Henry Golding Declares Bak Kut Teh From Klang As His Favourite Malaysian Dish
"If it stops boiling, it will grow like this thickness of just fur and bacteria but it's delicious. It's so good."
Malaysian actor Henry Golding recently appeared as a guest speaker for a conversation on the Asian creative arts and entertainment industry
Held by non-profit organisation, Milken Institute, the one hour conversation swirled with empowering topics related to growing and diversifying Asia's digital creative industry.
Moderated by Curtis Chin, Chair of the Milken Institute Asian Centre, other guest speakers alongside Golding included South Korean-American singer Eric Nam, and Indonesian actress, Raline Shah.
Titled The Next Saga for Asia's Creative Industries, the session was held in Singapore.
While the entire session was enlightening and informative, one question at the end of the panel gathered a tonne of attention on social media
Posing the last question of the dialogue to Golding, Chin asked "What is your favourite Singaporean dish? If you don't want to do Singaporean, you can do Malaysian or Indonesian." Cheekily, Chin reworded the question to be "What's your favourite cultural diplomacy food?"
Not breaking a sweat, Golding answered bak kut teh in a split second. Nonetheless, Golding was forthright about where the origin of the dish is most special to him. "But, the Klang version," he stated.
Leaving his fellow speakers stumped for a moment, Golding turned to the audience to ask if there were any Malaysians, to which, he received some acknowledgement of the hype of bak kut teh from Klang.
Giving a reason for his choice, Golding explained, "Singaporeans like more pepper or garlic, but Klang's has broth that's been brewing for generations [...] If it stops boiling, it'll grow this thickness of fur and bacteria. But, it's delicious!"
Image via Milken Institute/Noob Cook
Shifting the question to the next speaker down the line, Chin posed the same question to Nam, who said his preference would have to be laksa.
In response to his answer, Golding touched Nam's shoulder and followed-up asking, "But Penang laksa, right?" to which Nam agreed in a humorous exchange between the two.
Image via Milken Institute/RASA
Golding and Nam's responses took off on social media, with people on every platform chiming in as to their particular selections for Malaysian food
A Henry Golding fan page on TikTok, which goes by the username @ryanmaxwellvideos, uploaded a snippet of the conversation which included Golding and Nam's answers. Malaysians took no time sharing their thoughts on the two artists' answers.
One comment called Golding 'truly Malaysian', while another cheered on for the supremacy of Malaysian food.
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
Others praised Golding for being able to pronounce 'Klang' correctly, with some even saying that he made it sound fancier than it is.
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
There was love to go around, as Malaysians were fawning over Nam choosing laksa from Penang as his favourite Malaysian dish.
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
Image via @ryanmaxwellvideos (TikTok)
Click here to watch the full dialogue with Golding at the Milken Institute.
Watch the TikTok video below:
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