More than three decades ago, the young Justin Quek arrived in Bangkok for the first time on a merchant ship that sailed from Singapore to the City of Angels on a weekly basis. The city's port in Klong Toey gave him his first Thai language lesson, and he still remembers someone calling him sue bue (witless).
Singapore’s most celebrated chef Justin Quek of Sky on 57 restaurant.
Hardworking, disciplined and passionate, Quek worked his way up from a chamber steward to the ship's chief cook and didn't stop there.
Over the following decades, the Singaporean-Chinese chef has risen through the ranks from trainee at the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, and a number of Michelin-starred restaurants in France, to the becoming the first Singaporean resident chef of the French embassy, the winner of numerous international culinary awards, and is currently one of Asia's most celebrated chefs with a number of restaurants in Taiwan, Shanghai and Singapore under his wing.
Quek's Sky on 57 restaurant at Marina Bay Sands is one of Singapore's most famous dining establishments and was opened after he was chosen along with six global celebrity chefs (including Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali from New York, Guy Savoy from Paris, Wolfgang Puck from Los Angeles and Tetsuya Wakuda from Sydney) to showcase their cuisine in restaurants at the luxurious, 57-floor casino resort complex, considered the most expensive of its kind in the world.
Though the gleeful chef has a very tight schedule, as he also travels the world as a celebrity guest chef, Quek is very happy to be back at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, to present his much-lauded cuisine for the first time in 30 years during the hotel's special week-long food promotion, which will finish on Saturday at Lord Jim's restaurant.
"Now I feel very much at home and very honoured to be back and cook at where I was trained. Bangkok means a lot me. This opportunity is very sentimental and nostalgic. Chef Norbert [Kostner] is my mentor. He is a great man and I respect him very much, so I'm very proud to be here cooking with him," the jolly chef said during a two-day mis en place at the weekend .
Quek's intuition and skill in harmonising Asian dishes with modern French techniques is showcased through an awe-inspiring five-course, wine-pairing menu.
"My style of cooking is Franco-Asian, combining a classic French foundation with my well-rounded Asian taste," he said. "My cuisine is very product-driven yet focuses very much on a subtle combination of flavours, which is a characteristic of Asian cuisine. The food is light, healthy, less buttery, less cheesy, and is always paired beautifully with wine, especially good German riesling, pinot noir and shiraz."
The 51-year-old chef said he's bringing some of his signature dishes from his Sky on 57 restaurant to diners in Bangkok. Yet, he explained: "My restaurant is also bespoke, meaning that the guests don't really need to look at the menu, they can just leave the menu for me to decide.
"We will cook for them according to their budget, gastronomic preference and originality. For example, if a Thai diner came to my restaurant, I would introduce a custom-made, grand cru-level dish that promises to delight their Thai palate."
"What I do is very modern cuisine. Though modern cuisine is light, you must have a rich and strong foundation, so being trained the classical way is very important. With a good foundation, I can always elevate a basic sauce to another level, using my knowledge and experienced palate.
"I think many young chefs today just want their food to be stylish and themselves to be a TV chef, but their cooking foundation is very weak. Their food might look stylish, but mai me rod chart (has no decent taste)." And Quek responded to the decreasing popularity of oh-so-fashionable molecular cuisine, saying: "Though people today eat also with their eyes, at the end of the day good food must taste good. Today the culinary trend is very much going back to the old, classic, authenticity and originality."
He pointed to the success of Noma, one of the world's best restaurants in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two-Michelin starred venue is famous for its strict approach in local sourcing and foraging for ingredients including wild sorrel, pine frond and sea buckthorn.
"While focussing on using wild and exotic produce, you have to have good understanding. You can't just go into the forest and pick whatever plant to eat. You must understand the taste and the food. For a chef, you must understand who you are and what you do. For example, I'm Singaporean, so I use Southeast Asian influences in my food.
"For me, the philosophy of mixing anything on the plate is the 'three elements' _ three flavours or three main ingredients, max. I believe the food should be very clean and simple. Too many flavours will confuse diners, rather than delight them."
Quek's photogenic yet heavenly cuisine is regarded as the best representative of Singapore's modern gastronomy, and is inspiring a new generation of chefs.
"Singapore's gastronomic character over recent years has probably evolved according to the changing lifestyle of diners in the region. Decades ago, Asian people preferred going to Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe to enjoy fine dining. Now, the circumstances have changed. Mainly, the retired people are the ones who flock to fine-dining establishments. The younger, so-called social media-orientated generation, on the other hand, is turning towards more casual dining. They want good food, but they want the experience to be more casual."
Today the interaction between the chefs and the guests is key, he said. At his constantly-packed, all-day dining at Sky on 57, for which the wait for dinner reservations can take as long as three weeks, diners can often find him or his chefs walking around the 1,300m2 dining room to greet guests.
"In the old days, chefs didn't like to talk, they just wanted to cook," he said.
"But now, your customers are happier if you come out, introduce your dish and check with them. Since I always move around my restaurant, many of my customers think they don't need to look at the menu. They always follow what I recommend."
For Lord Jim's not-to-be-missed food promotion, the menu presents sea scallop ceviche with truffle dressing, matched with Viogier Pic 2012, M. Chapoutier, Rhone Valley, France; steamed fillet of live spotted black garoupa and clams with herb fondue, matched with Cotes du Rhone Belleruche 2012, M Chapoutier, Rhone Valley, France; live red Surat Thani crab, and rice vermicelli in superior broth, paired with Chateau Minuty Rose Prestige 2012, Grand Cru Classe de Provence, France; and Australian Wagyu beef sirloin steak with wok-fried Maine lobster and Asian black pepper sauce, paired with Crozes-Hermitage Meysonnier 2011, M Chapoutier, Rhone Valley, France.
The meal is wrapped up with the chocolate sensation and signature apple tart, paired with Muscat de Beaume de Venise 2012, M. Chapoutier, Rhone Valley, France.
