Gordon Ramsay gives local chef a head start

SINGAPORE — Earlier this month, the local dining scene was abuzz when a partnership between Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and the Gordon Ramsay Group to open the British celebrity chef’s Bread Street Kitchen outpost in Singapore was announced.

In a live audition today (Sept 22) - reminiscent of an episode of MasterChef - the notoriously straight-talking British Michelin-star chef handpicked his first culinary intern from Singapore to join the team at the new restaurant, which is slated to open in the first quarter of next year.

The task today was deceivingly simple: Perfectly cook three egg dishes — an omelette, a poached egg and that “great British classic, a soft-boiled egg” - in 10 minutes. It was 21-year-old Koh Han Jie, a first-year student at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West out-cooked three other local hopefuls to win the coveted chance to learn from one of the world’s best. A soft-spoken fan of French culture and its cuisine, Koh attained a certificate in Western Culinary Arts as part of the NITEC programme at the college and is currently completing a Diploma in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management from Institut of Paul Bocuse at the same college.

“I was very shocked but happy when (Ramsay) announced my name - and to be working with him at Bread Street Kitchen next year, it’s an honour. If I do a good job, I do what he says and follow the rules; I believe he won’t react like he does in Hell’s Kitchen,” Koh said, although he added that the infamously harsh environment is par for the course.

“This is part of the learning process as a cook,” he said.

Ramsay said he could identify with what Koh was feeling. “We’ve all been there … put on our first set of whites, and we know how nerve wrecking, how awkward, how difficult it is to get to the very top. The closest I ever got to a celebrity chef at the age of 19 was an amazing man called Anton Mosimann who ran the Dorchester Hotel in London, and I got to hold his bow tie.”

He added: “More importantly for me, the internship and having a chance to propel the local talent is what it’s all about.”

Modelled after its London counterpart, the industrial warehouse-designed restaurant and bar will offer mainly British-European fare, but tailored, Ramsay said, to this new market. The process of adapting the London menu, “to transform (it) in a sort of Singapore style, blend, and make sure we have that integrity of ingredients” began three months ago.

“It’s not going to be a mega-expensive, S$250-a-head fine-dining destination,” Ramsay said of the Bread Street Kitchen here. “It’s going to be more relaxed than you think ... clearly it’s not going to be cheap, but it’s going to be good value for money.

“I like starting off small, I like planting the seeds. Change needs to place slowly, and you start building layer on layer — it’s like a menu change. You only change that menu provided the team are set, the team are confident, and everybody’s on the same page.”