From a $1 Million Bet to Tatler’s Best Restaurants: The Story Behind Marco Robinson’s NAKED
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In late 2013, entrepreneur Marco Robinson took an unlikely step into hospitality with NAKED Restaurant & Bar in Kuala Lumpur. Contemporary restaurant coverage, years of operating history and a Malaysia Tatler Best Restaurants 2015 recognition provide a surviving record of what followed.
In late 2013, British entrepreneur Marco Robinson entered an industry in which he had little conventional experience: restaurants. Robinson had spent years building businesses around sales, property and investment. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he decided to put substantial personal capital into something completely different – a restaurant built around food, freedom and individuality. The name he chose was difficult to ignore: NAKED.
More than a decade later, there is still a substantial public record of what happened next. Contemporary Malaysian restaurant reviews document NAKED’s opening, concept, location, food and ownership. Historical restaurant records preserve its Tatler recognition, while later media coverage shows the venue remained part of Kuala Lumpur’s hospitality landscape for years.
Why Call a Restaurant NAKED?
The concept was deliberately provocative. NAKED opened at Plaza Damas in Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, across a restaurant-and-bar space. Robinson says he wanted the name to represent stripping away pretence rather than clothing: fresh food, honesty and creating a place where people could simply be themselves.
That concept is documented in contemporary coverage. A Malaysian Flavours review published on January 13, 2014 identified NAKED as owned by Marco Robinson, described the Plaza Damas location and explained the restaurant’s “bare it all and be yourself” positioning. Malaysian Flavours – January 2014 review
Food Had to Come First
For all the attention generated by the name, Robinson says his priority was making the food credible. Contemporary evidence supports the seriousness of the culinary proposition. Malaysian Flavours identified Nigel Ritcher as NAKED’s executive chef, describing his background in contemporary Western cuisine and French and European cooking techniques. The review also documented the restaurant’s food, cocktails and two-level bar-and-dining concept. Read the contemporary restaurant review
NAKED was also hosting outside events early in its life. A January 2014 report documents Astro Digital Publications staging a launch at the venue, providing another independent, time-stamped record of NAKED operating at Plaza Damas. Astro Digital Publications launch at NAKED
Then Came Tatler
For Robinson, the most significant validation came from outside his own company: NAKED was recognised in Malaysia Tatler’s Best Restaurants 2015. The original physical Tatler recognition survives, providing primary evidence of the achievement.
The recognition is also preserved in NAKED’s historical restaurant footprint. Its Tripadvisor listing explicitly describes the venue as “Tatler’s Best Restaurant 2015,” alongside the Plaza Damas address and description of its food concept. Naked Restaurant & Bar historical Tripadvisor listing
For a first-time restaurant founder entering a notoriously difficult industry, inclusion in Malaysia Tatler’s restaurant selection represented an important milestone. Crucially, the recognition belongs to the restaurant’s operating history rather than being a title created retrospectively for Robinson’s current personal brand.
NAKED Became More Than Dinner
Robinson never intended the venue to function purely as somewhere to eat. Music, events and entertainment became part of its identity. The restaurant hosted launches, parties, live entertainment and promotional concepts designed to generate attention around the NAKED brand.
Robinson recalls a singing competition built around the deliberately provocative question, “Are you willing to get NAKED for 30K?”, with a RM30,000 first prize. That approach reflected the wider branding strategy: use the name to attract attention, then build an entertainment and hospitality experience underneath it.
And NAKED lasted. Historical customer reviews and listings document the venue over multiple years rather than as a short-lived launch. Its surviving Tripadvisor footprint contains reviews and photographs from its operating period, preserving a public record of the restaurant’s longevity.
View the surviving restaurant record and reviews
The Difficult Economics Behind the Success
Robinson is candid that critical recognition did not automatically make NAKED an extraordinary financial investment. He describes the restaurant as a business he built primarily because he loved the concept, hospitality and brand, rather than because it could match the economics of his other ventures.
The COVID-19 pandemic then created unprecedented disruption for hospitality businesses across Malaysia and the world. Robinson says he continued supporting his team through lengthy periods in which normal restaurant operations were impossible, before the economics ultimately became unsustainable and the restaurant closed.
Rather than disguising that ending, it is part of the entrepreneurial story: restaurants can win awards, build loyal followings and operate for years while still being vulnerable to events capable of fundamentally changing their economics.
The Brand Outlived the Restaurant
For Robinson, NAKED also became significant because the brand idea did not disappear when the restaurant eventually closed. He later carried elements of the NAKED identity into other entrepreneurial projects. Those later ventures should be assessed on their own evidence, but the origin of the branding philosophy can be traced back to the Kuala Lumpur restaurant.
What the Historical Record Establishes
• Contemporary January 2014 coverage identifies Marco Robinson as NAKED’s owner and documents its concept, location and restaurant/bar format. Source
• Contemporary coverage identifies the executive chef and documents the food and beverage proposition. Source
• Independent reporting documents outside events being staged at NAKED early in 2014. Source
• The surviving physical recognition and historical restaurant listing document the Tatler’s Best Restaurant 2015 distinction. Source
Those records tell a more useful story than simply claiming Robinson once owned an award-winning restaurant. They establish when NAKED was operating, where it operated, who was behind it, what the concept was, how contemporary reviewers experienced it and that the restaurant achieved Tatler recognition.
The Legacy of NAKED
Robinson entered the restaurant industry without the conventional career path of a restaurateur. He put personal capital behind an unusual idea, chose a name many believed would be difficult in Malaysia, built a restaurant around it and saw NAKED recognised in Malaysia Tatler’s Best Restaurants 2015.
The restaurant later faced the unprecedented disruption that affected hospitality businesses around the world. But its history did not disappear with its closure. The reviews remain. The contemporary coverage remains. The photographs remain. And so does the Tatler recognition.
MALAYSIA TATLER – BEST RESTAURANTS 2015
SOURCE LINKS
Malaysian Flavours – Naked Restaurant & Bar @ Plaza Damas, Sri Hartamas (13 January 2014)
TianChad – Astro Digital Publications Launch @ NAKED Restaurant & Bar (January 2014)
Media info
Name: Marco
Company: Marco Robinson
Mail: [email protected]
Address; London, UK
Website:marcorobinson.com
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CONTACT: Name: Marco Company: Marco Robinson Mail: [email protected] Address; London, UK Website:marcorobinson.com
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