Previously on Chapter 1.
F&B is really not for everybody. I feel like there is a lot of physical and like mental
kind of strength that you have to build. Just to start your average working day, it's probably
nine active hours at least, minimally. And the amount of toll that it will take on like your feet
is going to be quite a bit. The hours standing up. Especially your back. And if you have terrible
posture, oh that's it man. I really recommend if you can, if you work in F&B or any kind of job
that requires to stay long hours, like please take care of your back health, your posture.
Do you take care of your back health?
Yes. I actually was diagnosed with scoliosis.
Oh dear.
Back then, my mom pushed me into the pool, did a lot of swim training. So actually my back muscles
were okay. I did not feel any strain at all. And the doctor said, keep it up, like keep fit, go to
the gym, strengthen your lower back, you'll be fine. And I've been religiously hitting the gym,
not doing crazy stuff, but more like just trying to keep fit so that I can earn a living wage.
Yeah. Wow. I mean, you're a chef in the kitchen with scoliosis. Holy shit, man.
But it was not too bad. It was just more like under probation. It wasn't the serious sort,
just slanted by like just like a couple, maybe like one or two angles off. But other than that,
it's okay. I don't think anybody has a perfectly straight back as well.
So how did you do for your diploma?
I was a straight B student, I believe. Maybe not as good. Or maybe I'm hoping so as a straight B.
I'm still a troublemaker in polytechnic. I think I did really not too bad in my practical exams,
but my written exams, I have no idea why an A-Math level statistics paper was in culinary science.
I'm like, I came here to cook. I didn't here to do psychoscience engine, man. And those were the
topics that killed me. But I think I told myself I wanted to do at least okay. Like at least okay.
I didn't need to pass with flying colors. I just needed to do good enough to get by.
Because the kitchen would not care for how well you do in your statistics or your communications
as more like how well you cook. So it seems to me, judging by how you just said this, that you
already have in mind that I am going to definitely use this diploma, things I've learned,
and go into culinary as a profession. You've made up your mind there?
I pretty much made up my mind. I'm greatly motivated. I think one of my biggest motivations
throughout my career, part-time on lot, is when my friends will come and pay me a visit.
And usually the establishments that I work in can be a little bit out of the pockets reach.
So when they pop by, no matter what they ordered, I just felt so happy that you know,
you know, bring people together. Sure. But let me just try to get this back,
go back to chronology. After diploma, naturally, you went into international service.
So you had two years of being away from cooking, right? Yeah. Nothing at all.
It's believed that you signed like once you are full-time in NS.
You can't work, I know. You can't moonlight. I know that.
Which I know a good amount of people do, which I regret I didn't. But I think it would not have
been possible for me as well. Okay. Because of the unit you were in. Yeah. Right. The one in
Changi. Changi, yes, correct. Yeah. We wear red. Okay. The one in Changi where you wear red. Okay.
We jump out of planes. Okay. Perfectly good. Bleeding aircraft and I had to jump out of it.
Yes. Okay. But you seemed as if you had fun during that time. Absolutely. I had a ball of a time,
maybe great, but not too great. But more like the experiences, the kind of places.
Miscoliosis and you still ended up in that unit? It didn't feel too bad. Right. I'm sure I declared
it and they were okay with it. So... Must have been them show the manpower or something. We had
a couple of medical issues. I have a fellow chef friend. He has a really bad condition of eczema.
Oh dear. And when he was in outfield, when he came back after like five days of being in the jungle,
he was just going at it. Oh dear. And we, I think, but we made it. We made it.
You're quite a resilient guy. As all of us need to be. Yeah. Well, I'm glad I have a young person
who actually says that. Thank you. Really. I'm glad. I'm really glad for it. So NS came and went. Now,
of course, almost towards your ORD, you must have planned something for your future, right? Did you
plan to go into university or did you plan to start work? I didn't plan to go into university
because I already knew that I had consulted. So after Ramen Champion, I got to meet one of my
chef mentors. His name is Darryl, Chef Darryl Woon. Worked with him at the Coffee Academics
for quite a while back when the flagship store was in Scott Square. I also got to meet this
sous chef. His name is called Randall Tilford. Amazing guy. I asked both of them, do you think
your culinary degree is worth it? Chef Randall was from the Culinary Institute of America.
Whereas Chef Darryl graduated with a diploma from Shattek. And both of them, more like Chef Darryl,
because he's super experienced at that point of time. He's done his time in Gaggan. So two
Michelin stars, Asia's literal best restaurants, three years in a row. Crazy, crazy chef,
Chef Gaggan and Chef Darryl himself. Both chefs I really look up to and he's like, hey, just
continue cooking, put your head down. The mother of all teachers will be experienced. And I
asked myself, do I want to pay like probably four to five digits and graduate with a debt
and then start a job? Or would I rather work and learn practical skills, communication,
planning, et cetera, in the kitchen and just on the job. So you decided not to go take the
university route. You went straight into work. I ran straight into work. I told my mom, I'm
going to work. I ran straight into work. I told myself post ORD, I wanted a one month break to
slowly look for restaurants. And then I couldn't take it. It was two weeks in, I was like, I need
to do something with my life. It was two weeks of being at home, just going, just keeping fit
and everything. And I was like, I need to do something. I couldn't just stay at home. So yeah,
I got myself a job at, now it's called Blue Smoke. You might have heard of Chef Ivan Yeo. He
cooks for Bosch from time to time. It used to be called 1925 Brewery & Co.
Wow. You know, rings a bell somehow.
I was there for a month before I got a phone call from a very, very lovely lady. Her name is Nicolette
Lee. She is my about to be fiance. Hi. We exchanged numbers on the last day of our internship back in
2019. Oh, the political correctness again. I think it's a really lovely, lovely girl. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Best in the world. Brownie points. Brownie points.
She gave me a call and asked me if I needed a job for a new restaurant opening called View
at OUE Bayfront. So this restaurant is a lovely place on the 19th floor of the penthouse at OUE
Bayfront. And I got the job. I went for a kitchen tour. I was sold because 1925 Brewery & Co. was a
really humble place. Charcoal fire, modernized cho-chew food, mangrove food charcoal. It was
really nice to be cooking fried like Chef Ivan's signature crab bee hoon. The pan is straight on the
charcoal. So that was the place where you really learn how to control heat. Okay. And how to cook
with fire. Right. And all that smoke, the charcoal smoke will actually go inside and envelop the
complexity of the bee hoon that hits different. I miss it. I learned a lot, but when you go to a more
industrial-based kitchen, a kitchen that is said to be aiming for accolades, you kind of dream of
it. You hear of things like Michelin stars, Best 50, Tatler fine dining awards, etc. And you kind of
tell yourself you want to go somewhere there. Am I right to say, you know, call me a plebeian,
okay? Am I right to say that what you experienced in that bee hoon charcoal bee hoon cuisine thing,
and then that's not considered fine dining. Am I right? Not at all. Okay. Then you moved
to this view at OUE that was fine dining. Semi-fine. Okay. Now how do you, how the fuck does one
chance it? Because you know, to me, right, if I get a diploma in cooking, fuck, I might end up in a
store in the August Center. Perfectly fine. Yeah. But then again, there's all these different
versions of cuisines. You've got your fine dining, you've got all these different versions, right?
You've got your fast food, you've got this and that. But you went into fine dining eventually.
Eventually, yeah. What would make a person, is there such a thing, a constitution of a chef
in the making, or you can do fine dining. Is there such a thing, you can do fine dining,
you should work in a fucking coffee shop, you should be in the August Center. You know what I mean?
Is there something about this? You know, not everyone ends up cooking fine dining. So what,
how does it happen? How did that happen? I mean, educate me here, man. Because I'm, like I said,
call me a freaking plebeian. I'm a noob when it comes to this shit. So just tell me. That's why
I got you here, because I want to learn, you know. Teach me. I mean, how does it work here?
You ended up from cooking, learning to cook, how to control fire, charcoal fire and stuff,
with B1. It sounds really great to me, man. Then all of a sudden, he moves over to this
semi-fine dining. Eventually, he's going to end up in fine, fine dining. Fine, fine dining. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, how does that happen, man? How the shit did that happen? I would just say,
like curiosity kills the cat. So basically, it's a choice. So like today, I play blues. Tomorrow,
I want to learn to play jazz. Is that what it is? Yes. Because I'm curious and I want to find out
more and I kind of like it. So I'm going to give it a shot. Yeah. Is that exactly it? I just wait
for it. Just my stomach tells me what to do. My gut tells me what to do. So in poly then,
what do they teach then? Do they teach you what? What do they teach? Do they teach fine dining,
cooking already? What do they teach? Fuck. They teach very... There's still the syllabus to follow.
So it's basic culinary skills. I had a ball of a time because there was so much diversity
in the syllabus that I had. So I feel like there's no culinary diploma out there in the world
that will give you a Cantonese two-eared handled walk. Okay. After that,
plunge you into a two-eared handled walk. Fuck. Walk. Okay. So nobody uses that kind of walks anymore.
They don't? Rarely. I mean, come on, come on. The hawker in the chuck kri teow stall,
it will still use the two fucking-eared handled walk. Inside culinary schools,
because they say it's bad for your wrist. Oh for fuck's sake. It's not comfortable chef. I can't
hold it. Yeah. Stuff like that happens. What? What you mean? Seriously? I mean, give me a fucking break.
Students are complaining about that shit. I mean, look at our standard of army food.
It's gotten better and better. What are you saying? The bunks are getting more comfortable.
So culinary schools are also getting more comfortable. We have air conditioning. When the
air conditioning, the exhaust is spoiled, we'll be like, teacher, chef, could you please call the
technician? It's not working. Oh no, I can't have class today. I'm feeling faint. Things like that
happen. I'm serious. Again, I'm so glad dude that you are not fucking snowflake. Okay. I am very
fucking glad you're not. I'm glad that you are resilient. Seriously, I really mean that. I mean,
thanks for giving me a bit of hope. You know, about this. This sounds ridiculous to me. Anyway,
coming back to the point. Would you say that taking a diploma, a local diploma, doesn't matter which
poly, as long as you have a poly that offers this, in culinary science is worth the while for any
young chap out there who's thinking of pursuing this life? Is it worth the while? I would say if
your teachers and your mentors are like mine, thankfully, I'm so thankful to be having that,
like to have had them. If your mentors are like mine, absolutely, 100% go for it. Okay. Like you
are a changed person, but only for- So you endorse this? I endorse this. I endorse at least, I mean,
you have to have at least a certain form of basics drilled into you before you fly. Okay. You can't
just throw your money into Mumu or Tiger without knowing what the heck is going on around the world.
Okay. You need to have a background knowledge before you kind of want to take a plunge in it.
Okay. Okay. Let's move on. Let's move on. Now you went to view Semifine. What the fuck is Semifine?
Semifine dining is more like, I don't know what the world has done to like, to do stuff. It's like,
in music, you used to just have like rock, heavy metal. Now there's new metal. Now that is like,
what, like, could you name me other like funky genres? Post hardcore, hardcore, black metal.
There's jazz, hip hop. I can never fucking understand that. Death metal. Yeah. New jazz.
Black metal. Death metal. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. It goes on and you have what? Pocket? I have no
freaking clue, dude. Exactly. I ignore all the other new fangirl shit. Yeah. But all this goes up.
Oh, like, let's not even go to like subculture. You have like J-Rock, J-Pop, and then K-Rock,
K-Metal, K-New Metal, K-Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh. This boy is really schooling me. Okay.
So I think it's, it's gone like that in cuisine as well. And in dining restaurants. So what's
Semifine? Just explain to me the definition of Semifine. We want to cater to a more specific
crowd that does not like have the time, effort, and energy to go for, let's say, an eight-cost,
two and a half hour degustation menu for $300. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Degustation
menu. Okay. Can you once and for all, somebody explain to me what the, what the hell does
degustation, I've been saying what the fuck too much. Degustation. Go for it. It's your podcast.
Yeah. I know people might get angry and all this. Oh yeah. If you don't like it, don't watch it.
Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you. Degustation. Degustation. When you use the term degustation,
what would that really mean? I would say it's like a tasting forward menu. So people who want to
really try fine dining or go and enjoy fine dining, but don't have the time to sit through an eight
costs. You go for Semifine. Which will be how many courses or is it a la carte, you order a dish.
It can be a la carte. It can be a couple of courses. And I would say in Semifine restaurants,
it's more customer friendly so that the food is a bit more easier. So it's not snobbish basically.
It won't be. I won't say it's snobbish. Not like overly complicated. Snobbish, maybe yes.
Maybe yes. Chris is trying to poke me. No. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm not, you know,
because of snobbery sometimes. Okay. Semifine would be like that. Thank you for explaining.
Easy to eat food. So okay. And it's a non-intermediating environment basically.
Not non-intermediating. Less intimidating. You flip to the end of the champagne list.
There is a fine difference between saying non-intermediating and less intimidating.
Which means you're saying that in the first place, it is intimidating. If you go for fine,
there you go. I rest my case. It's still intimidating. No, fine dining is intimidating.
It is. Because somehow you feel as a consumer, you feel that when the service, the server comes to
you and recommends whatever and recommends what's on the wine menu, right? And then you look like,
and you have to try to pretend as if you fucking know it. You know when you actually don't and you
want to ask, but you dare not ask. That's the position of a lot of people. Why would you? Okay,
then here's another question. Now, what the hell are you doing in a fine dining restaurant? Why do
you not dare to ask? Because it would seem that you might be snubbed. That's okay. No, that is the
general impression most people have in my opinion. I understand that. You know what I mean? It's the
same thing. You got a guy who wants, who knows he needs to get healthy. I'm using another analogy.
Okay. He needs to get healthy. He needs to lose fucking weight, right? I thought get healthy,
get fermented grape juice in your system and then get your minerals in with wine. No, no.
I'm moving away now to say signing up for a gym membership. One of the reasons why people don't
walk into a gym is not because they're lazy. I'll tell you the top reason. It's because they're
embarrassed. They're embarrassed. They go in there, they know they're out of shape. They see other
people who are in shape and then there are snobs in there as well. Yeah. You know? I don't deny that.
It's no longer something for them. They go in, they go, you know, I want to get fit, but I feel
so intimidated and I, you know, I feel as if this environment is not good for me. I walk away and
then you lose that. You know, you lose the opportunity of getting healthier. At all. Same thing.
Same in my opinion. Going into a fine dining restaurant, you got to go in there prepared
for having someone raise an eyebrow at you. You know what I mean? For even the server, the waiter,
who might raise an eyebrow at you, right? Popping the cork of a wine that he's recommending,
pouring it into your goblet. He expects you to swirl it and then expects you to, you know,
a rate swirl and a rate and then, you know, yeah. And then, I can smell the f**king grapes. F**k off.
I'm guilty of that. And then, you know what I mean? And then, he asks you, are you okay with this wine?
And you go, f**k. You don't even know whether to say yes or no. Exactly. And then you got to pretend,
right? You got to be fake. You know? It can be tiring. It can be f**king tiring. It can be very tiring.
So, okay. Anyway, coming back to the story. Yes. You went to View. Okay. They have this ambition
for having a Michelin star rating. And then, you said, okay, this is the joint for me, man. Plus,
of course, the girl will ask you to go there. Eventually, we'll end up marrying you soon.
She was so cute. I couldn't say no. Okay.
Fine. So, okay. You went to View. Then, what happened? I went to View. I spent nearly two
years there. As a what chef? What kind of chef? I was like the lowest ranker. So, I was- What's
that called? It's called a commie. A commie chef. Commie chef. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Right. See, that's
the thing. Yes. Sorry. Okay. They're different ranks of chefs. Yes. Commie chef. Commie chef.
From commie chef. Then, you go up to what? Demi chef. What? Demi. Oh, gosh. Okay. Demi chef.
Demi chef. And then, from demi chef, you go up to what? Chef de party. A CDP. Chef de party.
Okay. Then, after that? And then, you go to senior chef de party. Senior chef de party. Then? Junior
sous chef. Junior sous chef. Then? Sous chef. Then, sous chef. And if the organization has it, then,
senior sous chef. Then, if you have it, then, executive sous chef. And then? Then, you go up
to chef de cuisine. Chef de cuisine. Which is head chef. And then, you go up to executive chef.
What a lot. There's so many ranks, man. Oh, there's also executive head chef before executive chef. So,
just FYI. Oh, my lord. And sometimes, people come up with those things, just like your subcultures
of like music and dining. Right. And from time to time, yeah. Okay. So, what are you now?
I'm a senior chef de party at my current role. Oh, that's quite big shit, man.
Okay. It's not crazy. Can do better, but yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see how it goes. Okay. Okay.
You're okay. Fine. You've mentioned about being in the kitchen. And I know being in the kitchen is
something really, really challenging. Standing up long hours, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Now, let's talk about the actual work. Yeah. How laborious is it? I mean, kitchen management and
everything you have to do. Let's start with, let's say we start with the menu. Menu planning, for
example. Then the actual work in the kitchen. How challenging is it? Starting from different
positions, we have different kinds of responsibilities. So, as a commie, you hit in there probably
9, 10 AM in the morning. Right. And you just work your ass off. Don't ask questions. Yeah. Like you
just work. If you need to pick salads, you pick salads. You need to de-shell prawns, you de-shell
prawns. But your focus doesn't need to be too crazy because your ingredients should be slightly
easier to handle. So, they're doing prep actually? Doing prep. Okay. So, you prep. An average day,
for my current life now, I hit in the kitchen. I have a very, very good kitchen life now, thanks
to all the work-life balance and everything and the 44-hour work-week thing. So, thank you,
Puthekarikara, I'm originally Singapore, I started either at 11 AM and I end at 9 PM. Right. If I
have guests, then I'll just hang out a little bit longer. If not, you'll be from 1 PM to 11 PM on
paper. Holy shit, boss. But back then at view, hours were pretty decent as well. Like 10, 30 AM,
we have a split shift after lunch. So, they'll be from either 2.30 PM to 4.30 or 5 PM. We end
usually about 10, 10.30 PM. Oh my goodness. On a good day. That's pretty good hours. Back at view,
I still hit the gym after work. Yes, I do. Yes. But for fine dining, it was a bit different.
It was a bit different. However, I feel this attitude that people take on is very healthy.
You need to healthy and unhealthy. You come in as and when you deem fit to be able to finish
your work. Once you're done, you can go. However, if your work is very, very meticulous, very,
very laborious, it takes a lot of time and effort, then you might want to consider coming in at 7.45,
7.30, 8 AM. How about the demands from your superiors? For example, I watch a lot of Hell's
Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen, Hell's Kitchen. I watch it too. I make myself feel better about myself
from time to time. I was like, I never do this. I never make a flop like that. I'll be fine. I can
work. So, on a day I get like a lashing from my superiors. Like, hey, why would you do that?
And I feel like, oh man. I mean, I tell you man, I can never do what you do, man. Because if I were,
you know, watching Hell's Kitchen. If I were one of those guys in there, right, in a fucking show,
right, I'd probably be freaking, I'll punch Ramsey's mouth right in. Don't get me the wrong way. I like
Ramsey, but if I were caught in that position and this guy, the name calling the guy, fucking does,
you know, I'll freaking cream him alive. Dude, his one-liners are great though. No, no, I know. I
don't get me wrong. As a viewer, as a guy who enjoys the show, right, I enjoy that. But when you put
yourself in that person's shoes, I mean, you got to feel it too, man. It really goes right through
you. Is that true of most chefs? You know, the head honchos in the kitchen. Is it true of them? Are
they like that? As with different people, we all have different personalities. We all cook for
different reasons. Okay. I have met, I've met people who are really, really nice. But also people who
can get a bit more aggressive. It has happened. Yeah. So it's not a, so Ramsey is not a one size
fit all. Not every one's like that. It's really, it really boils down to a matter of personality.
Yes, absolutely. Because it strikes me that a lot of chefs out there, right, the one on top,
are freaking moody guys, man. It's just, I think it's just a portrayal of, uh, you know, I mean,
I'm, I'm, I've been exposed to quite a lot of, uh, well-named chefs throughout my life. Uh,
I won't name the hotel though. Uh, there was one I was invited to, uh, for their, their, their soft
opening actually. All right. And I like soft openings because you get to go and dine in almost
every one of the restaurants and telling you them feedback stuff for free. Oh yeah. Oh hell yeah.
Uh, and, and I was, I was invited to, uh, this hotel's main outlet. Okay. Uh, it's a French dining,
uh, restaurant. I will not try and guess what it is. No, no, no, no, no, please don't. Okay.
And when I was sitting there, you know, the family, you know, our whole family's invited,
the executive chef walks out. It says, Mr. Hanson, can I, hey, good to see you. Uh,
it's a French guy. Come, come, come with me to the kitchen. It's, uh, say hi, Mr. Chris, Mr. Hanson.
How are you? I'm Monsu, Monsu, Monsu Chris. Monsu, Monsu Chris. Then, but actually called Monsu
Hanson, you know. And so I followed, I said sure chef. I followed him. Went into his kitchen and
then, you know, all brand new stuff. It's a brand new setup. It just opened. It will stay brand new.
Ah, it don't. If he's French, it will stay brand new. I hope, well, this is great, man. You know,
the, the, the plate warmers, man, they put the cabinet where you put the plate warmers, your
plates going. And so he opened up and he took out the plate and said, put your hand here. He took
my hand. He literally took my hand and put it on the plate and says, you tell me, what do you feel?
Hot. I said, uh, it's warm. No, you don't call this warm. This is not even warm.
He was ranting and raving about the way not being hot enough. He is ranting about the sun.
Yeah, it was so funny. I was like, okay. And so I said, okay, so what do I do? Am I going to
enjoy my dinner or not? How did you even know this guy? I'm not going to go to specifics, man,
but I was quite the guy about town in my younger years. For good reason. Oh yeah. For definitely
for good reason. So, um, and, and, but I enjoyed myself for sure. I mean, I don't get me the wrong
way. I'm quite the plebeian. Yeah. But I have had my fill. I don't think that I've had my fill. I'm
still the plebeian. I don't drink wine. Okay. Let's, let's move on a little bit. So you were there
for two years in view. Then after that, what happened? You moved on. Do you, when, where do
you end up? Where do you end up? Uh, I ended up at, at then ages best 50 restaurant. I was in cloud
street, cloud street by Rishi Nalinga. So chef Rishi used to own a chick-mai-jow. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
So I wanted cause view was like semi-fine dining has its very like, it has its benefits, which is
you get a huge array of customers. You get to learn, do everything, but the food gets a little
bit generic. Sometimes there's not too much character because you need to please a larger
amount of crowd. Your food cannot be too provocative. So I felt that I wanted to learn something with a
bit more identity and that we do pretty good classic French fair at view at OEE Bayfront upon
request. So when customers, we do our own omakases as well for our super VIPs, we get a CEO of bank
of America in sometimes, et cetera, et cetera. We get sometimes ministers. So if they ask for
something and they are willing to fork out the money, we will have to do it for them. And sometimes
the food, it's really easy to eat. I wanted to do something that was a bit more provocative,
a kind of place whereby the restaurant has a stand on what they want to serve to the customers.
I was looking around online, restaurants that were up and coming and cloud street popped up into the
the radar, sent my resume and lo and behold, got myself in for about a year there. Okay. And then
after that, where do you go? After that, I was fished out. I helped a friend. So I took a little
bit of a break from fine dining. Okay. The hours were pretty intense. I got a call from a chef
mentor, Kevin Wong of Seroja. So my partner used to work at One Michelin Star Metta. This is a
Korean fine dining in Singapore headed by chef Sun Kim. And chef Kevin Wong was the head chef
over there. So chef Kevin Wong branched out from Metta and wanted his own restaurant. So he won
San Pellegrino best 50 finalists, global finalists, young chef. And I felt that I could learn a lot
from him. I have had the opportunity to deal with a lot of Japanese and Western ingredients and
use their techniques like Italian cuisine, French cuisine. However, I felt like the joy,
the thing that brings a lot of joy to me is when I cook Asian food. That's why I tried
cloud street to begin with. So you had your sauces were curries, coconut spice, coconut broths.
You're using a charcoal grill instead of your typical like wood fire oven. And it was a lot
more fun. I got to learn a lot about flavors and pairings and the trend at that point of time was
minimalism. You had a piece of protein, you had one sauce, you had a couple of garnishes. That was
it. But Asian cuisine is about maximalism. How many things could we put into a salad to make it
good? Which makes it very interesting because what you did to have won your award, right?
Will Young Chef, you won it and the video we'll be playing in a bit. You won it using
Peranakan dishes. Peranakan influence, not purely Peranakan. Yeah, but when you have,
because Peranakan is Asian. So it's maximizing stuff, but you didn't maximize that one. That
one was kind of, was that considered maximized? Maybe I just presented it in a way where it looks
a little bit more minimalistic. Right. Can we put up that picture on the plating please, Kai? Which
one? I don't know whether this was the dish. Oh no, this wasn't the one. This wasn't the one. Yeah,
this was, hey Ian, could you put up a dish for us? We can take a photo of you plating a dish.
Oh my god. Right, right, right. Okay, I tell you what, Kai, can we play that video please?
What a privilege for me to be a part of this whole judging with Young Talent. They have come
with some great dishes. Very exciting to judge them and taste them. It's very important to us
to support the future of hospitality. You know, spirits and hospitality have been hand in hand
forever. It's great to see that the Young Chef Young Waiter competition is also focusing on the
waiter aspect and on the service aspect, not just the chefs behind the scene, because it is
an overall experience. Chef, chef, you have the last 15 minutes before you stop cooking.
The world champions for 2023 Young Chef Young Waiter are Singapore! Yeah! Manjula! Singapore!
Good times. Young Chef Young Waiter, Young Mixologist is all about creating a network
of people and moving forward, creating a community where they can call or message and have support
any time of the year and any time of the day as well. Really excited to have been here,
really grateful for the opportunity and really honoured to have met the future of hospitality
around the world. For me, the competition was nerve-wracking, yes, but I feel like
I'm proud of myself because I know that I did my best and what I say also, go big or go home.
That's it. One year, now we start again for next year. 15 countries around the world and away we
go again. All over 2024 Young Chef Young Waiter, here we come. Oh wow. Wowee. Good times. Yeah,
yeah man. Looks like it. Looks it man. I had too much fun.
Right. And you know, so this is Maximize saying what you did, just tell me a little
bit about that dish you came up with, the Peralaikan inspired dish. Oh, my Peralaikan inspired dish,
the one with the heaviest influence is actually my main course. Right. Just for the record,
everybody had about 20 to 40 ingredients for their market list. Right. I had over 60. Wow.
So talk about maximization. What the heck man. The suppliers, the administrators,
you're going back and forth in emails and I'm sure they hated me. So Karina, thanks for being so
patient. Daisy as well. You guys are saying this. Thanks for entertaining my emails on could you
get this ingredient or not? And you had it all shipped over to Monaco for the competition?
The things that I thought that might not have been possible to make appear there, I shipped them all.
So I got a, this thing is called I think an Arctic Capsule or something. It was a really hairy duty
thermal insulated box. Right. So it should probably, almost the entirety of Geylang Serai over to
Monaco. So yes, back to the Peralaikan dish. My main course had a couple of components.
I just called it like, we named it Ingatan, which means like remembrance, like an homage to.
So Western people usually don't like, there's a meme going on online whereby there's a Chinese
restaurant. There's a bunch of Westerners, but they're all having, meant to be sharing this to
themselves. So this dude was eating out from a clay pot. This guy was like, trying to dissect
an entire fish and the Chinese guy was just like, guys, what's going on? This is not how you do
food. So we just can't have like one fish, one sauce. Like it has to be a spread. It's always
a spread. And whenever I'm at my partner's place, it's really, really usually always, I'm always very
blessed with a spread. So we have, Ota, like we call it Sata Terangganu. So I picked a beetle leaf
from outside, outside my friend's condominium. Serai. No, no, it's at the minton. So. No, no,
the beetle leaf, better leaf is actually in Malay is serai. Isn't serai lemongrass? No, serai is
better leaf. So the one I know that I got is called Daun Kadut. So it's a wild pepper leaf,
like beetle leaf relative. So I touched it. I wrapped a fish mousse inside. So the fish I used
was a brand Zeno in the competition back there. I requested for a Kin Mediah, a splendid Alfonzino.
They didn't have it. So I went for second best. Thankfully I surveyed the markets. So the remaining
flesh from the fish that I didn't get to trim, I used them all inside the mousse and then the fish
itself, I got it off scale on, so we can have it with crispy scales. Right. So the bones were used
to use as a base for a laksa style broth. So this laksa style broth was a recipe that came from
my home economics teacher. So my first home economics lesson was, that's why it's called
Ingatan, it's an homage and remembrance. So it was a laksa sauce. So everybody was getting shepherd's
pie. Ingatan. Yeah. Everybody was getting shepherd's pie and everything for their
practical lessons. My first practical lessons was Jokhorian style laksa. Okay. Yes. And it was
intense. She bought like the ikan serak kuning or something. Yeah. I had to fillet, like had to
gut the things and everybody was like, I don't want. Then I'll just like, you know what, like
let me get it over and down with. I just went on for it. The bones were used to make the sauce.
And then on the side, you cannot finish a true Asian meal without condiments. Yeah. Like it's
either like pickled green chilies or something. Yeah. So the influence was a sambal that was
reminiscent of the style of sambal licha-licha. So it's fresh fruits, fresh fruits added to
a sambal that has been cooked with ikan roa. Right. So which is dried smoked Indonesian garfish.
Okay. So I folded pickled mangoes into the sambal. Okay. And that is influenced from my
used to be domestic helper. So I managed to just prong this all together. Wow. Yeah. So. That's a
winning dish. That was the main course, but the favorites were actually the appetizers and dessert.
So the appetizer was green, like it was an alter ego of a cuttlefish and kangkong. Right. So instead
of using cured, sun-dried, rehydrated cuttlefish kangkong with a warm sweet sambal, I went for a
cold, astringent, sour, very spicy green sambal instead of red one. The kangkong was served cold.
So instead of fresh cuttlefish, it was fresh wok chaat calamari that I cooked. Yeah. Wow. I tell you,
it's so complicated, man. This whole thing, it just went through. It was like, well, Chris, okay.
But it sounds good. And you've got something planned for us for the show. Yeah, I do. Yeah.
Yeah. So this is where I'm going to just say this. Thanks very much, really. My pleasure.
Really, man, Ian, for being on the show and congratulations again. Thank you. And thank
you for really bringing the country forward in this way. Yeah. You've been watching the Chris
Hansen conversation. Go away. Don't go away yet because we've got something special coming up.
Chef Ian Tan has prepared something that's going to be on this podcast table. So we'll be right
back. We'll be setting things up right now. Catch you in a bit. Okay. So what have we got? What have
you got for us today? I'm making a salad. So it's a good appetizer for your dinner later. So if you
are not already hungry, I hope this makes you hungry. Okay. So I was in Bangkok recently.
That's a great place, man. I was at this private dining called Hom, H-A-A-W-M. Where? This private dining
called Hom, H-A-A-W-M. H-A-A-W-M, okay. They do some of the best foods I've ever had in my life.
Hom. It's a pun. Hom. Yes. So it's supposed to be called Hom as well. Hom. Right. So it's like a
mishmash of all the salads I've eaten before, but it's just basically what I like to eat. So I'm
going to start off with just- What is that? So this is Coo Mee Fen. Okay. Can we put it over there?
So that I'm right under that. I'm right under this. Yeah. There you go. What's it called again?
Coo Mee Fen. Coo Mee Fen. Okay. Like vermicelli. Right. Right. So chef's hands are always clean.
I'm smelling something, man. What am I smelling? Fish sauce. Oh yeah. Oh, plenty of fish sauce.
The studio's gonna smell fishy. That's what I said. That's fine. So just gonna layer the bottom.
Take a look at it. Just look at the way he's doing that with his fingers, man. Like, you know,
I expect you to do the salt bae thing. No, you will kill me. I'll totally get like off from this
podcast. Really? Yeah. So just gonna layer it with some of my favorite vegetables. Got bean sprouts.
Okay. Tau Gae. Tau Gae. Tau Gae. Let's call it Tau Gae. Tau Gae. And Kang Kong. Kang Kong.
Kang Kong. Right. Oops. Well, you must make sure that it looks so neat. Is there a method to that,
man? I mean, you have a Tau Gae first and a Kang Kong. Why not a Kang Kong first and a Tau Gae?
At the end of the day, it just needs to look good because you're gonna mix it all together.
But if you have the Kang Kong first and Tau Gae on top, I mean, it won't matter. Okay. So there
wasn't a method to it. It was just a question of, okay, put what. Right. Okay. So I'm being an idiot.
No la. Who says that on their own podcast? Me. I said. Not Shyon. And here's my feedback. Stop.
Eh, kidding. So, uh, favorite stuff goes in. So we got mint leaves. Right. Got coriander. Wow. So
I'm just gonna make a fruit salad now. Do you like coriander? Well, I'm okay. I love mint though.
Okay. Then more for us. Very Thai. More for us. Okay. I think, I think that's enough.
Okay. So I think we always add a lot of textures into our food. So that's what I'm aiming for today.
Okay. So you got pomelo, green mango, as well as some pink guava. I got them from the Thai
supermarket the other day. Oh, wow. Yeah. So we're just gonna put them in. Mango goes in first.
Mango, pomelo, and some pink guava. Pink guava. Why pink guava? Because it's colorful. So it looks
better. If it's not on the top. Why your chopsticks so cool man? It's not chopsticks, it's tweezers.
So I'm just gonna season this real quick. There is some crab rice powder. I only use tweezers for my
face. Okay. You can smell that. Wow. What's that? So the Thai people use this dressing. So it's just
toasted glutinous rice. Toasted glutinous rice? Heavily toasted glutinous rice. Okay. Yeah. And
then we have some sakura abe. So what? Sakura abe. Oh, wow. Hebe. Hebe. Also toasted. Toasted hebe.
Yeah. Right. And then I made this seasoning beforehand. Not that because I don't want to
tell you what's inside. I'll tell you what's inside now anyway. Okay. So inside we have
an unfiltered fish sauce. Unfiltered fish sauce. Unfiltered fish sauce. What does that mean?
There's filtered fish sauce. So this is filtered fish sauce. So this brand which I really absolutely
love is called Mega Chef. Okay. So it's an adjusted fish sauce. Okay. So there's already like sugar,
the yum yums inside. Yeah, Mega Chef has got free advertising right now. Okay. And then
a blend of the unfiltered fish sauce as well. Okay. Some homemade chili oil.
Right. Wow, that smell. There's some chili party inside as well. Oh, wow. Oh, before I forget,
some aromatics. So we've got some, let me just open this up real quick.
We've got some bungan kantan. So these are torch ginger flowers. What? Ginger flowers again? Bungan kantan.
Okay. Torch ginger flowers. Torch ginger flowers. Torch ginger. Torch ginger. Okay. Sorry. No worries.
Me being deaf. Are you? A little bit. No headphones on. Now you know why I wear headphones.
I'm wearing chiffonade, cafe au lime leaves as well. What? Chiffonade. So that means like thinly sliced.
Thinly sliced what? Lime leaves. Oh, lime leaves. Yeah. Just say la. Thinly sliced lime leaves.
I need to be atas mah. Alam mah. You atas. See, see, see. The snobbery, man. The snobbery.
So you're just going to give this a good mix. Well, what a aroma, mixture of aromas coming
out from there. No holes but just just just hammer. Just give it a good mix. Okay. I always let my
ingredients tell me what they want to do. Like I don't like, I want my, like I've worked in a couple
places and they're all like, oh I want my sauce to be this way. I want my sauce to be that way.
I want my sauce to have this texture, that texture. They end up texturizing things but have you ever
asked your ingredients or like yourself what you really want to do in that moment? Like just just
do it all. What's the worst that can come out of it right? Yeah, just gonna ladle. Do you need, do you need,
do you need, okay using your hands, okay fine. Your hands are always clean. Okay, no I'm not saying it's
dirty. I'm just saying like do you need a ladle or something or a spoon or something. I am hopeless
in the kitchen. You can improve. Ask your wife to help you. Please, I'm gonna edit that bit out of this podcast.
So that just goes on and then we just put this to the side and then I'm gonna finish off with some
barbecue pork belly in just cooked in coconut sugar. Sorry Kai. Some coconut sugar as well as some fish sauce.
So this just goes on. So okay okay okay again you see you're so meticulous about where you place
these things. So why? I mean okay okay right so it's presentation I know that. Yeah but but it's a
feel is it or is that a method? No right? No I'm just making it up as long as you go along. Oh I've
never had this dish so you are my guinea pig today so thank you for letting me be your podcast.
So what do you do? How do you cook this pork again? I just boiled it with some aromatics so inside the
pot goes some ginger, some coriander root so nothing goes to waste. Right. And then as well as
hua tiao jiu. What? Glutinous rice wine. Okay. All very of it. Looks good man. Smells good too.
Damn smells good. A little on some of the coriander that we finish with and then finish it off just a
little bit of the pep rice powder. All right there we go. Hey Kai can we take a snapshot of this man Kai?
Okay there yeah wow wow wow have we taken a snapshot man?
Yeah. Oh cool. Go a bit more sauce as well if you like your stuff to be saucy. Oh I'm all I
love saucy stuff. All right yeah I'm a saucy guy. Saucy guy loves saucy stuff.
All right there we go. Awesome and what do we call this? I didn't have a name. Oh come on man now
is the time to name it man. When I named this when I put this in my folder in my notes
like when I was planning this dish for the podcast the label is called podcast salad.
So we will stick to podcast salad. All right so we got podcast salad. Sorry it's gonna be called
the CHC podcast salad. Yeah we can do that. Yeah it's a CHC podcast salad. CHC podcast salad.
Yeah man CHC podcast salad man. Get a load of that. Anyway thank you so very much man. I'm gonna
really dig into that one. Thank you so much Ian. Should I move the stuff out before the room smells
like fish sauce? In a bit but first before we do that thank you everyone for watching the show.
We have had chef Ian Tan and he came up with the amen. The Chris Hansen conversation has got a new
has got a new food item. You guys got a salad now. Yeah we've got a salad it's called the CHC
CHC podcast salad. Yeah right. And I'm gonna just chow down on this. Bye bye. Wow. What the hell did
I just bite into man. I didn't know. Oh crap. I scared he over-scented. Thank you.
Thank you.