. As Chef Patron of Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal in London’s West End, Dilling serves gourmet French cuisine in a small, reserve-only dining area with 11 tables and 34 seats. In 2023, seven months after its establishment, the restaurant received two Michelin stars. In June 2023, it ranked 14th among the top 100 restaurants in the United Kingdom.

Born in London and reared in America. Dilling has worked with a who’s who of culinary legends beginning with Alain Ducasse, the renowned godfather of French gastronomy, and under the direction of Didier Elena and Tony Esnault at Adour (three Michelin stars in 2008 and two the following year) in New York.

He rose to prominence as Chef de Cuisine at New York’s Caviar Russe in 2012, when he led the restaurant to a Michelin star in 2013. His passion for caviar, which began at that Manhattan restaurant, has endured throughout the years, and the sumptuous globules remain a regular feature on his menus.

Dilling returned to his hometown and joined Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, where he headed the staff as Executive Corporate Chef, retaining the London restaurant’s two Michelin stars while also overseeing the Paris site and globally events in Japan, Mexico, and New York.

Dilling, Executive Chef at The Greenhouse in London’s Mayfair from 2018 to 2021, was regarded as one of the world’s top culinary talents by Londoners and gourmet elite.
Dilling will be bringing his modern spin on la cuisine Classique to Sabayon from June 4 to 15, 2024, with a dinner service limited to 50 people each night. EQ x Alex Dilling will mark the celebrity chef’s first visit to Malaysia. The first will highlight EQ’s unique partnership with Barons de Rothschild, which will see the House’s Rare Collection Blanc de Blancs 2012 available exclusively in Malaysia at EQ, replete with a bespoke presentation box commemorating the hotel’s 50th anniversary.

EQ x Alex Dilling will be offering a special dining experience with two menus. One will be entirely vegetarian, featuring Chef Dilling’s creative talents with fresh seasonal ingredients like tomatoes, wild mushrooms, courgette, and English peas. The other menu will be a luxurious meat-based option. This menu includes aged Kaluga caviar and rillettes, followed by a decadent wild mushroom macaroni gratin baked with 36-months aged parmesan and black truffles, olive oil poached black cod served in a smoked eel consommé, and “hunter chicken” which is Chef Dilling’s take on the classic chicken cacciatore. To finish the meal on a sweet note, there’s a sourdough ice cream with a Pedro Ximenes sabayon.

“EQ x Alex Dilling is about the modern aspects of what we do in the classics. The biggest inspiration in food is always the product – what’s in season, what we want to do with it, and how to challenge ourselves with techniques and different flavours.”

Alex Dilling

“There is immense potential in Malaysia as a culinary destination, with the favourability of its exchange rate, exciting F&B scene, and award winning hotels and fine dining restaurants like Sabayon. EQ has a long tradition of culinary innovation and a big focus on presenting memorable F&B opportunities to our guests. To have Alex with us portents well for a great year of exciting culinary discoveries.”

Gerard Walker, General Manager of EQ

EQ x Alex Dilling is priced at RM1,200+ per head for dinner, with the vegetarian menu priced at RM850+.

For reservations, WhatsApp +60122789239 or email dineateqkl@kul.equatorial.com or at https://www.eqkualalumpur.equatorial.com/promotions/sabayon-x-alex-dilling/

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Visuals courtesy of EQ