The launch of Singapore’s inaugural Michelin Guide heralded a new era for the local dining scene. For besides the hawkers on the stars and Bib Gourmand list, a handful of Singaporean chefs born and raised here are proudly flying our colours.
Many of them had stints abroad in other Michelin-starred restaurants or are now part of the teams running the local outposts of big name establishments. Either way, it’s a proud achievement for Singapore that these homegrown culinary talents are catapulting themselves onto the international stage, and well surpassing our inspectors’ barometer. We delve deeper into their backgrounds.
Jason Tan, Chef Patron and Co-owner, Corner House
When Tan became talk of the culinary circuit with the 2014 opening of Corner House - an elegant fine-dining restaurant housed in a 1910 black and white bungalow in the Singapore Botanic Gardens - he wasn't quite an unfamiliar face. It turns out, he’d long been sharpening his knives in kitchens like Les Amis and three-Michelin-starred Robuchon au Dome in Macau.
Now that he’s king of his own domain, he’s free to dream up his own menu which centres on ‘gastro-botanica’ – a cooking philosophy centred on showcasing botanicals, from roots and herbs to fungi. The kitchen has “an in-depth understanding of how best to use herbs and plants in the cooking process,” remarked the inspectors in the restaurant’s listing on the 2016 Michelin Guide Singapore. cornerhouse.com.sg
Muhammad Haikal Johari, Executive Chef, Alma
Adversity is not stopping Muhammad Haikal Johari, executive chef of one-Michelin-starred Alma by celebrity chef Juan Amador, from wanting to not only retain the restaurant's rating, but to improve on it next year. The 39-year-old was chosen by Amador himself but is today wheelchair-bound from a motorcycle accident in Thailand last October that left him paralysed from the neck down.
Thankfully, his experience, palate, and knowledge of kitchen management remains intact, and it includes years of training in places like Raffles Hotel, Les Amis and the Water Library group of restaurants in Bangkok (the latter are part-owners of Alma). To support his efforts, the restaurant has also just hired Muhammad Sufian Zaini, a fellow Singaporean, as Chef de Cuisine. Alma.sg
Douglas Tay, Chef de Cuisine, Osia
2016 is the first time Australian cuisine is recognised with a category of its own in the Michelin Guide's 115-year history - and this is all thanks to Osia restaurant led by Singaporean Douglas Tay. The one-Michelin-starred establishment at Resorts World Sentosa operates under the direction of Australian chef Scott Webster and highlights Australian bush tucker ingredients like quandong, wattleseed and kumera, fashioned into unpretentious, edible works of art in Tay's deft hands.
Tay has led the restaurant as its Chef de Cuisine ever since its opening in 2009. He has been cooking since he first started out at the Swissotel at the age of 16 and has since gone on to win several global cooking competitions in which he represented Singapore. osiarestaurant.com
Malcolm Lee, Head Chef and Owner, Candlenut
Lee is more than just the proud chef-owner of his own Michelin-starred restaurant – he’s also the only one on the 2016 stars list that serves traditional Peranakan cuisine - something the fourth generation Baba learnt from his mother and grandmother, albeit with some modern tweaks.
His early forays into professional kitchens were in eateries in the United States, as well as via a brief stint running a cafe-bar at the Singapore Management University, of which he is an alumnus. Today, his "ahmakase" menu in Candlenut is a weekly changing tribute to the wholesome flavours of grandma's cooking, much like what a guest would experience when dining in a Peranakan family home. candlenut.com.sg
Cheryl Koh, Pastry Chef, Les Amis
As the head pastry chef of two-Michelin-starred Les Amis, Koh comes up with dessert offerings that complements Chef de Cuisine Sebastian Lepinoy’s contemporary French dishes. The pair have been working together since 2010, when Lepinoy appointed her as his pastry chef at now defunct one-Michelin-starred Cepage in Hong Kong.
Her stellar resume is backed by stints in a string of Michelin-starred restaurants, from two-starred establishments Lasserre in Paris to Don Alfonso 1890 in Sorrento. Today, she also helms dessert shop Tarte by Cheryl Koh in a cosy nook adjacent to Les Amis, which sells a range of exquisitely made tarts that heroes seasonal fruit. lesamis.com.sg and tarte.com.sg
Sufian bin Zain, executive sous chef, and Cory Soo Thoo, sous chef, Waku Ghin
Accomplished Japanese-Australian celebrity chef Tetsuya Wakuda’s one-Michelin-starred restaurant Waku Ghin has not one but two Singaporean chefs in its fold: Sufian bin Zain and Cory Soo Thoo. The duo – executive sous chef and sous chef accordingly - are part of a team that execute Wakuda’s vision of a degustation menu that our inspectors described as, “detailed and precise compositions.”
Sufian’s culinary history includes spells in Singapore's French fine-dining stalwarts Les Amis and Iggy’s before he joined Waku Ghin. He left the establishment to head Restaurant Ember shortly before returning to join Wakuda’s team earlier this year. Waku Ghin website
Al-Matin Mohamed, Pastry Chef, Restaurant Andre
Restaurant Andre's pastry chef Al-Matin Mohamed is an inspiration for anyone bouncing back from a major life setback. He was critically injured after a hit-and-run case while in New York training at three-Michelin-Starred Le Bernadine, but sprung back with the help of chef Andre Chiang who nevertheless took him into his fold and delegated him administrative tasks while recovering.
Today, Al-Matin is back in the kitchen. The 27-year-old is a graduate from Sydney's Le Cordon Bleu and has also worked in two-Michelin-starred Coi Restaurant in San Francisco. restaurantandre.com
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