SECRET COOKS CLUB
Who
Word on the street is that the secret chef behind the not-so- secret Secret Cooks Club is really entrepreneur Florian Cornu. According to Cornu’s LinkedIn profile, the man wears multiple hats in the local and global entrepreneurship scene: Flocations, SaaS Business Asia, CxO and Majuven. However, when asked if he is indeed Florian Cornu, the secret chef declines to be identified, “It [Florian Cornu] does not really sound like the name of a great chef. Ryan Clift, René Redzepi, Ferran Adrià, Heston Blumenthal… These names have class, much better than the one you mention!”
What
Casual dinners that do more than simply fill the tummy and satisfy the tastebuds. Dinners hosted by the secret chef are fully personalised. Guests hand over a cobbled list of their interests and the anonymous chef works out personified elements of the courses such as cheese architecture and gravitational mash. The result is more than simply quirky names: “By having such an understanding of the guests, every element of the dinner creates data points for the guests to interact,” the secret chef explains. “Dinning is about being told a story, that is being created for and with the diners.”
Why
The underground dining club’s brief presence in the local food scene was much like a jack-in- a- box. It soared in popularity in 2011 and pushed conservative cultural boundaries by emulating the Japanese practice of nyotaimori - serving sushi on a naked woman. But as quickly as it rose to fame, it vanished. The age of supper clubs was over. But last year, the Secret Cooks Club made a comeback. This time, a little more refined with a taste for hosting private dinners on a smaller scale (4-8 pax) - the ideal size for fostering relationships. “I believe the best relationships are built over tables,” he explains. “It’s not just the food, but the experience around food. That has always been my priority; food is just a part of it.”
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