Chef's Table

Lennard Yeong makes a case for pursuing what you love and the power of food.

- Jeffrey Yan

Lennard Yeong may be one of the food world’s fastest-rising stars, but his foray into the industry was actually fortuitous. “I was never really a foodie until maybe, my 20s, when I got hooked on Anthony Bourdain’s (travel and food show) No Reservations,” he shares. “That was when I realised there was actually so much about food that I didn’t know. [So I went on] a pursuit of knowledge— eventually, I realised that the best way to learn about food is to just start cooking.”

For Yeong, diving into the world of cooking brought back childhood memories of helping his mother in the kitchen. “She was the sole breadwinner and during the weekdays, we’d have Chinese-style meals but at the weekends, she’d make something special and that was when she’d get us to help,” he reminisces. “If she was making pizzas, she’d let us put on the toppings and we’d just go crazy.”