Bryan Chia named Rising Chef

Bryan Chia named Rising Chef

Morsels, a sharing plates restaurant in Mayo Street off Jalan Besar has come under the spotlight.

One of its chef-owners, Bryan Chia, 32, was named the Meat & Livestock Australia Rising Chef of the Year at yesterday's World Gourmet Series Awards of Excellence.

The ceremony at One Farrer Hotel & Spa was attended by about 650 guests, including local and regional industry professionals.

Now in its 15th instalment, the awards honour the best in the food and beverage, and hospitality arenas here and across Asia.

Chef Chia started Morsels with his partner, Petrina Loh, also 32. She was also nominated for the award.

Opened in January 2013, the restaurant serves California fusion cuisine, which reflects a blend of the couple's culinary training in the United States, Singapore roots and love of Japanese cuisine.

Some of the signature dishes at the 48-seat restaurant include grilled octopus and squid ink risotto served with salted egg sauce, and steamed clams in a fig-based broth, accompanied by kimchi and pickled wakame.

Chia graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley, California, in 2012, after majoring in tourism and hospitality management of the University of Hawaii.

He has worked at Saint Pierre in Singapore, restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was a private chef in the French Alps.

The KitchenAid Chef of the Year award went to Ivan Brehm of two-year-old modern European restaurant, Bacchanalia, in Coleman Street.

The 31-year-old executive head chef, who is of German-Brazilian parentage, has worked at renowned restaurants such as The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in Bray, England; and Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York.

He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York.

Bacchanalia was also a big winner - it took home two awards: Indoguna Restaurant of the Year and EuroCave Old World Wine List of the Year. Last year, it won the SanPellegrino New Restaurant of the Year award.

At the ceremony yesterday, 27 accolades were handed out.

Pastry chef Janice Wong of 2am: Dessert Bar was named the Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia Pastry Chef of the Year, an award she also won in 2013.

Winners of the World Gourmet Series Awards of Excellence were selected by a panel of about 20 industry experts, journalists and connoisseurs after a round of voting by the public and industry professionals which took place earlier this year.

The World Gourmet Series Awards of Excellence is held as part of the World Gourmet Summit, a month-long epicurean festival of dining events, culinary masterclasses and workshops.

The summit, in its 19th edition, runs till May 3. It is organised by A La Carte Productions, a division of food consultancy Peter Knipp Holdings.

kengohsz@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on April 15, 2015.
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