Rudy Junaidie, Director of Kitchen at The Westin Kuala Lumpur

With an impressive 20 years of extensive exposure and experience under his belt across various regions in five-star hotel cuisine, Chef Rudy Junaidie who once held the role of Assistant Director of Kitchens of the Westin Kuala Lumpur’s pre-opening team back in 2003, has now returned to helm the hotel’s culinary team as the Director of Kitchens.

This time, returning to The Westin Kuala Lumpur as Director of Kitchens, Chef Rudy Junaidie oversees and leads the day-to-day operations of all food and beverage services and venues within the hotel. This includes some of the most-known and award-winning restaurants in the Kuala Lumpur scene, namely Prego, Qba Bar & Grill, Five Sen5es and The Living Room.

Chef Junaidie has enjoyed a long and prosperous career with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, with roles dating back to 1995 when he started with Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort as Executive Sous Chef before taking over as Executive Chef. He then spent three years as Assistant Director of Kitchens at the multi-award-winning The Westin Kuala Lumpur, where he was a crucial member of the pre-opening team. His next challenge was Director of Food & Beverage at Sheraton Subang Hotel & Towers, before returning to the kitchen – where his true passion lies – at The Westin Kuala Lumpur for a further four years. In addition, he has enjoyed various international experiences and task force assignments at a range of Starwood properties.

“It is with great pleasure for me to return to The Westin Kuala Lumpur. With many sweet memories and the emotional attachment I have for this property, it is great to be home. Along with the experience I have gained elsewhere in Asia and internationally, I am very eager to bring back exciting ideas and practices to Malaysia.”

“I was born, raised and trained to cook in Malaysia, one of Asia’s most vibrant melting pots of food and culture, where good food and eating out is such an integral part of everyone’s lives. In fact, street food and home cooking would have to be my favorite dining experiences. Simplicity is key, as is respecting the natural goodness and original beauty of great ingredients.”

Throughout his career, Chef Junaidie has competed in numerous Malaysian and international culinary competitions, often as Team Leader, achieving great success personally and as a team. Other career highlights include representing the Malaysia National Culinary Team in the World Cup Culinary Competition in Luxembourg and Singapore Salon Culinaire in 2002.

Chef Junaidie is a sport fanatic and often spends his leisure time playing football, badminton, table tennis, snooker and bowling. On top of that, he is also a big fan of F1 racing and he expresses that these thrilling sports pump him with adrenaline thus keeping him energetic and chirpy when he leads the team in a dynamic culinary world in Kuala Lumpur.