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Kota Kinabalu: Hilton boasts a new addition to its team of chefs with Rooftop Bar & Grill Chef de Cuisine Gray Royston Livis presenting an impressive new menu merely a month following his arrival. 

Despite the Sabahan chef’s speciality being Italian and French cuisine, the Rooftop’s new menu is a testament to his versatility, combining Arabic, Malaysian, and Mediterranean food. 

The starters were Arabic mezze, salmon rillettes, and Indo-Chinese chilli prawn. 

Gray

The salads offered were “Crab On The Bed” with soft shell crab, Kundasang garden greens, and avocado, and “Steak Tartare” with angus beef tenderloin, cornichons, and quail eggs.

Meanwhile the soup was a carne onion soup with beef and mushrooms. 

Main dishes consisted of tenderloin, salted egg carbonara penne, risotto, and desserts included macadamia gelato with Italian meringue, and vanilla gelato with pistachio.

Each dish was curated by Gray and his mentors, Chef Kayum, Chef Salim, and Chef Nelson, whom he calls inspirations in the kitchen. 

“I have been wanting to learn more about Mediterranean food so that I could expand to more types of cuisine and they have inspired and guided me in that.

We studied Mediterranean cuisine, combining tastes, and trying to incorporate local products,” he said on Monday.

Having graduated from ATI College, Sabah, with a Diploma in Culinary Arts, Gray went on to work in Singapore in both 5-star hotels (the Royal Plaza on Scotts and the Penn Pacific) and fine dining restaurants (Garibaldi, amongst others) before returning to Kota Kinabalu. 

He cites his love of collaboration and teamwork as a reason why he aims to keep working in hotels as opposed to one day opening his own restaurant.

In the future, he says he hopes to rise in the kitchen ranks and eventually become an executive chef. 

“I prefer hotels because of our crew, and our different chefs, all having their own culinary creations and their own ideas. From there, I can build myself.”