The chefs from celebrated Michelin-starred restaurants in Singapore and London share their culinary journeys and how they achieved success in the F&B industry
Tristin Farmer and Tom Aikens are arguably two of the most talented chefs in the world. Farmer has worked in the kitchens of celebrity chefs Jason Atherton and Gordon Ramsay, and is now the executive chef of three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Zén, in Singapore. Meanwhile, Aikens is the former chef and co-owner of fine dining institution Pied à Terre in London, and holds the title of the youngest British chef to earn two Michelin stars for his restaurant. Over the years, he has expanded his F&B empire with restaurants in London, Tokyo, Jakarta and Doha.
The two are at the peak of their career, but getting there was not without challenges. At the Shatec education centre’s recent fireside chat, Aikens and Farmer shared their path to culinary stardom and their advice to young aspiring chefs.
Read more: The best restaurants in Singapore 2022
Have an action plan and end goal
According to Aikens, having an end goal and a map of action is important early on in your career. Recalling his own journey, he shared with that “I was lucky that I knew that I wanted to be a chef at 16 years old.” Thus, he gave himself a 10-year time frame to improve his culinary skills and make a name for himself by working in the best kitchens in Europe. “I was offering my services for free for the first six months,” he recalled. This led him to become the chef and co-owner of fine-dining institution Pied à Terre in London. And, at the age of 26, all his hard work and efforts in the past decade paid off when Pied à Terre retained its two Michelin stars in 1996, making him the youngest British chef to earn this accolade.