From business IT lecturer to fashion coordinator: Journey of a self-taught private chef

KUALA LUMPUR, No 5 — Meet L'NOP founder and the royal private chef Hossein Karimi, whose cooking has made him a favourite of Malaysian royal families and prominent figures.

Hossein has been a private chef for just two and a half years now, but he’s been cooking for his friends and family and the royal crowd since 2015.

The 31-year-old chef has served the late Sultan of Pahang and the royal family, and counts the Sultan of Selangor and the Sultan of Perlis in the list of those who he has had the pleasure to serve.

L'NOP, or ‘Like No Other Place’ sums up the brand that Hossein brings to the table.

The self-taught chef is known for his combination of six cuisines he serves up including French, Korean, Malaysian and Iranian, and presents his guests with a choice from 20 of his finest dishes.

“It’s a mixture of my top dishes, it can be like a French dish for starters and Iranian for main dish.

“So, I have the responsibility to live up to the name, I have to be like no other place,” he told Malay Mail.

Hossein came to Malaysia in 2006 to pursue his studies in business IT at Lim Kok Wing University and after getting both his foundation and degree, he was offered a lecturing position.

From business IT lecturer for a year and a half, he went on to serve as a fashion coordinator, working closely with fashion publications such as GQ and Esquire.

In 2012, he opened a creative agency with friends called MRA Studio where he held the position of business development manager before moving on to join an exclusive gemstone lamps and wall art maker company, TSG 1895, as marketing director.

His journey to becoming a royal private chef began after he met with the late Sultan of Pahang, Tuanku Sultan Ahmad Shah and his wife, Tuanku Sultanah Kalsom Abdullah at a birthday party where they exchanged their contacts.

The Sultanah would often invite him to their events and everytime he was invited, Hossein would cook something and bring it to the events.

Tuanku Sultanah Kalsom who grew fond of his cooking later had asked Karimi to cook for her and her royal family at their residence in Kuala Lumpur.

After nearly five years of cooking for Tuanku Sultanah Kalsom and her royal family, Hossein was blessed with the opportunity to cook for the late Sultan of Pahang’s guest who he later found out was the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izaddin Waddaulah.

Tuanku Sultanah Kalsom later introduced Hossein to local fashion icon, Datuk Seri Farah Khan, who later gave Karimi his first “official” private chef job.

“She told me that she wanted to make dinner for 10 pax and she also requested me to wear a chef outfit.”

“That day when I went to her house, I made soup, I made chicken kebab, I made lamb kebab, butter chicken, so it’s around eight to nine dishes which took me one and a half days to prepare.”

“Fortunately, Farah was impressed, and of the ten who dined, six contacted me in the same month for my services.”

“From that six and until today, every client I have is actually from that 10 pax dinner at Farah Khan’s,” Karimi said.

Aside from having the best ingredients for his food, the techniques used by Hossein is one of his selling points.

“You see, I don’t cook Iranian food the Iranian way, I don’t do the French dishes the French way.

“I do my Iranian cuisine the French way for example, when I make my Iranian stew, I make my own water like the French way and then I put it inside my Iranian food.

“Another example is how I use bunga kantan in my soup and sometimes in my Iranian dishes, it gives that flavourish touch and it’ll also generate sweetness that you want,” he said.

Hossein Karimi’s private chef service caters to a minimum of 10 and up to 200.

Customers will be able to choose between his premium menus which is RM300 per pax and his normal private service which is between RM200 to RM220 per pax.

Hossein has different sets of menu that customers can choose from for his normal private service which includes his best-selling saffron butter rice with traditional persian lamb kebab.

For his premium menu, customers will have the luxury of customising their own dishes according to their desire, be it caviar or a lobster.

A must try dish on his premium menu includes his famous lobster bisque that comes along with goat cheese and milk infused with lemongrass.

He’s had quite a journey to find his calling, and Karimi said seeing people enjoying his food makes it all worth it at the end of the day.

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