Malaysia Food & Travel – Pot Luck Food Talks

6 mins read

Vietnamese Flavors from Berlin to Paris

December 7, 2023October 6, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0Tagged Asia Stories and Culinary Inspirations – Discover Food, Travel and Culture, Coriander, Storytime Stories – Food, Culture, Lifestyle and Global Experiences, Vietnam

I’ve never been to Vietnam, and I don’t know any famous Vietnamese chefs, except for Nguyen Thi Thanh, the lunch lady. In Venezuela, I grew up around Chinese and Japanese […]

15 mins read

Dewakan Dinner: Last Waltz in Kuala Lumpur

November 12, 2023October 6, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0Tagged asian gastronomy, chef innovation, chef storytelling, cultural heritage, fine dining, food travel, global inspiration, malaysian cuisine, restaurant review

Finally, the big night at Dewakan. We arrived at the restaurant with our luggage; we would head straight to the airport afterward. Darren Teoh, a Malaysian-born chef with a rich […]

Pot Luck Food Talks: Kitchen Stories From Behind the Pass

Two decades on the line leave scars, stories, and a way of seeing the world that doesn’t wash off with the apron.

Pot Luck Food Talks is where the chef lifestyle gets laid bare—raw chef talk, the kind you don’t hear in PR interviews.

Phil & Eric aren’t here to romanticize. They’re here to trade food stories that smell of sweat, butter, and burned fingers. Stories about the beauty and brutality of restaurant culture, the quiet rules, and the loud disasters.

It’s the truth about Michelin Star kitchens, the whispered restaurant secrets, the victories no one tastes but the cooks, and the mistakes that teach more than any school.

If you want sanitized food media, go elsewhere. If you want chef conversations about life, gastronomy, and why flavor is the only compass worth following—pull up a chair.

🎙️ EP159 – We pray to the tire god—patron saint of burnout and greenwashing. The cult of squared perfection, fake sustainability, and the insanity of chasing stars. This one’s for every cook who’s ever asked—what are we really cooking for?

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🌿 Michelin’s Vanishing Clover – Green Star sudden disappearance

🛞 Love–Hate with the Tire God – Worship, whips, and whiplash stars

🌟 What Michelin Was (Maybe) – The old religion of “excellence”

✝️ Brand as Church – Crosses, Bibendum, and belief engineering

🎥 Puglisi’s Rant – Square fish, round lies, and waste (the video)

📖 Storytelling vs. Truth – Farm porn, misty fields, and menu fiction

🦋 Noma, Mugaritz & Myth – When narrative flavors the dish

⏰ Human Cost – Overworked brigades, perfect squares, and burnout

🃏 Fooling the Inspectors – Staged rooms, borrowed petit fours, instant stars

🍲 Cook for Stars or Self? – Freedom vs. validation addiction

⏳ Michelin is Obsolete – What if tomorrow all stars disappeared ?