The Art Of Elevated Dining, According To Messrs Wolfgang, Byron And Greg

If you're looking for a stellar gastronomic experience this holiday season, you need look no further than Cut by Wolfgang Puck

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

FIFTY-SEVEN FLOORS above street level, in the country-garden home ambience of Marina Bay Sands' fine dining restaurant Spago, I sit nervously, waiting for my host. I keep running through my questions and talking points in my head. My host is a man of importance, and I doubt he has the time for me flubbering through my questions.

As he arrives, there are two other gentlemen with him. My nervousness shoots up several notches.

Hello, Mr. Puck, my voice wavers. But Wolfgang Puck, still sprightly in his 70s, smiles and walks to me. He shakes my hand and returns the salutations, his voice gentle and patient, like that of a benevolent grandfather.

Behind him is his son Byron Lazaroff-Puck, who is closer to my age. We shake hands and exchange smiles as well. Behind Byron is Executive Chef Greg Bess of Cut by Wolfgang Puck. Chef Greg looks like a no-nonsense type of man, emphasised by a firm handshake, and a quieter disposition than the Pucks. Each one of them is a culinary genius.

That might be underselling it, actually. Wolfgang is culinary royalty. Perhaps the most famous Austrian-American after Arnold Schwarzenegger, the chef and restaurateur is a multiple Golden Plate winner, a media darling, and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His dining empire spans all corners of the world, from Las Vegas and Beverly Hills to Budapest and Saudi Arabia, and has a clientele list filled with Hollywood A-listers, business magnates and politicians. But before the restaurant, not many of us heard of him.