Does Jeanette Aw have a spicy side?

SINGAPORE — Actress Jeanette Aw is famous for being all-around adorable. And, in truth, she’s such a good girl that even her naughtiest exploit took place at least a decade ago.

In Aw’s latest project, the MediaCorp TV Channel 8 drama Spice Up — which also stars Xu Bin, Sora Ma, Hong Hui Fang, Taiwan’s Patrick Lee and Malaysia’s Huang Qi Ming — she plays a tomboy chef. But in real life, even in the kitchen, the favourite activity of the self-confessed MasterChef and MasterChef Junior fan is, er, doing the washing-up.

“I love baking and I love cleaning up,” she giggled. “I’m experimenting with a lot of different recipes. Something I always like to make is tiramisu because I like to add my own alcohol and I like it rich, and it’s really easy to make. I don’t create a lot of mess and I don’t mind washing up. I’m quite OCD, so after I finish baking, I clean up the entire kitchen. I even use soap to wipe the tabletops really clean and I’ll mop the whole floor.”

Since little girls are “sugar and spice and all things nice” and Aw is indubitably sweet and nice, does she have a spicy side?

“I’ve always been a good student and role model — that kind of girl,” mused the former school prefect. “In class, when teachers take out an assignment and say, ‘She’s got really good handwriting’ — it’s me. I was the teacher’s pet. When I was in university, that’s when I had a little bit more freedom. That’s when I had blue streaks in my hair and coloured contact lenses and a navel piercing. That was the most (extreme) that I went. My parents didn’t have to worry a lot!”

Now, she said, the spiciest thing about her is that she’s “pretty straightforward” when dealing with people. “That’s something that sometimes might offend people. Sometimes I can be very forward,” she said. “They feel like I’m questioning them. I just say whatever I’m thinking and I don’t really know how to make small talk. I don’t really sugar-coat my words. I guess that’s something I probably need to work on.”

Catch Spice Up starting on Aug 20, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Jeanette Aw had obtained a nipple piercing. This is incorrect. It was a navel piercing. We apologise for the error. This article was edited on Aug 9, 2014 at 2.15pm.