I am a multicultural foodie who is passionate about clean, delicious, and health-giving food experiences. My vibe is subtly sweet, perfectly-seasoned, and cooked to epicurean refinement.
I love sharing the flavors, sounds, and colors from our beautifully diverse planet. My life mission is to influence peace, cultural understanding, and more love through the sharing of really good, soul-nourishing foods from all over the world.
I specialize in:
- Organic, and clean-eating
- Traditional Malaysian Cuisine
- Nanyang-Chinese Heritage Cuisine
- New Malaysian-American Cuisine
- Flavor profiles from the Nusantara Region (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia)
- South East Asian Cuisines (all the above and the food of Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam)
- Classic Asian Cuisine (Chinese, Korean and Japanese)
- Fusion Asian Cuisine (Eurasian, Chifa, Nikkei, Nyonya)
- Tropical Island Cuisine (Borneo)
Technical Skills
I’m mostly a self-taught cook, though I learn from aunties, grandmas, hawkers, and other professional chefs. I specialize in home cooking techniques from having cooked since I was 12 years old, but I also do have experience working in a commercial kitchen. My primary foundation is classic Chinese techniques. I also draw a lot from Indo-Malay, Indian, classic French, and Japanese techniques.
Other Culinary Influences
Chinese, Indian, European (French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Scandinavian) Korean, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and tropical island cuisine.
FUN FACTS
- I’m a video and photo gadget geek.
- My DNA is tropical island friendly, but that is constantly challenged by my New Yorker’s instinct, and further complicated by my British wit. All places that have had a big impact on my life.
- I’m an easygoing person, and enjoy low and high brow dining experiences just the same. However, I have a high need for authenticity. My attitude toward food quality can sometimes be seen as intense, but that’s what makes these experiences so amazing. I’m equally proud, and not proud of this need to taste honesty and excellence in my food. When it’s spot on, my inner world changes. When it pretends to be what it’s not, I feel cheated. I enjoy remixed and fusion food as long as it is represented truthfully as such, but I do get offended by poor imitations disguised as authentic heritage dishes.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO ME: VALUES
- Leadership – Building people up to be the best versions of themselves.
- Transparency, Honesty & Integrity – Being true and authentic is everything, really.
- Kindness – We need more people who are kind in the world.
- Generosity – I have a very abundant outlook in life, and therefore like to surround myself with people who don’t live with a limited mindset mentality.
- Ethics & Fairness – Oh so important in business!
- Character – A good character is better than gold.
WHAT I DON’T ENJOY
- Food prepared without love or passion.
- Any kind of narrow-minded discrimination against people based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and/or national origin. I’m international, multicultural, and inclusive.
- Tight and calculative people. Reference above about abundance mindset.
- Pretentiousness, arrogance, and judgmental attitudes. After all, we are all trying our best.
I can be found on Instagram and Facebook as @dininghappy.