Chef Cheryl Koh: Boldness and determination

Five years ago, the award-winning restaurant Les Amis, which has been serving French classic cuisine in Singapore for over two decades appointed Singaporean pastry chef Cheryl Koh for their Hong-Kong outlet. Since then, and together with French chef Sébastien Lepinoy, both chefs have proved to be a perfect team and continue to upgrade the cuisine and image of the iconic restaurant.

Making a name for yourself in the competitive culinary world is not as easy as it may seem and it certainly wasn’t for chef Cheryl. We talk to the talented woman to find out more about her journey.

Prestigious beginnings

While chef Cheryl Koh graduated in geography and European studies, she has decided to embrace a full-time pastry career. What made her choose this path over a more classic and mapped out future, you ask? Learning more about chef, you are guessing this choice was made due to love for the profession. Her interest in cooking, she tells us, simply grew with her. Indeed, signs had paved her way as she was heading towards a culinary destiny.

The first step she took was in secondary school with a food and nutrition class. In Junior College, she started working part-time in the kitchen of the legendary Raffles Hotel. So while she did not discover her vocation from cooking at home, she completely embodied the cooking spirit of a professional kitchen from the beginning.

What brought her to desserts is another story. While she admits having a sweet tooth, it was necessity – and a job opening which happened to be available at that time which brought her there. She then took on a full-time position at the hotel, working alongside acclaimed chefs, which inspired her to move to France to hone her skills further.

A driven chef

A year later, she seized the opportunity to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant Lasserre, in Paris. A determined chef Cheryl explained that ‘giving up was not an option’ when discussing about the tough French kitchens. Lasserre is a Parisian institution, so needless to say,there is some sort of hierarchy, pressure and discipline there. But learning from the best always comes at a price. Though, she also kept good memories, friendships and is now fluent in French. The experience taught her beyond pastry, it showed her that she could overcome any kind of situations with enough determination and hard work.

To aspiring pastry cooks, her piece of advice would be to not believe what is shown in the media about popular chefs. Life in the kitchen is not easy, but if you embrace the opportunity, keep your motivation and learn patience, it is worth it. Her keyword for a fulfilling career would be resilience.

Her signature

When looking at her pastries, we can’t help but acknowledge that France did a play a strong role in her style. Indeed, France appeared to her as a natural choice for its history, culture and lifestyle impact in the industry. It gave her the solid foundations to explore and express herself through desserts.

What strikes us when looking at chef Cheryl’s creations is a mixture of delicacy and power at the same time. They seem to be an extension of herself. Somthing like a silent force. Showing off is not part of her vocabulary, though she demonstrates the mastery of art. Reaching closer to perfection when it comes to presentation and flavours, she is not one to use smoke and mirrors as her focus remains to improve techniques, combinations, textures, sourcing and working on a thousand of details. She will never pair more than 3 products, because she wants her pastry to be a strong explosion of flavours which awakens all your senses.

For chef Cheryl, and to quote Leonardo da Vinci ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’

So if you can’t afford Les Amis, we’d say just pop into the shop next door ‘Tarte‘ by chef Cheryl Koh. Freshly baked with premium fruits with a golden and crispy dough…you can’t help but love it.

Céline Manoukian