Chef

Lim Chong Jin

Owner, Penang Road Famous Jin Kor Char Kuey Teow

Discipline: Chef
Venue: Penang Road Famous Jin Kor Char Kuey Teow · Restaurant

Portrait of Lim Chong Jin

i. Biography

Lim Chong Jin’s work sits in the street-food register: hot oil, soy, wok heat, and the timing required to keep a char kuey teow moving cleanly from pan to plate. In George Town, Lim Chong Jin is the owner-chef of Penang Road Famous Jin Kor Char Kuey Teow, where the dish at the center of the menu is also the dish that defines the business. That alignment between name, shop, and specialty is what the MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand recognizes: a plate of char kuey teow made with enough consistency to earn a place in the city’s reference points.

The Climb

The path to Lim Chong Jin’s present roles is built from coffee shops, kitchens, and the daily repetition that service demands. Moving from early kitchen work into positions with more direct control over the pass, he worked through the practical side of feeding people at scale.

Today

Owner-chef at Penang Road Famous Jin Kor Char Kuey Teow is the role that defines Lim Chong Jin’s craft on the ground. Char kuey teow asks for speed, control, and a clear grasp of wok rhythm, and that is where the work is concentrated. The plate leaves little space for hesitation; what counts is repetition done cleanly, with the dish carrying the weight of the shop’s identity and Lim Chong Jin’s own.

In Their Words “I have always been an avid food lover from a very young age, so I chose to work in coffee shops to feed my passion, both figuratively and literally.” Taken as a craft statement, the line points to where the training environment was located: coffee shops, where everyday cooking teaches pace, handling, and consistency. Lim Chong Jin’s early work there was not ornamental; it was the kind of proximity that lets a cook learn how local food is produced and served day after day. “But, it hasn’t always been this way.” That sentence marks a career shaped by change rather than instant arrival. The present title is the result of a longer climb through service work and kitchen labor, with experience accumulated one shift at a time.

Career - owner-chef — Penang Road Famous Jin Kor Char Kuey Teow, George Town, Malaysia - Executive Chef — Phở Chào, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Recognition

Lim Chong Jin’s honors include MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand and Michelin Bib Gourmand. For a cook working from a single signature, that recognition points back to the same thing the shop already says plainly: the dish is the work, and the work has held. MICHELIN identified him in connection with the stall and reported that he had been running it since 1995 with his wife Ong Cheng Choo and son Lim Eng Oon.

FAQ What is Lim Chong Jin's current role? Lim Chong Jin is Owner-chef. What recognition has Lim Chong Jin received? MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand (2024). What is Lim Chong Jin known for? Char kuey teow.