Who is Ivan beyond just being a chef? I was born in 1993, raised in my humble home country Malaysia in a small city called Petaling Jaya. I believe the 90s kids lived in the best time as we were in the generation that got to see the world transform and evolve with technology. In my early days as a young boy/teenager I was an avid Boy Scout, spending a lot of time outdoors and camping with my friends. In that little but warm community of friends is where I learned the true essence of camaraderie and building strong bonds.

I’d devote a lot of my time to Boy Scout activities such as hiking, camping, community service and the whole lot. There was a bigger sense of belonging and I felt that the values and skills learned from those activities were much more important in life than scoring straight A’s in school examinations. I realized now that was where my love for cooking was sparked upon. It was the pure joy of cooking with your friends and family without knowing what to do but figuring out how things work together. As to many things in life.

Besides being a Boy Scout, I was also a self taught musician and often performed with my band in small gigs just for the heck of it. In those teenage years of figuring out who I was, I felt strong gravitation towards music as a career as well as graphic designing. It was only till I was 16 years old that I decided I wanted to go to culinary school right after I graduated from high school. In my own innocent way, my answer to my parents who asked me why I chose to be a chef was “I think everyone needs to eat, so I will always have a job”.

From that point onwards, everything I thought about from that point was to absorb knowledge and get a grasp of being in a kitchen, restaurant, hotels, basically whatever that was related to the world of Food & Beverage. I came from a rather poor family but fortunate enough to get by through the help of family and friends. Some family financial struggle started to occur when it was finally time for me to go to culinary school. During the enrolment I had applied for numerous scholarships as well as working part-time as a barista in Starbucks near the school. Thankfully the years of being a Boy Scout and contributing to the community throughout the 5 years of high school helped me earn a scholarship in culinary school.

I graduated from a culinary school called KDU University College which had a twinning programme with IMI University, Switzerland. I would say it was not so much the school that mattered but it was the chef lecturers who played the essential roles of nurturing us as the new generation of chefs. Every chef in the programme had immense experience and knowledge but more importantly they taught us what it’s like to be in a REAL kitchen in the industry. It’s not very often that in culinary school, students also work the same long 12-16 hours shifts as industry veterans. So I'd say by the time we left school to work professionally it wasn't really a shock to us. It was also in culinary school I’ve met my greatest mentors who I learned both directly and indirectly from who I would always pay homage to, namely Chef Maharis, Chef Raymond Tham (1 Michelin Star, Beta KL), Chef Darren Teoh (2 Michelin Star, Dewakan KL), Chef Kenneth Kam, Chef Gerhard, Chef Enzo, Chef Hammarudin, Ms. Wong Pik Shin. Some of them may not remember me but each of them had impart a good value or two which I’ve chosen to keep till today.

It has given me the platform where I met Chef Heiko Antoniewicz and Ms. Nathalie Münther. Again I have to say that I was extremely fortunate to be in a phase where Antoniewicz GmBH were working with the school which opened up the biggest opportunity in my life, to work in Germany. I still remember the interview I had with Ms. Nathalie before being selected to complete my apprenticeship in Germany. Let’s just say I could have done a little better back then (haha). Antoniewicz had placed me and three close friends of mine in a closeby establishment. I was placed in Hotel Im Wasserturm, Köln alongside my friend of 17 years now who is also another speaker in this summit (Tay Chan Yong). It was the dream apprenticeship, who would have thought this skinny 18 year old young boy from Malaysia was given a chance to work with one of the best restaurants in 2012 in Koln which was La Vision led by Chef Hans Hoberth and Hendrik Olfen, and also restaurant d/blju 'W'“ by Chef Matthias Maucher. During my 6 months in Germany it gave me so much international exposure as a young chef, it also taught me the differences in culture, food trends as well as guest palettes and behaviors. Again, it was the bonds that were built which were ever so important to me.

Upon completion of my apprenticeship, with the heaviest of heart I returned to Malaysia. I spent the first few months back helping out a couple of events with my mentor chefs, until I got the interview call to join The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore. Singapore was the best option as the food scene in Singapore during 2013 was booming and it was more accepting to international cuisines namely for fine dining restaurants. My time in Ritz-Carlton was a fruitful one as in my close to 4 years with the hotel. I was a part of the opening team for Colony restaurant which was Singapore’s Best Buffet restaurant.

In 2017, I went back to the fine dining scene joining Whitegrass Singapore under Chef Sam Aisbett and went on to be the pioneer team to attain its first Michelin Star and debuted in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants at No.50 in 2018. I was later offered a culinary program development role under Compass Group at Google Singapore. This was a change of mentality as a chef as it brought a wider perspective on food and how food can bring impact to various aspects of a community. In Google it was not just about cooking good food but there were a lot of data driven decisions that had to be discussed before building an entire food program for an office that feeds 3000 people, 3 meals a day. Having to balance the financial responsibility as well as serving good food to high performing individuals was a different challenge on its own.

It was another bomb drop when the world was hit by COVID-19 as that was a change in the world’s perception of life itself. During those tough periods, F&B industry workers such as ourselves had a strong part to play in reforming the Food industry and how we could make food more sustainable and safe. It was the era where online food experiences came to life and were innovated upon. I am proud to say that during my 4 years of tenure, my team has pushed the boundaries of collaborative food experiences, menu engineering and designing forward-thinking catering concepts.

After my stint with Google Singapore I soon moved to build my own small scale catering company that managed over 20 private catering events which also included corporate events with COMO Singapore and TikTok Singapore. While in the midst of expanding the business, I was handed an offer to work with Chef Sato Kiyoshi (who was formerly my Sous Chef at Whitegrass Singapore) on a project in Hong Kong. Chef Sato and me go a long way back as we spent much time together during our days at Whitegrass.I decided to put my business on hold and went on to pursue the opportunity in Hong Kong with him where we were both involved in the opening of Artifact which was a upscale chef’s counter with a speakeasy bar.

We were then offered to run Orchid Restaurant in Taiwan with the common goal of achieving the restaurant’s first Michelin Star. Chef Sato had brought me in as his Head Chef assisting him to oversee the kitchen operations as well as build a world class team showcasing modern Japanese cuisine. That is where I am today and pushing on towards that goal as well as to improve everyday.

In essence I believe choices I’ve made throughout my life were really to connect the dots of the world through my craft and passion which brought me to where I am today. My saying of me being a “Chef and a little of everything else” pretty much sums up my personality as I am a chef most of the day and a little of everything else outside the kitchen. I see myself as a nurturer, always wanting to pass on knowledge and experiences to the younger generation. I believe in this society, synergy, collaboration and integration only takes us further no matter the industry or setting.