welcome everybody I’m Shenzhen I’m sure
I didn’t always use to be a chef and
that’s a picture of me when I first
started my career it was a big change
that’s the first of many changes little
bit from about I left my corporate job
after 16 years because I like the old I
had come under an epiphany where I
thought to myself what do I really want
to kind of like is it money that car is
an everyday type of handbag and to my
surprise it wasn’t any of those things
it was really about doing something that
was really passionate about and I
enjoyed it I loved and so as a result of
that thinking process
I made the biggest change I left my job
and I became a whole cup and that
picture of me
nine years ago and I’m selling nasi
lemak
which is the most Singaporeans basic
dish that you can have there many forms
of it in Singapore and I sold it oka
center in Maxwell market it was not the
easiest change I mean I had to get up at
4:30 in the morning that means I had to
be in bed at 8:30 I was sweating
continuously and I made very or no money
at all so these were huge changes in my
life but as a result there were other
changes as well I was very happy as
healthier and I had a purpose in life
for what I felt I had something to get
out of bed for so you know to me that
was the first of many changes like I
said before and that all change is bad
you know and and that changes that
sometimes put upon you or voice to the
form you can lead to other positive
changes so you know this was the result
okay so then
this was the dish I made nasi lemak and
normally you know nasi lemak can be very
simple it is actually very simple it is
coconut milk salt water and rush and I
actually said about thinking how can I
make this dish different how can I
change it how can i elevate it how can I
make it something that people want to
eat more than they already do by the way
I was interested in making those
delicious but yet had the familiarity
that we grew up with right because as we
all know Singaporeans are very very
opinionated about food if you try and
change it they will hunt you down
actually okay so what I did was then
look at classics right and this is a
story I always help
I remember a dish that I ate when I was
a child it was hot people that my
grandmother made for me and for me as a
cook as a chef I was constantly trying
to recreate the dish because I was
always tapping into it massager into
that natural feeling the emotions I have
eat the dish but this is funny because
in oxymoronic way when you try and
change a dish when you try to bring
affect change and brickmaker create a
dish that’s different
you are still tapping into the memories
of a solute eating it so in a way yes
there’s change but we are also tap into
tradition but we’re looking into the
past before we affect that change so
when I started cooking and I moved away
from the hawker Center and doing
creating more same dishes which some of
you may know is actually modern
Singapore food cuisine and it is a
movement where Singapore chefs have
become have transformed plastics into
modernized
versions of those dishes and one of my
favorite dishes is actually about Tommy
I don’t know if any of you have had it
it’s it’s minced pork it’s pop liver
it’s noodles with vinegar lard and LA
dogs and chili and it is an amazing dish
in my opinion and it’s just got a
Michelin star in the in the recently
launched guy and so what I wanted to
modernize this dish I crave this dish it
has the same flavors it’s changed but it
doesn’t really look like the other dish
but it still has the same flavors it
still invokes the same memories that
when you eat it and although I know the
difference in its form it’s still tapped
into the tradition into the past into
the Stalder that you have when you eat
much raw meat and it’s pasta which we
which we handmade it’s got vinegar
it’s got chili for large and models but
as far as white bull which is something
that are creative and it’s different but
it tastes just like washroom so that for
me when I create a dish is always about
flavor how is this interesting how’s
this different you know how can we
change something but yet change it not
from say a change of being different but
make it better okay so as a chef was the
first thing we do when we created it
it’s always come up later okay
so now with the more thing on one I’ve
seen we have something like four in time
which is a black go tonight glutinous
rice porridge it’s been cooked with goo
and elastin which is a palm syrup sugar
and it’s topped with coconut cream and
when I was creating desserts in my
restaurant I’m thinking I love this dish
I love it
but it is a bit basic you eat it you get
for these three notes or flavors and I
thought to myself how can I make this
better how can I change it and this was
the result
it looks like sticky date pudding but
it’s not it’s actually black glutinous
rice we baked it into a cake
we drizzled it with globalnoc on that
scotch and we top it with coconut and it
is better right that’s all so arrogant I
said but you have different textures you
have different flavors you have a
complexity of flavors in this dish and
it is hot and cold at the same time so
when someone eats it you’re getting what
myriad sensations you’re getting
different flavors you’re getting
textures and this is an example of how
when we set ourselves thinking
creatively how can I make this better
and change changes it is very much part
of the process and as most mentioned
before you know if you sit back and
think and observe and create and connect
the dots inevitably you come up with
something that a better solution or a
better dish or better flavor okay so as
a result of this matzo movement what
happened was that we started to really
start to look at different cuisines
different methods different techniques
and one of the techniques that came for
that I came across was actually using
sue me I think a lot of people now are
starting to use to be even consumers
that hope and which is great because
this is a great change that that has
been affected in the kitchen now if you
have unloaded that any piranha comes in
this audience now Veronica will kill you
if you suggest clearing from the
technique that they’ve been taught okay
it’s a 400 year old cuisine and they
will tell you no and pound the summer
bludgeon using a mortar pestle you must
you know etc etc etc and it’s very
laborious it takes hours it takes many
men hours and like I said I’m not
kidding guys she will kill you if we
don’t do it okay okay so what I
discovered when I started playing around
with with take with with all the
technology and all the change is that
technology as an agent of change you
know it actually frees you up to be able
to do things that you otherwise but I
spent pounding the sawa-chan or the rum
bar or whatever it and in this case why
I flash the vapor in the laughs now in
there any cooks in in the audience beef
rendang is a beautiful dish but it takes
forever to cook okay it takes about four
hours because you use tougher cuts of
meat and you actually braise it in the
coconut gravy and you know you have to
keep sorry if not the beef starts to
sink down to the bottom and it works
right now how did I change the powder I
do it differently I put it in a bag are
you backing seal it with the gravy
sous-vide it for 24 hours that means
I’ve just read on my staff and myself to
do other creative things instead of
setting over a pot stir it it also means
that pay less money to the
physiotherapist for my rotator cuff okay
so this is you know honestly I think it
also beyond has talked about
using technology in different ways you
know but always that is a lot to the
past I would like to emphasize this
point because as we move forward as we
change as we do different things
we are also inspired by the pots to do
to the Past to say okay what do we
change whether it’s incremental change
or is disruptive change where we we need
prompt to the two cycles ahead we always
have to be aware of what happened is a
part of what traditionally was done
there why it was that so that you know
we can improve it the technique okay now
for me you know with all that they’re
creating moving from from my career as a
corporate events person to then a whole
condenser shorter and then you know
doing food in the MOT same way that
problems of me as well to think about
other changes I would like to see in the
food world and that was also about I
would like to be able to in fact change
where we change our relationship with
food
I’m very actually quite disturbed by the
fact that I think a lot of us tend to
over consume we are eating too much
processed foods and I’ll tell a little
story in which Frito Lays and a lot of
process company food processed foods
company actually MRI people’s brains as
they eat of potato chip and they will
then adjust the flavorings according to
the level of satiety so it is always
just before the point of satiety that
Nina just the clearings too so that why
you will keep eating that bag of chips I
really you haven’t noticed that one bag
of chips is just right up but take it
away from me right so I was thinking why
can’t we do the reverse why can’t we and
top the flavor absolutely so that
society is reached easily and we eat
less and we can do it naturally we can
do it naturally
with spices and we live in Singapore in
Southeast Asia which has the Sora
Nereus herbs and spices and we know what
worked with beyond before as well and
what we have here is actually lemongrass
hastily these two curves if you just put
a little bit in your dish you will get a
massive hit of flavor so that was the
other thing that I started thinking
about changing our relationship with
food and how we cook food and how we can
make food healthier yet okay and I mean
moving on from that then I started
thinking about okay what’s next what’s
next for Singapore food do we always
have much for me to be crab bla bla bla
bla bla bla and I started thinking we
have all these great ingredients we have
Southeast Asian ingredients like Buffalo
which is a black nut from Indonesia we
have lots of leaves
we have lemongrass we have Tecla leaves
you know all these amazing cups and
spices
why can’t we then move forward and
create a new lexicon on dishes I use the
zine you don’t not always referencing
necessarily the same old stuff you know
and um with that I’m actually setting up
a kitchen that in the cilia high Sparrow
space part where we will be playing with
ingredients there will be a kitchen
garden of course next to it and we will
be thinking about creating new that’s
just how we can change food is being
seen I also like to change the
perception of Singapore in chess that
you are not obvious we can create we can
do new things we can we can deliver a
new vision and you know we were looking
at things that we’ve done in the past
but maybe with small change fermentation
pickling you know creating flavor in new
ways and changing up the flavor Paris as
well okay and so
that brings me into the end of this talk
because I would just like to talk about
what change means to me personally I
embrace change mainly because you know
it’s brought me great happiness it’s
generated tremendous creativity and it’s
it helps I believe make lives better if
we can regulate and measure our response
to change and sometimes bring about
change it will be much much happier
people and I put this picture because
I’m looking forward and it’s a vast
difference from the picture the first
picture I showed you because of all the
changes I effected in my life as well
from doing a job that I love and also
eating better and living with a happy
heart an open heart and exercising so
from that pictures of this I lost about
15 kilos so personally I believe in
change I believe it is fantastic thing
if you embrace this thank you
[Applause]
I didn’t always use to be a chef and
that’s a picture of me when I first
started my career it was a big change
that’s the first of many changes little
bit from about I left my corporate job
after 16 years because I like the old I
had come under an epiphany where I
thought to myself what do I really want
to kind of like is it money that car is
an everyday type of handbag and to my
surprise it wasn’t any of those things
it was really about doing something that
was really passionate about and I
enjoyed it I loved and so as a result of
that thinking process
I made the biggest change I left my job
and I became a whole cup and that
picture of me
nine years ago and I’m selling nasi
lemak
which is the most Singaporeans basic
dish that you can have there many forms
of it in Singapore and I sold it oka
center in Maxwell market it was not the
easiest change I mean I had to get up at
4:30 in the morning that means I had to
be in bed at 8:30 I was sweating
continuously and I made very or no money
at all so these were huge changes in my
life but as a result there were other
changes as well I was very happy as
healthier and I had a purpose in life
for what I felt I had something to get
out of bed for so you know to me that
was the first of many changes like I
said before and that all change is bad
you know and and that changes that
sometimes put upon you or voice to the
form you can lead to other positive
changes so you know this was the result
okay so then
this was the dish I made nasi lemak and
normally you know nasi lemak can be very
simple it is actually very simple it is
coconut milk salt water and rush and I
actually said about thinking how can I
make this dish different how can I
change it how can i elevate it how can I
make it something that people want to
eat more than they already do by the way
I was interested in making those
delicious but yet had the familiarity
that we grew up with right because as we
all know Singaporeans are very very
opinionated about food if you try and
change it they will hunt you down
actually okay so what I did was then
look at classics right and this is a
story I always help
I remember a dish that I ate when I was
a child it was hot people that my
grandmother made for me and for me as a
cook as a chef I was constantly trying
to recreate the dish because I was
always tapping into it massager into
that natural feeling the emotions I have
eat the dish but this is funny because
in oxymoronic way when you try and
change a dish when you try to bring
affect change and brickmaker create a
dish that’s different
you are still tapping into the memories
of a solute eating it so in a way yes
there’s change but we are also tap into
tradition but we’re looking into the
past before we affect that change so
when I started cooking and I moved away
from the hawker Center and doing
creating more same dishes which some of
you may know is actually modern
Singapore food cuisine and it is a
movement where Singapore chefs have
become have transformed plastics into
modernized
versions of those dishes and one of my
favorite dishes is actually about Tommy
I don’t know if any of you have had it
it’s it’s minced pork it’s pop liver
it’s noodles with vinegar lard and LA
dogs and chili and it is an amazing dish
in my opinion and it’s just got a
Michelin star in the in the recently
launched guy and so what I wanted to
modernize this dish I crave this dish it
has the same flavors it’s changed but it
doesn’t really look like the other dish
but it still has the same flavors it
still invokes the same memories that
when you eat it and although I know the
difference in its form it’s still tapped
into the tradition into the past into
the Stalder that you have when you eat
much raw meat and it’s pasta which we
which we handmade it’s got vinegar
it’s got chili for large and models but
as far as white bull which is something
that are creative and it’s different but
it tastes just like washroom so that for
me when I create a dish is always about
flavor how is this interesting how’s
this different you know how can we
change something but yet change it not
from say a change of being different but
make it better okay so as a chef was the
first thing we do when we created it
it’s always come up later okay
so now with the more thing on one I’ve
seen we have something like four in time
which is a black go tonight glutinous
rice porridge it’s been cooked with goo
and elastin which is a palm syrup sugar
and it’s topped with coconut cream and
when I was creating desserts in my
restaurant I’m thinking I love this dish
I love it
but it is a bit basic you eat it you get
for these three notes or flavors and I
thought to myself how can I make this
better how can I change it and this was
the result
it looks like sticky date pudding but
it’s not it’s actually black glutinous
rice we baked it into a cake
we drizzled it with globalnoc on that
scotch and we top it with coconut and it
is better right that’s all so arrogant I
said but you have different textures you
have different flavors you have a
complexity of flavors in this dish and
it is hot and cold at the same time so
when someone eats it you’re getting what
myriad sensations you’re getting
different flavors you’re getting
textures and this is an example of how
when we set ourselves thinking
creatively how can I make this better
and change changes it is very much part
of the process and as most mentioned
before you know if you sit back and
think and observe and create and connect
the dots inevitably you come up with
something that a better solution or a
better dish or better flavor okay so as
a result of this matzo movement what
happened was that we started to really
start to look at different cuisines
different methods different techniques
and one of the techniques that came for
that I came across was actually using
sue me I think a lot of people now are
starting to use to be even consumers
that hope and which is great because
this is a great change that that has
been affected in the kitchen now if you
have unloaded that any piranha comes in
this audience now Veronica will kill you
if you suggest clearing from the
technique that they’ve been taught okay
it’s a 400 year old cuisine and they
will tell you no and pound the summer
bludgeon using a mortar pestle you must
you know etc etc etc and it’s very
laborious it takes hours it takes many
men hours and like I said I’m not
kidding guys she will kill you if we
don’t do it okay okay so what I
discovered when I started playing around
with with take with with all the
technology and all the change is that
technology as an agent of change you
know it actually frees you up to be able
to do things that you otherwise but I
spent pounding the sawa-chan or the rum
bar or whatever it and in this case why
I flash the vapor in the laughs now in
there any cooks in in the audience beef
rendang is a beautiful dish but it takes
forever to cook okay it takes about four
hours because you use tougher cuts of
meat and you actually braise it in the
coconut gravy and you know you have to
keep sorry if not the beef starts to
sink down to the bottom and it works
right now how did I change the powder I
do it differently I put it in a bag are
you backing seal it with the gravy
sous-vide it for 24 hours that means
I’ve just read on my staff and myself to
do other creative things instead of
setting over a pot stir it it also means
that pay less money to the
physiotherapist for my rotator cuff okay
so this is you know honestly I think it
also beyond has talked about
using technology in different ways you
know but always that is a lot to the
past I would like to emphasize this
point because as we move forward as we
change as we do different things
we are also inspired by the pots to do
to the Past to say okay what do we
change whether it’s incremental change
or is disruptive change where we we need
prompt to the two cycles ahead we always
have to be aware of what happened is a
part of what traditionally was done
there why it was that so that you know
we can improve it the technique okay now
for me you know with all that they’re
creating moving from from my career as a
corporate events person to then a whole
condenser shorter and then you know
doing food in the MOT same way that
problems of me as well to think about
other changes I would like to see in the
food world and that was also about I
would like to be able to in fact change
where we change our relationship with
food
I’m very actually quite disturbed by the
fact that I think a lot of us tend to
over consume we are eating too much
processed foods and I’ll tell a little
story in which Frito Lays and a lot of
process company food processed foods
company actually MRI people’s brains as
they eat of potato chip and they will
then adjust the flavorings according to
the level of satiety so it is always
just before the point of satiety that
Nina just the clearings too so that why
you will keep eating that bag of chips I
really you haven’t noticed that one bag
of chips is just right up but take it
away from me right so I was thinking why
can’t we do the reverse why can’t we and
top the flavor absolutely so that
society is reached easily and we eat
less and we can do it naturally we can
do it naturally
with spices and we live in Singapore in
Southeast Asia which has the Sora
Nereus herbs and spices and we know what
worked with beyond before as well and
what we have here is actually lemongrass
hastily these two curves if you just put
a little bit in your dish you will get a
massive hit of flavor so that was the
other thing that I started thinking
about changing our relationship with
food and how we cook food and how we can
make food healthier yet okay and I mean
moving on from that then I started
thinking about okay what’s next what’s
next for Singapore food do we always
have much for me to be crab bla bla bla
bla bla bla and I started thinking we
have all these great ingredients we have
Southeast Asian ingredients like Buffalo
which is a black nut from Indonesia we
have lots of leaves
we have lemongrass we have Tecla leaves
you know all these amazing cups and
spices
why can’t we then move forward and
create a new lexicon on dishes I use the
zine you don’t not always referencing
necessarily the same old stuff you know
and um with that I’m actually setting up
a kitchen that in the cilia high Sparrow
space part where we will be playing with
ingredients there will be a kitchen
garden of course next to it and we will
be thinking about creating new that’s
just how we can change food is being
seen I also like to change the
perception of Singapore in chess that
you are not obvious we can create we can
do new things we can we can deliver a
new vision and you know we were looking
at things that we’ve done in the past
but maybe with small change fermentation
pickling you know creating flavor in new
ways and changing up the flavor Paris as
well okay and so
that brings me into the end of this talk
because I would just like to talk about
what change means to me personally I
embrace change mainly because you know
it’s brought me great happiness it’s
generated tremendous creativity and it’s
it helps I believe make lives better if
we can regulate and measure our response
to change and sometimes bring about
change it will be much much happier
people and I put this picture because
I’m looking forward and it’s a vast
difference from the picture the first
picture I showed you because of all the
changes I effected in my life as well
from doing a job that I love and also
eating better and living with a happy
heart an open heart and exercising so
from that pictures of this I lost about
15 kilos so personally I believe in
change I believe it is fantastic thing
if you embrace this thank you
[Applause]
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