0:00

So , no , I'm not professionally trained . Okay

0:02

, um , what I will say is I

0:04

I got training from one of the

0:06

most esteemed professors in the world

0:09

. His name is Dr YouTube .

0:10

Okay .

0:10

Yeah , so I started everything on online basically

0:13

.

0:14

You know that that is amazing , isn't it ?

0:16

Yeah , and it's just been

0:18

. You know one thing , after you try a different technique

0:21

and I think the biggest thing that

0:23

made me want to go into

0:25

, you know , beautiful food , like

0:28

food , is food . Everybody needs food , but

0:30

how you , how you elevate it , how you amplify it . I think

0:32

that was really down to MasterChef Australia , okay

0:34

, and I started watching it from like

0:36

I think , season four Okay . I think that was the season

0:39

order was on , if I'm not wrong and I

0:41

just fell in love with how intricate

0:43

and how small but

0:46

yet like massive flavor bombs people

0:48

can create , Like that just fascinated me . And

0:51

then I never stopped watching . I

0:53

never missed a single episode I think the most

0:55

emotionally fueled

0:58

episodes and I'm like a emo guy , Like

1:00

I will cry , I will laugh , I will laugh the loudest

1:03

and I will cry the hardest . I'm that kind of

1:05

you know , if you watch MasterChef you know

1:07

like , and to

1:09

me I think this

1:11

perfect strangers , that I don't know , they don't

1:13

know who I am either , but when they

1:15

get that white apron , that feeling is

1:18

wow . It's something that always felt I wanted . It

1:20

was like a priceless feeling that

1:23

I felt like only

1:25

a very handful amount of people in the world can get

1:27

. I just really wanted to be

1:29

one of those guys , so I've been blessed . Since

1:31

the competition ended , I've worked in a

1:33

mission start kitchen to get some training

1:36

, and the one thing I've learned

1:38

from watching all the chefs is keep

1:40

your knife sharp , your station clean and

1:42

your head down .

1:44

Can you repeat that that is nice man ? What is it ?

1:46

What is it ? Keep your knife sharp , your

1:48

station clean and your head down . Brilliant

1:51

, absolutely brilliant .

2:24

Hello , we are back on the Silver Fox Hustle

2:26

podcast . I'm Shasi , and before

2:29

we move on , please click on the subscribe button

2:31

. We are on Spotify , youtube , apple

2:33

Podcast , the Works Now . I'm very stoked

2:35

today because I've

2:37

got a total total , a

2:40

total rock star in the house , and

2:43

you'll know why . In a bit right , he

2:45

won the latest

2:47

season of MasterChef

2:49

Singapore that season four , I

2:52

believe , and he was

2:54

I want to say was is the

2:56

owner of a home-based FMB business

2:58

. He will tell us more about that , but

3:02

let's not waste time In the house today

3:05

is Mr Inderpal

3:07

Singh .

3:08

Hi Shashi , how are you doing , man ?

3:10

I'm good man , and how has it been

3:12

? My friend .

3:13

I just want to ask you this right .

3:15

Has it sunk in ?

3:17

Honestly it hasn't . It hasn't

3:19

so it's still very fresh , very

3:21

new . A lot of people you

3:23

know approaching me on the roads , on the streets . I

3:25

can't regret my picture and a lot of times I

3:27

don't really look by my best self . But

3:30

yeah , it's been an

3:32

absolute blessing it really has . Coming

3:35

through the season with so many competitors , so many strong

3:37

, strong cooks . I think it sort of gave

3:39

me the personal affirmation that I needed

3:42

, that I do belong in this industry .

3:45

You totally , totally deserve it , man . Thank

3:47

you very much , and you belong in the industry . What

3:49

do you ?

3:49

mean by .

3:50

You know , you think you definitely , and you get

3:52

stopped in the streets . I have .

3:54

And so the funniest thing is I

3:57

was just talking to Tina and Mandy the other day , the

3:59

other two top three right , and

4:03

we sort of discovered this funny thing . So

4:05

when Tina goes to Little India in

4:07

Chinatown she gets stopped , but when she goes to Geylang

4:09

, nothing Wow . And

4:11

then Mandy , when she goes to Chinatown . Nothing

4:14

but when she went to Geylang and take a market , people took

4:16

pictures with her right . So , I've been to

4:18

Chinatown and Geylang , people have stopped me . I'm

4:20

going to Little India later . I'll let you know later on

4:22

what's happened , lovely , lovely .

4:24

You know this podcast is all about

4:26

, you know , getting to know the

4:29

rock star and the guests in the house and , you

4:31

know , to get to know that person

4:33

better . We got to go a little bit back

4:35

in time , right ? How

4:37

was the young in the past ? Like siblings , parents

4:40

?

4:40

So I'm the youngest of my siblings

4:43

, so I actually there's total

4:45

of four of us , but my eldest

4:47

is to actually pass on when I was five . So

4:50

that was not easy to take , didn't

4:52

really understand what was going on . But , yeah

4:55

, the family , we went through it . We , we

4:57

survived all of that and , yeah

5:00

, we just got closer . Yeah

5:02

, I was always told that I'm the most pampered

5:04

because I'm the youngest and everything . Are you ? I

5:08

don't think so . You sure . Well

5:11

, I don't know my siblings will probably say today is going

5:13

to hahh rubbish .

5:16

And how about schools that you went to ?

5:19

So again coming back to my siblings' thing , so they

5:21

were all born and raised in Telok Blangah , and

5:24

then my parents moved to Isun just

5:26

before I was born right so . I'm the first one

5:28

to go to all the Isun schools and

5:30

so I went to Huamin Primary School . I still

5:32

it was amazing because , like after the whole master's

5:35

shifting , and that people were connecting with me from

5:37

Huamin days and I'm like , oh my God , dude , yeah , I remember

5:39

you . We were both so tiny , you know , and

5:42

yeah , I think , the ones where

5:44

I really made some good friends who I still see

5:46

now , and then it's secondary school . Amade .

5:48

Brian's secondary school .

5:50

Yeah . So yeah , I made a lot of friends

5:52

there . I think that's where I got my real

5:55

first taste of like public speaking and stuff . I

5:57

really got very confident in secondary school

5:59

. It was an eye-opening experience for me .

6:01

We just come back to that part that

6:04

you know , public speaking part . So was there

6:06

like a CCA that you know , I don't know debating

6:08

thingy or what ?

6:10

So we were very . I think that if

6:13

you talk to anybody in that generation who

6:15

went to Amade Abraham , I think from the early

6:17

2000s to like 2006 , 2007,

6:19

. You'll realize that

6:22

they were all very glad for the

6:24

principal that we had . He was this guy

6:26

who really believed in many

6:28

, many prongs of education and he would like

6:31

change assemblies up Like it wasn't like

6:33

your usual assemblies , where you know you sit and

6:35

listen to something . It was always something

6:37

very arts related . It was something

6:39

that we had to do with our hands or some things that

6:42

you know , like we would prepare , like impromptu

6:45

debates and stuff . So he really wanted

6:47

the , you know , public speaking to

6:49

be a core point and he wanted

6:51

to give the students as much

6:53

confidence as possible .

6:56

I think the leaders of schools are very important . Oh yeah

6:58

, definitely , 100% , absolutely right , you

7:00

know then you know , the students

7:02

can , you know , develop through whatever

7:04

leadership he portrays , and

7:07

I think he leads by example .

7:08

Anyway , oh , he does . Yeah , so thank you , Mr Tan King

7:11

Drew , if you're listening , lovely , lovely .

7:13

Is it still at the school ? I don't think so .

7:15

So he left in my last year and I

7:17

don't know where he is now .

7:18

Yeah , so what ? What's he says ? Did you ?

7:21

I was a bit all over the place . So we have this thing

7:23

where , like you , again

7:25

, it was down to the principle he allowed us to change our CCs

7:27

every year unless you were in the uniform

7:30

group sense . A bit tough . But I tried soccer

7:32

for one year , the first year , and then

7:34

I don't know why , but

7:36

in sector I was , I was doing table tennis .

7:39

Oh yeah , why I ?

7:40

have no clue , man , but it was so

7:42

fun . It really taught me

7:44

a lot of perseverance and endurance , because

7:46

it's not easy to go to go like

7:48

so many matches in the same position and

7:50

, like for football , you get to move around . You

7:52

know you can cover , somebody can cover you , but table tennis

7:54

is you against the other .

7:55

You can hide , man , you can hide , you can hide You're exposed

7:57

, you're exposed , simple as that . I just want to say

7:59

, coming back to table tennis , right , I'm in a school as

8:01

well , and not a lot of people

8:04

or students nowadays can can

8:06

play table tennis . It is the hand-eye coordination

8:08

, it's not for them .

8:09

It's not easy , right . It's down to these little things , right

8:11

. They've ruined a lot of things for us , right , right , right

8:13

.

8:13

You're absolutely right , man . You

8:16

know I was watching clips of you and

8:19

MasterChef and you know were

8:22

you the , the , the joker in school as

8:24

well . Because I mean , I

8:26

know why now from this conversation

8:28

already that you're witty , and all because of you

8:31

know the public speaking part and you know , were

8:33

you always like that .

8:34

Like I think it comes down

8:36

to really

8:39

. So I mean there was , I

8:41

mean in secondary school there's going to be bullying on some

8:43

level , right , but a lot of those so-called

8:46

bullies who started in second one , second two , actually

8:48

turned out to be some of my best friends in second three , second

8:50

four . I think we just like

8:52

were you a bully ? No , I wasn't , actually

8:54

I wasn't the receiving end for a while , but then

8:56

we we became good friends because

8:59

we found common ground and it realized that actually

9:01

why are we bullying this guy when we can actually just

9:03

like have fun together ? So I think that realization

9:05

came thankfully pretty quick , so I

9:07

didn't . I didn't really get bullied so much . So

9:10

, yeah , I think it comes down to

9:12

the wittiness . It just

9:14

comes down to me . I

9:16

don't know , man , my brain just works .

9:19

I think it could be your family as well

9:21

.

9:22

Oh yeah , my family's pretty witty . My dad has a

9:24

lot of quirky comebacks here and there . My brother

9:26

is also pretty , you know , nice

9:28

, nice .

9:29

Now let's come back to . You know the food

9:32

bit , right , yeah , why

9:36

food and cooking ? Has it always been

9:38

like that growing up ? Like you know the

9:41

food part .

9:42

So the food part . For me , food

9:44

was like this incredible

9:46

fascination for me . It started when

9:49

I was young . It was two-fold . The

9:51

first fold was my dad is this amazing entertainer

9:53

Like he'll have the family over like

9:55

easily and my family is massive

9:58

. My dad has 13 brothers and sisters , Wow 13

10:00

. And each of them average about three to

10:02

four children . So there you go

10:04

. That's how many cousins .

10:06

I have . Is your house big enough ? So

10:08

, my dad is an amazing at .

10:10

At that point we were still

10:12

sitting at the staircase outside just to eat

10:14

food . But yeah , it could fit everyone

10:17

. And so you

10:19

know stuff , we were always entertaining

10:21

and he always took a lot of happiness

10:24

to cook for everyone , so he cooks

10:26

as well he cooks for everyone . But if

10:28

you ask him like , oh , this is amazing , how did you make

10:30

it ? He won't remember . I don't know . I

10:33

think it was this , I think it was . He doesn't have like recipes

10:35

, nothing you know , and the second

10:37

prong for me , I think , was this was the absolute

10:39

fascination Because , like my dad used to take me to

10:41

temple every Sunday and

10:44

when you go to the Sikh temple you realize everybody

10:46

gets a free meal and everyone

10:48

contributes to the free meal with

10:50

their hands , not just through funds , but they actually

10:52

come and physically do the work to

10:55

get it done . And the thing that takes the

10:57

most about a time is the rotis , the chapatis

10:59

, right , because , yeah

11:01

, you got to hand roll every single one and

11:03

it's like a thousand per Sunday

11:06

and I'm like this five year old

11:08

kid , right , and I can't go approaching that

11:10

super hot plate Like nobody wants a

11:12

little kid around the fire , basically . So

11:14

I was just like hey , I'm left out man . And then

11:16

I saw this big burly , like muscular

11:18

man , like stirring this giant vets of like

11:20

dal and like vegetables

11:23

and all that . And then I'm looking at them like just going

11:25

five and add this little powder , the color changes

11:27

, they add that , and then the completely

11:30

everything's smell , the fragrances , everything

11:32

changes . And to me that was like wow

11:34

, that's magic , like what you're doing is , like you're

11:36

concocting like a magical potion that everyone's

11:38

going to eat later and like , lose their minds

11:40

. You know , oh my . God , that's so delicious . And it

11:43

started from there , and then , of course , I observed

11:45

for a few weeks , and then you

11:48

know one of the , he wanted to do the stirring as well . Yeah

11:50

, and then one of the guys who , like you , want to try

11:52

and go like really . Okay , and

11:54

then I couldn't like . I remember . I still remember a

11:57

memory of me , like standing next to it and like the

11:59

pot is at my eye level and I'm just

12:01

going , like you know , like

12:03

trying very hard to see what

12:05

is going on . Then he's so sweet , he got me like a stool and

12:07

he held on to me to make sure you know I don't fall

12:09

in . Yep , yeah , but that's how it

12:11

began , man . And then from there , I never looked back . Whenever

12:13

I went on Sundays , I just tried my best to give

12:16

back as much as I could .

12:17

Hey , it's beautiful , isn't it Like your journey

12:19

actually started in a temple .

12:21

Yeah , it's beautiful , yeah it is , and

12:23

feeding people has always been something that I love

12:26

to do , even when

12:28

my wife says , oh , you know , we should

12:30

have these people over . Like , yeah , sure , I'll cook something

12:32

. And we're like why do you always want to cook ? Why don't you take a

12:34

break , you know ? Because I mean I can understand her

12:36

side , because if I'm cooking then she's entertaining alone

12:38

, yeah , yeah .

12:40

Now you know , the cooking journey obviously

12:42

started from there and obviously your dad

12:44

entertaining people and stuff , right ? Yeah . Now

12:47

professional wise or

12:49

, as in like , training wise

12:52

.

12:52

Yeah .

12:52

Because I'm sure you need to or you don't , I

12:54

don't know . You tell me right . Yeah , Like , how

12:56

do you start with the training bit ? Like you know

12:58

, did you go to Shattac , or you know , you

13:00

know those , those , those .

13:02

So if you want to enter MasterChef , you cannot

13:04

be professionally trained . You have to be an amateur

13:06

home poke . Okay , okay . So no , I'm

13:08

not professionally trained .

13:09

Okay .

13:10

What I will say is I

13:12

got training from one of the most

13:15

esteemed professors in the world . His name is Dr

13:17

YouTube . Okay , yeah , so I started everything

13:19

on the online , basically .

13:22

You know that that is amazing , isn't it ?

13:23

Yeah , and it's just been

13:26

. You know one thing after you try a different technique

13:28

and I think the biggest thing that

13:30

made me want to go into

13:33

you know , beautiful food , like

13:35

food , is food . Everybody needs food , but

13:37

how you , how you elevate it , how you amplify it . I think

13:39

that was really down to MasterChef Australia .

13:41

Okay .

13:42

And I started watching it from like I think , season

13:44

four Okay . I think that was a season order or something

13:47

, if I'm not wrong and I just fell

13:49

in love with how intricate

13:51

and how small but

13:54

yet like massive flavor bombs people

13:56

can create , Like that just fascinated

13:58

me . And then I never stopped watching

14:00

. I never missed a single episode .

14:02

I'm still amazed with this , the

14:04

fact that you don't didn't have at least

14:06

, like you know , like proper someone

14:09

to go to to learn .

14:11

Yeah , I know Nothing . It's amazing man , yeah

14:13

. So I mean , I know we'll get to that

14:15

later on , so I'll cover a bit of that later on as

14:17

to how and who I approached to

14:19

talk to .

14:20

Amazing , amazing . It's a great story . Man

14:22

, your

14:24

earliest influences in

14:27

cooking . Honestly , or even chef , your favorite

14:29

chef .

14:30

So , honestly , when I was a kid

14:32

watching these shows , or

14:34

maybe like a teenager , masterchef Australia , it

14:37

was always the three judges , the

14:39

original three judges George . Columbaris

14:41

. Gary Megan and Matt Preston . And

14:45

yes , I enjoyed the competition part

14:47

by . My favorite episodes used to be the ones

14:50

where there was no competition

14:52

. It was the masterclass .

14:53

Okay .

14:53

So it was like taken by one of them and they'll show you

14:55

like this technique and technique and I would , just I

14:58

would sit there . I remember when , when I was younger , when

15:00

, you know , phones weren't so high tech

15:02

, I used to sit down and like actually write okay

15:04

, I can do this and I can do that and I can do this

15:06

and I would try it and sometimes it

15:08

would work and sometimes I would fail miserably . I remember

15:11

like even melting like a piece of plastic in my

15:13

, in my sister's kitchen in Melbourne once or

15:15

so .

15:16

Yeah .

15:17

So it was there , my guess , and , of

15:19

course , any of the guest judges that came on . They

15:22

brought a lot , and I think that's where the love

15:24

and fascination of wanting to become a chef came from

15:27

me . You know that little snippet that they will do to

15:29

introduce the chef Right .

15:30

I want to be one of those guys one day , man . Well

15:32

, you will become soon , man .

15:34

Soon , soon , fingers crossed .

15:36

So when did

15:38

it ? Or did you like , like , tell

15:40

yourself that's it , I

15:42

want to become a chef .

15:43

Like I just said , during those little like if they introduce

15:46

like a judge , a guest

15:48

judge or a guest chef who's coming ? In

15:50

to compete with the guys , then they'll have that little

15:52

segment that we only see on TV , because

15:54

I know I've been in MasterChef now . Right . We don't

15:56

get to see what you guys see right . Exactly , you know

15:58

it's like . okay , you know like and then they're plating

16:01

and it's like you know , it's the flambé , and

16:03

then , like at the end of it , this amazing

16:05

looking piece of art comes out . I go like , okay , okay

16:07

, okay , I really need to be one of those guys . Brilliant , brilliant

16:09

.

16:10

Now , before we start talking about MasterChef Singapore

16:13

and the journey that you took part

16:15

in , right Sure , let's talk about Mr Singh

16:17

Itz Sure . Okay , that is actually

16:19

your home-based business , and when did this start and

16:21

what was your inspiration behind this ?

16:24

So it started in 2019 , just

16:27

when COVID hit our shores .

16:29

Not the right time , not the no actually it's the best

16:31

. Oh yeah , actually it's home-based business , right .

16:33

So how it started was at the end

16:35

of 2019 , in December

16:37

I took a holiday , just

16:39

before all the lockdowns with my wife . We went to

16:41

Amritsar for about four days and

16:43

to us it's like one of the most precious

16:46

trips we've ever had because I mean

16:48

, I don't know , are you part Indian ? My friend , yes , you

16:50

are right . So you know that when you go to India , there's always

16:52

an agenda , right ? So this was the first

16:54

trip in my life and my wife's

16:56

life that we went to India without an agenda . We was

16:58

like we were tourists anyway .

16:59

Okay .

17:00

Oh my God , I've never seen this . I've never

17:02

seen that Because usually you're rushing

17:04

to meet somebody or a

17:06

family member or you're rushing to do shopping for a wedding

17:09

or something right , but no agenda

17:11

. It was amazing and then we came back . I remember when

17:13

we came back that

17:15

flight , they started giving out masks to everyone

17:17

saying that , okay , there's something on the .

17:19

Was that late 2019 ?

17:21

So we landed actually , so we left in 2019

17:24

, december . We came back early , jen .

17:25

Yeah , exactly .

17:27

And so it was still like is it , is it

17:29

not ? Is this a flu ? Is it going to go away ? Is it what

17:31

? What is it right ? And then remember , when we landed

17:33

, we saw these massive machines at Changi Airport

17:35

, like scanning everybody , like you know , like , it started

17:38

, yeah , it started already and then , like everyone

17:40

, then the boxes on the floor were like , okay

17:42

, this is not going to last . And then those boxes until today

17:44

is still around .

17:45

Then they ever disappeared , right yeah ?

17:47

So I came back , I went back to work and

17:49

somewhere in March I felt

17:51

like I can see , I can

17:53

get the feeling around . I

17:56

was working in Min Sri Manpower and I can see that

17:58

, okay , a lot of people are leaving

18:00

. What ?

18:00

did you do ?

18:01

there I was actually an escalation

18:03

officer , so basically just used to take phone

18:05

calls . Try to solve the issue If I

18:07

can't pass it on to someone else Right , right , right . And

18:10

then we had a schedule list of calls that we need to call people

18:12

back to try to solve their issues , and

18:15

then I started

18:17

saying like okay , a lot of people are suddenly leaving Because

18:20

I can see that there's a very obvious downside

18:22

is going on right . And I go like

18:25

should I also take that risk ? So I tried , I

18:27

tried two weekends . Two weekends

18:29

butter , chicken , roti , that's it , Sold

18:31

out .

18:33

How did you like ? Like it's just word of mouth .

18:34

Instagram . I just started Mr Singh Eat's Instagram

18:36

page . I think in the first week

18:38

I had like 10 followers . What was it ? Butter chicken and

18:40

Butter chicken and chapati . That's it .

18:42

It's a pretty good deal , man , I know

18:44

, I know , I know .

18:45

You know , and then a lot of teething issues along the

18:48

way you know , like what's a one portion , what's

18:50

what not ?

18:51

So who did this ? Who did the cookie ? You and I

18:53

did everything A to Z , Wow , A

18:55

to Z marketing deliveries .

18:57

Everything I did on my own . And over two weekends , so

18:59

the weekends that I was not working I did

19:01

it and then it was like busy , busy , busy

19:03

. And then people started texting me like eh , I

19:05

have a a pre-COVID

19:07

lockdown party going on , let's

19:10

just call it Right Right . And

19:13

I'm having some of my friends over like

19:15

can you cook for me ? And I go , I can cook for you

19:17

, but I don't want to come in contact with anyone because

19:19

I have elderly at home . They're like , okay , fine

19:21

, Can you do it on Wednesday ? Then I go . Okay , hang on

19:24

, this is becoming something

19:26

right Right right right and they go like should I leave my

19:28

job ? Should I not ? Should ? I not . I

19:30

just took the plan . They go okay . You know what ? These are my two weeks

19:32

. I told the guy look

19:34

, I can do it for you on Wednesday . I have leave to clear anyway

19:37

. So , I'll take my leave and yeah , let's do

19:39

it . And then I put

19:41

orders out that , okay , you know what , this is permanent

19:43

now . And you know , hit me up . And then

19:45

it blew up again , Wow . And then

19:47

it came to a point where people started

19:49

asking , okay , your butter chicken is great , but what

19:52

else do you have ? You know , like , give me something else . And then

19:54

I go like , wow , if I'm going to do

19:56

like too many things , then it's going to go

19:58

nuts . So I just put out a poll like what do you want ? And then

20:00

aloo tikki that's what everybody wanted

20:02

, right , and for me aloo tikki is the very

20:04

traditional you know , where they have like a sankhan

20:06

tava or a sankhan hot plate

20:08

and the oil is in the middle and the tikki's are

20:11

around right . And it's supposed to be squishy , so

20:13

I made that . One tikki took me about

20:16

eight minutes . My wife is looking at me like one

20:19

tikki eight minutes . And you're judging one tikki

20:21

like $2 . Are you high ? It's not even worth

20:23

your time or your effort . And then we

20:25

did it and my wife actually came up with what

20:28

I like to call a delivery proof aloo tikki

20:31

, where we can actually just deep fry

20:33

the whole thing and it holds its integrity

20:35

, because most of the time potato is full of water

20:37

, right ? So when you fry it it starts to pop and it breaks

20:39

. So yeah , she actually came up with the recipe

20:41

to keep it locked and

20:44

we did that and then wow aloo , tikki's blew out

20:46

. I remember . I can tell you that there

20:49

were weekends where we were making like 600

20:51

tikki's at one go 700 tikki's at one go . And

20:53

then she's just standing there and rolling and rolling and

20:56

I'm just frying and frying and and

20:58

she's not work agency as well , she's work

21:00

she's full time job . At that point in

21:02

time she was working for one of the big four and

21:05

now she's working in tech . And she's still

21:07

Now not so much because

21:09

a lot of things are a bit more self-sufficient At

21:12

the start . She really helped me so much and

21:14

Mr Singhees wouldn't be where

21:16

it is without Mr Singhees for sure .

21:18

Yeah , yeah , it's brilliant man . I

21:20

wanted to ask you did you ever feel like quitting

21:22

?

21:22

I don't think , so I'm not going to ask you that question , I

21:27

think you should , because it's

21:30

not that I felt like quitting , because so

21:32

after COVID plateaued

21:34

and things started opening up , orders

21:36

sank dramatically because people were like oh

21:39

, finally I can go out and eat right . And

21:41

that's where I actually met one of the

21:43

big influences on my culinary

21:45

life , because my wife

21:47

took me for a meal I remember pre-COVID

21:49

to this fine dining restaurant

21:52

At that point in time . It's very fresh , very new , it's

21:55

called Teva at Kyungsek Road

21:57

and I swear hands down , it's probably

21:59

the best meal of my life .

22:00

Really .

22:01

Yes , I'm not even kidding .

22:03

What food is this ? It's a .

22:04

Malaysian Indian . Oh , that

22:06

should be good man . It's so yummy right

22:08

.

22:08

It's still around .

22:09

Yeah , of course . In fact now around

22:11

road they've got two Michelin stars now .

22:13

So it's what ? T-h-e-e-v-a .

22:15

T-H-E-E-V-A-R .

22:16

Oh , okay , okay .

22:17

Yeah , and then I

22:19

followed them , obviously just looking for inspirations on

22:22

plating and stuff . So all of that fancy stuff

22:24

I would cook for my wife , because I can't do that

22:26

with Mr Singhees . It doesn't make sense . It was more about

22:28

bulk sales , right . And then

22:30

I saw Teva advertising like when

22:32

the lockdown started lifting . It's like we're

22:35

looking for people to work and

22:37

go like hang on , Mr

22:39

Singhees is doing okay , it's not terrible

22:42

. I have like a regular flow of people

22:44

, but it's not making the money

22:46

that I was during . Covid right .

22:48

Yeah , of course .

22:48

So I just sent in my CV and the guy

22:50

calls me for an interview . He said , hey , come on down , man . I was like

22:53

okay , and I was obviously like starstruck

22:55

. Oh my God , the legend who created the best meal

22:57

of my life , right ?

22:58

So he's , a .

22:58

Malaysian Indian . He's a Malaysian and he's from Penang . Very

23:00

nice guy , chef Mano , and then he interviewed

23:02

me and go like okay , look man , kitchen's full

23:04

but I got front of the house if you want , you'll

23:06

still learn a lot . I go like , okay

23:09

, fine , so

23:11

I did that and then slowly , slowly , as Mr

23:13

Singhees orders dwindle , I just sort of

23:16

semi shut it down . And yeah

23:18

, that's where I met Mano and I

23:20

spoke to him and I was standing at the pass

23:22

. He made me because he said , like I have

23:25

good skills with PR , I can talk to people well

23:27

, and so he left me at the pass and

23:29

serving all the big , important tables . So

23:32

I could literally see all the chefs work

23:34

, like art , and how they

23:36

were presenting stuff , how they were cooking things

23:38

. It was visual very visual for me and . I just

23:40

learned as much as I could , soaked in as

23:42

much as I could .

23:43

I wanted to ask you this because

23:46

you touched on this from one became

23:48

500 or 800 orders , I

23:51

mean in terms of the dish . How

23:55

difficult is it to keep

23:57

the consistency going in terms of the quality

23:59

? Because I mean . I don't know , I

24:02

don't cook , I'm ignorant right but in

24:04

terms of when you're doing something , maybe for

24:06

five people , it's okay , right , but

24:09

if you're doing for 500 people , how difficult

24:11

is it to keep that consistency going ?

24:12

The consistency . Actually , it comes

24:14

down to two things . One is the chef and one

24:17

is the ingredients available . When you're doing that quantity

24:19

during the height of COVID , where a

24:21

lot of things a lot of times get sold out pretty quickly

24:24

I mean , let's not talk about other people , but other

24:26

things as well right Damn

24:28

. But even simple things

24:30

like tomatoes get sold out . People

24:33

don't really talk about that because I can make

24:35

do without tomatoes , but I'm the butter chicken guy

24:37

if I don't have tomatoes . something is wrong right , but

24:40

yeah , then you start experimenting

24:42

. You use canned tomatoes . There is a difference . There's

24:44

a big difference in the taste .

24:45

And .

24:46

I did get some feedback about that . And then try

24:48

to improve . So I tried to order in bulk . Or then

24:50

you start limiting your orders , like , okay , I can't take

24:52

more than this this week or whatever . Nice

24:55

, nice .

24:57

Shall we talk about MasterChef ? Sure sure In

24:59

the first place , right ? Obviously

25:02

you watched the Australian

25:05

episodes and stuff like that right . So was that

25:08

the main inspiration . I just

25:10

want to try at least to sign up .

25:12

Yeah , I always so to me . I

25:15

mentioned , some of my favorite episodes were the ones with

25:17

the MasterCars right , but I think , the most

25:19

emotionally fueled

25:22

episodes , and I'm like an emo guy

25:24

, like

25:26

I will laugh the loudest and I will cry the hardest

25:28

. I'm that kind of you know if you

25:30

watch MasterChef , you know right , yeah yeah , yeah

25:32

, and to me , I think , these

25:35

perfect strangers that I don't know , they don't

25:37

know who I am either but when they

25:39

get that white apron , that feeling

25:41

is wow . It's something that I always

25:44

felt I wanted it was like a priceless feeling

25:46

that I felt like only

25:49

a very handful amount of people in the

25:51

world can get . I just really wanted to be

25:53

one of those guys . Right , right .

25:55

Any idea how many actually signed up Like

25:57

like .

25:58

The number is close

26:00

to a thousand . It's in the late hundreds

26:02

, but it's almost a thousand . And then they were streamlined

26:05

. How ?

26:05

do they ? How do they ? I really don't know . So

26:07

it's basically online application .

26:09

Everybody , yeah , whoever wants to apply for

26:12

season five . I guess they'll be starting in about a couple

26:14

of months . The QR codes will start flying around on

26:17

TV and all of that . Scan the QR code

26:19

, you'll apply , and it'll go around on socials

26:21

as well , you apply , and

26:23

then it's not just like a trade for hey

26:25

, hi , I want to cook and it's not like that . There

26:28

are a few pages here . Like you need to write like a short

26:30

paragraph about yourself a short essay about

26:32

what you want to do this . There's

26:34

a Psycheval . It's quite a few things

26:36

. I mean Psycheval is important . I

26:38

mean we've shared- .

26:40

Yeah , of course , going out on TV and all right , but

26:43

the fact that it's nearly a thousand and

26:45

then you got chosen obviously because

26:47

of whatever you sent , yeah

26:49

exactly .

26:51

So there's a few steps right . So first from

26:53

that almost a thousand they cut it down to a

26:55

few hundred . Then from the few hundred

26:57

everybody comes for a cooking test . So

26:59

that means you've cleared the site . I mean , they can't have

27:01

somebody running around the kitchen with a knife after . Chef Damien

27:04

, after a bad comment you know what I mean

27:06

. Yeah , but so

27:08

after all of that , you actually have to

27:10

cook . It comes down to your food

27:13

, right ? So you might be like perfect

27:15

fit for the competition .

27:16

So who do you cook in front of ? It's

27:18

a blind we cook .

27:20

The crew is there to give you

27:22

a sort of feel as well about what it's

27:24

going to be like in the competition . It's not as easy as

27:26

cooking at home , because people keep coming up to

27:28

you . So what are you doing now ? Tell me what you're doing now . Tell

27:30

me what you're doing now .

27:32

And you don't ? This is the question I always wanted and

27:34

I wanted to ask you later on , but I might as well

27:36

do it now . You don't have a recipe

27:38

in front of you right ? No , I never do . Absolutely

27:40

zero , zero zero .

27:41

The only time you have I

27:43

won't even say a recipe , a fragment of the recipe is

27:45

during a pressure test .

27:47

Okay .

27:47

So they tell you like this is roughly what it's supposed to be

27:49

.

27:50

Okay .

27:50

These are the ingredients . The ingredients are there

27:52

. You got to figure most of it out on your own . Wow

27:55

, yeah .

27:57

No , that's crazy .

27:58

Yeah , so then you know , they'll keep

28:00

asking you . So you know , and they'll come to you , you

28:03

see , when they're like okay , you got one hour right

28:05

and we're going . Oh , one hour's a long time , oh , my God

28:07

, it's not .

28:08

I don't think so , man . One hour

28:10

is not long .

28:10

Depends . If you're going for a haul , if you're

28:13

driving on a road trip , one hour is nothing . If

28:15

you're doing a plank , 10 seconds it's a long time , was all

28:17

yeah . And then

28:19

they have to do a cooking test , and

28:22

so how they keep it fair is the cooking

28:24

test itself . The people who are

28:26

tasting your food are the food producers , not

28:28

the judges . Yet they

28:30

will taste it blind and they will go

28:32

. Okay , this one , yes this one no , this one yes this

28:34

one no , so to keep it fair right . And

28:37

then our profiles

28:40

are sent to the judges . For this season

28:42

especially , the judges had to pick

28:44

us into teams , right ? So then the judges

28:46

decided who goes in which team , Like

28:48

they selected . Okay , this guy , this guy , this guy .

28:51

Wow , this is really like the survival series

28:53

.

28:53

Oh my God , yes , it is , it is man , it is .

28:56

Now let's take us through this

28:58

journey right . Just a few things that

29:00

you know , I think , maybe people who want to know

29:02

about the competition

29:05

. Let's start off with the three judges .

29:07

Okay , what do you want to know , man ?

29:08

Audra Morris . How is she like ?

29:10

Audra is exactly

29:12

what you see on TV . There is no fluff

29:15

. She is as real as you see . She

29:18

has very , very infectious laughter when

29:20

she laughs , the rest of us start laughing also . And

29:23

yeah , I know it's like 90% of the

29:25

laughs this season are my fault and

29:28

yeah , but she's as real as it is and I

29:30

feel like she is one judge that is

29:32

so unique compared to all

29:35

the other judges in other competitions as well

29:37

, because she's actually been

29:39

in the competition herself . Right , she's

29:41

a finalist who didn't win at the end . But

29:43

she knows the pressure , she knows so when

29:45

you are losing you know when

29:47

you're losing it a bit she'll come like okay , look , calm down

29:50

, I've been where you are . You

29:52

just need to take a breath , clear your head , just

29:54

focus . Read the instructions again for

29:56

our pressure test , for example , right . Or she'll

29:58

go like okay , just look , just watch you , watch your

30:00

pot , don't over think , relax

30:02

, calm down .

30:04

It's like a real mentor kind of

30:06

you know , feel right . And just

30:08

like a school teacher as well .

30:10

Exactly . It's brilliant man , Someone who's actually done it .

30:12

And yeah , and she helps a lot in

30:14

that sense , right .

30:15

Yeah , exactly , she's the one who

30:17

understands the pressure of

30:19

the time crunch who understands

30:21

that , the emotions that suddenly go through and

30:23

you know a twill is not working out or whatever

30:26

. Right , Damien the Silva . Damien

30:28

the Silva is , as his restaurant

30:31

suggests , he is the Rampa , he's the

30:33

Papa of Rampas , he is the grandfather

30:35

of Rampa . And for him

30:37

it can look

30:40

as pretty as it can . Flavor

30:43

counts flavor , flavor

30:45

, flavor .

30:45

That's key right .

30:46

That's key . And if when he puts

30:49

it in his mouth and he's happy , he's happy , and

30:51

if he's not , he's very critical . But

30:54

I think it's critical in

30:56

a good way . What a lot of people don't see

30:58

off camera is , whatever he's

31:00

delivered , he goes to the person after it . They say

31:02

you know why ? I said that to you right . You

31:04

understand . So this is what I would

31:06

have done . Maybe it's not

31:08

as modern as what you have done , which

31:10

is great , because we need something to move

31:12

forward , right , but this is what I would

31:14

have done . So maybe for the next challenge

31:17

think about that , play

31:19

safe on flavor and maybe

31:21

for your plating you go a bit wilder . So

31:23

he's actually very , very , very fatherly

31:25

actually .

31:26

This is great insights right Like because you

31:29

don't see all these on screen , what

31:31

you see on TV and- .

31:32

Yeah , you don't , because there's a time crunch right , exactly

31:35

.

31:36

Beyond Shen .

31:37

Beyond . Shen is his wacky guy . When he's on set

31:39

he's hilarious . He just does

31:41

the craziest things he comes up with the Like what

31:43

. I remember once , like

31:45

one of the set producers in

31:50

their team , somebody had a birthday and then he

31:52

just found out on the spot . And

31:54

then he goes to the crew table with all the food

31:56

and all that . He took a Snickers bar

31:59

, he took something else and then he mixed it with Milo

32:01

, then he microwaved it and

32:03

it became this lumpy looking

32:05

sludge of a cake he put because

32:08

she smoked . So he put a cigarette on it , lit it . Happy

32:11

birthday to you .

32:13

He's this wacky guy , so he's wacky .

32:15

And he . The ingredients

32:18

that Beyond will choose are absolute

32:20

, absolute , absolute flavor bombs .

32:22

There is no in between .

32:24

And he's very . It may not come

32:26

across in the competition as much , but if you go down

32:29

to Adichok and eat , you will realize that he

32:31

is very planned forward and

32:33

he uses a lot of things like Nori . He

32:36

uses a lot of vegan ingredients that we

32:39

take but we don't even consider

32:41

using cheese and all of that

32:43

. The stuff that he uses to make cheese is

32:45

crazy .

32:46

Okay , nice , nice . The

32:48

next question I want to ask you is , in terms of

32:50

the competition , what

32:52

was harder like preparing

32:55

the dish or the time

32:57

factor ? Because , as you said , the one hour thing , because

33:00

you're racing against time . So which is

33:02

harder to you ?

33:04

It's definitely time , 100%

33:07

time , because I feel like , as

33:09

you go on in the competition , if

33:11

you survive each round , that means recipe

33:13

creation is not a problem for you . You

33:16

can come up with something on the spot , right , but

33:18

it's about pulling yourself

33:20

away from . I can do

33:23

these seven elements to sometimes

33:25

go like . Will these five elements work

33:27

instead ? Because of the time and

33:30

the time is the realest

33:32

thing on the competition . If it's one hour , it's really

33:35

one hour . The

33:38

moment the clock is off , the judges will run to your

33:40

table , mostly beyond . He'll

33:42

run and he'll start snapping pictures so that , even

33:44

if we adulterate the dish , they will

33:46

know already .

33:47

Ah , okay , okay , I understand so

33:49

that time is really .

33:50

If it's one hour , it's 45 minutes , it's 45

33:52

minutes . There's nothing , there's no way to hide

33:55

.

33:56

Have you , during the course of the competition , said

33:58

that's it . Man , I'm gone Like

34:00

because of the time factor and you think

34:02

that's it ?

34:03

man . So I did actually fear

34:06

after Mandy had plated up not

34:09

plated up a dish in the previous round . In

34:11

the previous episode I actually left

34:13

my protein in the oven and I

34:15

think that was the lowest moment for me he wasn't plated . I

34:18

plated everything else except for

34:20

the proteins , which were prawns , and the prawns were

34:22

perfectly cooked at that point

34:25

. But time's up right . So I had my

34:27

rotis on the plate , my salsa on the plate and

34:29

I had my raita dressing on the plate and my

34:31

tenduri prawns were left in the oven and

34:34

I thought , okay , I'm gone right

34:37

. And they said that no the

34:39

rule that we made was very simple If you ever present

34:41

us an empty plate , you

34:43

will be eliminated on the spot right , your

34:45

plate's not empty , but you're definitely not

34:47

going to be able to fight for the advantage which

34:50

is fair , yeah , so yeah , but

34:52

at that point in time I thought like , oh man

34:54

, is this where it ends ?

34:56

No , I got this from somewhere . I

34:58

think one of the interviews that you did right

35:01

. In your opinion . You said it was more

35:03

like a marathon than a sprint , the

35:05

whole competition itself , and you didn't mind

35:08

not winning challenges , but

35:10

rather stay in the competition . Now

35:12

that is to me , and

35:14

listen , it's a competition .

35:16

It's as simple as that , and it's like playing the game

35:18

, obviously . You know , just like watching Survivor

35:21

. Yeah , yeah , yeah .

35:22

That kind of thing , that kind of vibes , right ? Was

35:25

it always been like that for you ?

35:27

So for this I have to answer into what . For the first part

35:29

, the editing was

35:31

very , very good . So congratulations , guys , because that's

35:33

not what it actually was for me . For me

35:35

. I . So if

35:37

you watch after episode four

35:40

or five , after I didn't

35:42

do my prawns , right , I actually went on and

35:44

up towards the finale , right

35:46

, but I kept coming in second .

35:49

Okay .

35:49

Every episode , every challenge second

35:52

place , second place , second place . And it was always

35:54

to Mandy Tina , mandy Tina , mandy Tina

35:56

, and I just kept going like

35:58

what do I have to do to come into

36:00

, you know , to come into first

36:02

place , right , and I don't know

36:04

, man , it was just . I

36:07

mean , yeah , it is a marathon more than a

36:10

sprint , but yeah , you feel like gosh , what

36:12

do I have to do to beat this guy ? You know what I mean .

36:14

But yeah , you know , I think at the end

36:16

of the day , right , it's very important

36:18

as well to get that in your head , because

36:20

sometimes , even if you get second and then you feel

36:22

down about it and then

36:25

Morrell hits rock bottom you know Exactly

36:27

, but you need to keep on going by even

36:29

saying that you know to psych yourself up . Yeah , you have

36:31

to , you know why ?

36:32

Because I mean , for I

36:34

don't know , I can't speak of other seasons . I can't speak of other

36:36

competitions , but this season itself

36:39

everybody just really wanted

36:41

to stay in the master chef kitchen . Just for

36:44

us , it's Candyland , right , it's

36:46

Disneyland on steroids for us . Every

36:48

kitchen equipment you can dream of is there . Every

36:51

ingredient that you possibly want to muck around with is

36:53

there .

36:54

Okay .

36:54

And to get eliminated

36:56

. It's so hard wrenching that , ah

36:58

, I can't come back to this kitchen to ever cook again

37:01

, right ? Right , right right . And even walking into the

37:03

kitchen for the finale there was a moment where

37:05

I went like , damn , this is the last

37:07

time , right , and I'm never going

37:09

to be cooking in this kitchen again .

37:11

Yeah , yeah . Now let's go into

37:13

something like the insights into

37:15

recording like you know the whole recording

37:18

process and what goes onto

37:21

what we watch on TV , right ? What was most

37:23

interesting to you about the whole recording

37:25

process and stuff like that ?

37:27

I think . I mean we started to understand

37:29

why it was done , but we were all placed

37:31

at different benches at different times . This

37:35

had nothing to do with the story or

37:37

anything . It was just so that the camera

37:39

could get everybody when it

37:41

goes on the pan view and all that . So that

37:44

took some getting used to , but after a while

37:46

we sort of like it became second nature as number

37:48

one . As people got eliminated also , it's easier

37:51

to manage . But we

37:53

also sort of got okay I need to ensure

37:55

that I'm not in line with Amir , I need

37:57

to be behind on the left a little bit because Tina's

37:59

on the right a little bit .

38:00

So we sort of start guessing and yeah , Were

38:03

you always , like you know , conscious of

38:06

the fact that this could

38:08

go on air , and because

38:10

you wouldn't know right , Like what could actually

38:12

go on air and what you say , and so

38:14

there's so much that went on that actually

38:17

didn't come out on air and

38:19

like I mean , we have a group chat where all of us

38:21

are in there and we're going .

38:22

Oh my God , I can't believe they cut that out . That was so good

38:24

. And that was like whether

38:26

it's a joke or whether it's an emotional

38:29

moment or something like

38:31

that , and then oh , why did they cut that out ? Or

38:34

somebody goes like hey God , I got absolutely

38:36

slammed for that . How come it didn't come out on

38:38

TV Like thank God ?

38:40

Yeah , yeah , exactly Exactly Now

38:42

, besides yourself right , Take

38:44

yourself out of the picture , man .

38:45

Sure .

38:46

Who , in your opinion , deserves to win this ? Okay

38:51

, I'm not trying to be politically correct , not even between

38:53

the three of you . No , no , I agree . I

38:55

agree .

38:55

I honestly think anyone in the top

38:57

10 , top 9

39:00

, top 8 , anybody could win

39:02

it . Really , really , really .

39:03

It's just about on the day Like .

39:05

It's really on the day how you go . I think

39:07

, like you look at Jonathan like

39:09

the stuff that Jonathan produces is absolutely

39:13

nuts .

39:13

Okay .

39:14

In terms of like flavor bombs , I think

39:16

me and him can go toe-to-toe very well .

39:17

Okay .

39:19

Tina can do flavor as well . Very very strong

39:21

Okay . Mandy , mandy . So like

39:23

you have , like me , tina , jonathan

39:27

and maybe Isaac , so the four of us are

39:30

these like absolute flavor bombs ? Every

39:32

single time . And then you have Devia Ruben

39:34

, who

39:36

else Mandy ?

39:37

Okay .

39:38

You know , these guys are like super finesse

39:40

Amir as well , Like very refined

39:42

, very skilled , but still flavorful

39:45

right . So really anybody's game .

39:47

Are y'all really tight-knit ?

39:49

Oh , super tight , yeah , super super tight Just

39:51

not like the survivor .

39:53

No , no , it's really not like that . There's a lot of backstabbing

39:55

and all .

39:56

We just really want , I guess , okay for survivor

39:58

, because the goal is to survive . Right , you

40:01

want to get the million dollars at the end of the day and

40:03

you need . You know the game is to eliminate

40:05

people , but here it was , dude

40:08

. We met people who , like , think about food , just

40:10

like us , like it's absolutely nuts

40:12

, like wow , you , you know , I found

40:14

another unicorn sort of sort

40:16

of there right . Yeah .

40:19

Tell me the moment , or did you ever

40:21

feel that moment right that you felt I

40:23

don't know , when you woke up in the morning and said

40:26

I've got a chance here to really

40:29

win this . Was there a point ?

40:32

There was a point where I went like , okay , you

40:34

know what I'm , I

40:36

was always in it to win it there was no . It

40:39

wasn't like oh , I'm here for the experience , nothing . The

40:41

moment I got the white apron , I wanted the chef's

40:43

jacket . It's the moment I got the chef's jacket , I wanted

40:46

the trophy . It wasn't , it was nothing

40:48

. There was no doubt

40:50

in my mind ever . But I

40:53

think not once did

40:55

it cross my mind that I

40:57

can get eliminated today . Even

40:59

as I was walking into an elimination challenge

41:01

, I just did my

41:03

own side cup and I went like you know what

41:06

?

41:06

It's just you were not going to get eliminated . I'm not going to get eliminated

41:09

.

41:09

I may not win the challenge , but I'm not getting eliminated

41:11

. The challenge that

41:13

I felt like , okay , I can win it was Chef Malcolm's

41:15

challenge . The day that , you know

41:17

, ruben gave me that massive fish head , and then the

41:20

next one , we had to replicate his fish

41:22

more soup . When I came in second on

41:24

that dish , I was like , hang on , if I can do

41:26

something so delicately balanced , yeah

41:29

, I think I can win this , nice , nice .

41:32

Now this whole experience of you know

41:35

, obviously the competition , meeting people , the

41:38

judges getting criticized , getting

41:40

praised . The whole works right and

41:42

we need obviously . What has it taught

41:44

? What's

41:47

the lesson that you've learned about yourself ?

41:50

Honestly , I found out about

41:52

myself that I actually have a lot more endurance

41:55

than I give myself credit for . I

41:57

have a lot more willpower than

41:59

you think . Sometimes

42:02

you think like , oh , I can do this , I

42:05

can do a 91km run , but

42:07

then you reach the 20 or 25km

42:09

you're like , okay , what was I thinking right ? But

42:12

for me usually it's the other way around . I

42:15

have this streak where I kind of self doubt myself quite

42:17

a bit , but I think , just going

42:19

on getting the feedback .

42:21

Why , why do you ? I don't

42:23

know , man . Is there anything to do about the cooking part ? I mean in general

42:25

, you mean yeah , just in general .

42:27

I just always feel like maybe it's not supposed

42:29

to be me you know what I mean . Like

42:31

this , fairytale endings don't happen for everyone , and

42:34

definitely not me . But

42:37

as the season went on , I go like hang

42:39

on , why not me right ? Why not . It

42:41

could be me . As long as I keep producing , what's

42:44

to stop me ?

42:45

Yeah , it's

42:47

a good point . Actually , Self

42:50

doubt is Again . I

42:52

heard this from somewhere that self doubt is the worst

42:55

thing .

42:55

Yeah , it's a prison that you create for yourself , and

42:58

the only person who can let you out is you , but

43:00

you're so busy like

43:02

just digging this hole that is deeper

43:04

and deeper and deeper . It's just

43:06

getting harder to come out .

43:09

Anyway , congratulations again . It

43:11

was you know , I think at the end of the day

43:13

, you totally deserved it , and kudos

43:16

to you , and my friend it's absolutely brilliant

43:18

. Some personal thoughts before

43:20

we leave right , sure Now in coaching

43:22

, I do coaching as well . I'm a football coach as well , right ? So

43:25

in coaching there's a coaching philosophy

43:27

.

43:27

Okay .

43:28

One for chefs . Do you have like a philosophy

43:31

for that as well ?

43:32

So I've been blessed . Since the competition

43:34

ended , I've worked in a machine-start

43:36

kitchen to get some training , and

43:38

the one thing I've learned from

43:40

watching all the chefs is keep your knife

43:42

sharp , your station clean and your head down

43:45

.

43:46

Can you repeat that ? That is nice man ? What ?

43:48

is it ? What is it ? Keep your knife sharp

43:50

, your station clean and your head down

43:52

.

43:53

Brilliant , absolutely brilliant . Are

43:56

you mindful about healthy cooking and

43:59

therefore eating ?

44:01

I try Honestly , I really do . I do try . I

44:04

mean my wife's going to hate me for things , but ever since my daughter

44:06

is born I try to be healthier because I want

44:08

to be around as long as I can to

44:10

be with her . I still

44:12

want to be with you , my wife , don't take it wrong Priorities

44:15

.

44:17

I know right but .

44:18

I don't know . For

44:20

me , the thing that has been difficult for me is

44:22

compromising flavour over

44:24

healthy food . So I love

44:27

good tasting food . It

44:30

doesn't have to be deep fried . It

44:32

just needs to taste really good . Unfortunately

44:35

, most of the things that taste good come

44:37

from fat .

44:39

Right , you're right . So

44:42

that is kind of like a minor problem

44:44

.

44:45

Something that hopefully we can work on Nice

44:47

.

44:48

Now this question is the next

44:50

question I'm going to ask . Is a friend of mine who actually

44:52

said ask in Nepal for

44:55

me . Right , fusion cooking

44:57

it's a lot , it's everywhere nowadays

44:59

. Now this culture of

45:01

fusion cooking , right , is it an advantage

45:03

for the younger generation or has it

45:05

taken the originality out of

45:07

traditional cooking and the taste

45:10

and the flavour ?

45:12

Fusion cooking is massive because we

45:14

are so blessed to live in a time where we can just hop

45:16

on a plane anywhere go try out a different cuisine

45:18

come back , replicate or try to infuse

45:20

it into our cultures . But where

45:22

I think fusion cooking

45:25

has advantages and

45:27

advantages , there are no disadvantages to fusion

45:29

cooking ? Why ? Very simply because

45:31

it creates something completely new

45:34

and something that doesn't

45:36

exist Like . If you blend Indian

45:38

food with French cuisine , it

45:40

comes out this very delicate , beautiful but strong

45:43

flavours . Why

45:46

I say that there's still an advantage to

45:48

the traditional method is because of

45:50

there are a lot of realists out there who

45:53

then look at fusion cooking and go like this

45:56

is not food . I want to come down

45:58

to the root of this cuisine right

46:00

, which may not have existed

46:02

if the fusion food was not presented to them in the first

46:04

place . Like they'll taste

46:06

it and go like oh , hang on . This is nice

46:08

, but I want to know what the root flavour of this is right . Then

46:10

people go and explore . So one example

46:13

I can give you is from

46:15

a couple of seasons ago . Chef from

46:17

on MasterChef itself , vasun

46:20

. She's an amazing vegetarian chef but

46:22

she loves the South Indian roots . So after

46:24

the competition ended she went to South India , sat

46:27

with the old grandmas and all that and really explored

46:29

the deep levels of

46:32

what it is to

46:34

be a proper South Indian cooking and she found

46:36

that out , Moringa , all of these ingredients

46:38

that we don't really use very often right

46:40

, so I think it's a double-edged

46:42

sword , but both good , nice .

46:45

I hope that answers your question , siva . What

46:48

are some items or dishes that you

46:50

won't cook ?

46:52

or you won't try . I'm

46:54

open to trying everything . I

46:56

think there's some ingredients that

46:59

I just won't cook with because

47:01

I don't know . I just feel

47:03

like this , like awful , awful

47:06

or innards . I just feel like there's so much more

47:08

animal than what you need to go inside , bro

47:10

. There's a lot of animal outside .

47:14

Okay , so you don't do the .

47:15

I mean I'm willing to try it . I'm willing to try

47:18

and see if I can take

47:20

the stigma of it maybe .

47:21

But yeah , I'm willing to try . Okay

47:24

, it's just like one of those . What's

47:27

true is that bizarre foods , you know ?

47:28

Yeah , I mean like Okay , you want to eat

47:30

ends or I'll be my guest . Tell me you want to eat , they're interested

47:33

. I'm going to be like why ?

47:34

Why do you think ?

47:34

something that helps , something else digest something .

47:39

I am in my late 40s , right Sure , is

47:41

it too late to take up cooking .

47:44

It's never too late to take up cooking . Cooking is a life skill . But

47:46

I'm just starting

47:48

from scratch , my friend , Starting

47:50

from scratch is the best place to start , Because if

47:52

you have a bit of an education

47:54

about it , then if you

47:56

leave it for a while , come back to it let's say 12 years

47:59

later you go like , hey , why is everything so

48:01

different ? It's harder to unlearn than to learn . So

48:04

I think you can always pick up a new skill and

48:06

I think cooking is one of the skills that if

48:09

everybody did cooking , I

48:12

think the world would be a better place .

48:13

Of course , of course , and sexy

48:15

as well for a guy , to you know .

48:16

Yep , I mean still married .

48:20

Now , what healthy snack

48:22

can I prepare in 15 minutes , my friend ?

48:24

15 minutes healthy snack .

48:27

Don't say good Mac , don't know .

48:28

Nah , I think

48:30

it's . I

48:33

think generally Asian cuisine is very rich

48:35

, so you might want to go . You

48:37

can have your Asian flavor onto

48:40

something that's very Western , which is a very simple like

48:42

a chicken breast with vegetables that you can

48:44

just pop into the oven . But maybe I give

48:46

you guys a marinade that you guys can try . That might

48:48

be something a bit different . Just

48:50

use honey , paprika , chili powder and

48:53

a little bit of salt just to bring out the sweetness

48:55

, let that marinate . If you can leave

48:57

it overnight and then pop it in the oven with

48:59

whatever vegetables you want , you'll have a hearty

49:02

meal that's tasty as well .

49:04

That already sounds damn good , right

49:06

? It's brilliant , nice , nice . Okay

49:09

, indapal , before we leave , right , I always do

49:11

this , not do this . Do this with

49:13

my guests . Okay , the 10 , not 10,

49:15

. It's a quick fire around , okay let's do this . She's got to be

49:17

quick answers . All right , your

49:19

witty , you'll find out your

49:22

favorite judge and why .

49:23

Chef Damien , he's like a father to me .

49:26

Signature dish .

49:28

Oh , signature dish . I think from the competition

49:30

it would have to be the no-crab

49:32

chili , crab sauce , roti jon .

49:34

Okay , nice . What's your personal

49:37

comfort food ? Chicken

49:39

rice , okay , roasted

49:41

.

49:42

Roasted breast meat only .

49:44

Breast meat only . Okay , your

49:46

favorite holiday destination for food .

49:49

For food the United States .

49:51

United States yes , why .

49:53

So much going on . It's just a boiling pot . You've got Mexican

49:55

food . You've got soul food . You have some

49:58

of the best burgers in the world .

50:01

Yeah , I've seen those .

50:02

You go to Texas , you get so much good barbecue

50:05

. You go to California . You go to LA

50:07

, you have a lot of good up

50:09

and coming food . You go to San Fran

50:11

you've got great Chinese food , great Italian food

50:13

. It's a melting pot .

50:15

How about your favorite holiday destination , the

50:18

United States ? I love to eat

50:20

man , your pet

50:22

peeve in the kitchen .

50:25

Pet peeve in the kitchen . Somebody uses my station

50:27

and doesn't clean down the pot . That is something I just

50:29

I can't just why you used

50:31

it . Just clean it down , man , simple .

50:33

You're a stickler for . Have

50:35

you got OCD a ?

50:36

little bit . Maybe A little bit

50:38

. I like to make sure my board is adjusted straight

50:41

. I don't know why .

50:42

Yes , you are , it makes no sense . Okay

50:45

, fish or chicken Fish , why

50:48

I love seafood ? Okay , favorite

50:50

dessert .

50:52

Favorite dessert . Wow , too

50:55

many , right ? No , actually , this

50:58

is it my

51:00

grandmother in Los Glob , jamun .

51:02

Okay , sweet man , sweet , sweet , Biggest

51:05

disappointment .

51:08

Not signing up for Masterchef earlier ? Really

51:10

, yeah , I actually signed

51:12

up in season one and got in , but

51:15

then I had just started a new

51:17

job .

51:17

So I just thought like this is the right time you got in and

51:19

then you , you .

51:20

I just replied to them . Sorry , I can't come for the

51:22

food audition .

51:24

Lucky you didn't get Black Mug man . No , I didn't

51:26

. But .

51:27

I met one of the producers and said hey , you signed up season one

51:29

, right ? I said yeah , Thanks for wasting

51:32

my time , Sorry , man .

51:34

All right , biggest achievement besides

51:36

Masterchef .

51:37

Biggest achievement ? Oh

51:42

wow , it's supposed to be quick fires . Nothing coming

51:44

with my head . I haven't achieved a lot

51:46

, man . No

51:48

biggest achievement , I think , was

51:50

so last year for Diwali I

51:53

actually got invited to do a showcase

51:55

at the Asian Civilizations Museum to

51:58

teach people how to make butter , chicken and kheer , and

52:01

I thought that was very it's

52:03

a very humbling experience for me because I

52:05

got to meet people who that was the

52:07

first time somebody actually called me chef and

52:10

that felt amazing , even though

52:12

it was a bit of a , you know , imposter syndrome

52:14

.

52:14

Yeah it felt good , nice , nice . Okay

52:17

, your last question , right . If you were not

52:19

a chef , what would you be , or who would you be ?

52:22

I would definitely still be in FMB , because the rush

52:24

of service is something that I can't take away , but

52:27

I would probably be , hopefully

52:30

, a very successful restaurant here .

52:31

Yeah , why not , man ? Why not ? Why not ? That

52:34

was great , my friend . Yes . So

52:37

, mr Chef Indapal , what's next for

52:39

you , like maybe

52:42

, where do you see yourself in , maybe in

52:44

five years ?

52:45

Okay , in

52:47

five years , either I would have

52:49

a chain of brunch places in

52:51

Singapore that give you a very unique

52:54

Singaporean brunch with my friend Ruben , or

52:56

I would hopefully , hopefully , have a

52:58

Michelin star . That would be the dream .

53:00

You are doing this anyway , this brunch

53:03

thing right Because . I've been seeing it on social media

53:05

and stuff . So tell us all , what was this

53:07

about anyway ?

53:08

So me and Ruben we

53:10

were in different teams during the competition and

53:13

we sort of got together after shooting

53:16

and he said like hey , man , because he's a very

53:18

vegetable forward guy , he loves his veg , and

53:20

he realized that a lot of the Punjabi food

53:22

that I was cooking- on the competition was very

53:24

wedge centric , right . And you went like , hey

53:26

, there's a lot of vegetables in your culture . Can

53:28

I just , you know , pick your brain a little bit ? I said , yeah , sure

53:31

, man , come over . So we had cha , we sat down and

53:33

started talking and you're like , do you mind if I do

53:35

like a , you know , like recording series of

53:37

some very basic Punjabi dishes , right ? So

53:40

we banged out I think 12 or 10 videos

53:42

over three days . There's way too

53:44

much food . And he

53:46

took half of it back , ate it . he loved it , and

53:48

then we started talking along the way . You know what's

53:50

actually missing in Singapore , like a proper brunch

53:53

place where you can go for Singaporean

53:55

brunch . It's amazing brunch places

53:57

in Singapore , right , but all of them will

53:59

give you your very , very good eggs

54:01

ban avatose and all that . The

54:04

most Singaporean element you'll probably get is like pancakes

54:06

with kaya . That's like as Singaporean

54:08

as it gets , right . So we said that

54:10

. And then , on the flip side , if you don't

54:12

want brunch but you want something Singaporean , you have

54:14

to go to a kopitiam . There's no in between right

54:16

, true , true . So we decided that we want to be the in

54:18

between guys . Nice . So we came up with this brunch

54:20

concept . Of course , the no brainer was

54:22

putting the roti jeon on the menu . That I did from season

54:25

, from episode two .

54:26

Okay .

54:26

And doing more variations of it , right . And

54:29

then Ruben is the he's so

54:31

good with , like pastas and all that understanding the

54:33

base flavors of all that . We did sambal , udang

54:35

pasta , lasalsah , hijau pastas

54:38

and stuff like that , rice bowls

54:40

, biryani bowls . So yeah , we

54:42

just came out of the menu . Then an investor approached me and

54:44

said I want to do something with you . I

54:46

go like sure man . Then he put money on the table

54:48

and said okay , let's go . Now . I'm like okay , no , no , no , calm

54:50

down , and why don't we do a trial you

54:52

? see how we go see if we're profitable and

54:54

then we can explore doing something

54:57

further . So that's how the brunch idea came about

54:59

, and we just finished our first weekend . So

55:01

pretty good , very happy with the response

55:03

. Thank you so much to all the Singaporeans who came down

55:05

and tried our food and for those

55:07

who are coming this coming weekend

55:09

. We can't wait to meet you guys .

55:10

So it's every weekend then ?

55:12

No , it's only these two weekends , so after

55:14

that I'm taking a short break with

55:16

my family for a while , and then Ruben

55:19

is actually working at Adachok .

55:20

So he needs time to sort of balance

55:23

all of that out .

55:24

We're all trying to balance all of this out . It's very new

55:26

and of course it's

55:28

not just us . That's affecting our wonderful spouses

55:30

as well , our partners

55:32

who I can imagine . Yeah , who's like okay , this is

55:34

really new and we don't get to see you Like what's going

55:37

on , you know .

55:37

Right .

55:38

And yeah , but personally for myself . After

55:40

this brunch series I again

55:43

very , very blessed , very humbled , for the opportunities

55:45

that I've gotten . Some people have booked

55:47

me for private dinings in their homes , so I'm going

55:49

to do that and I'm also

55:51

doing a private dining showcase for the public

55:53

in December .

55:55

How does this work , this private dining thing ? I'm curious

55:57

, man .

55:58

So private dining . If somebody calls me over

56:00

, I go over and I cook in their kitchen , present

56:02

a meal for about eight to ten packs . Cannot

56:04

do more than ten . It's very difficult .

56:06

The quality control right .

56:08

And then we do a

56:11

fine dining experience . I will do a fine dining

56:13

experience at the year end for about 30

56:15

packs per night and that one is like

56:17

I will just sell a ticket . People come , it's

56:20

a tasting menu , you pay a fixed fee , you get

56:22

fed until you can't move .

56:26

That sounds great , man . Nice , nice

56:28

, interpal . Any

56:31

advice for budding chefs , especially the younger

56:33

ones , coming up and working in

56:35

a restaurant , for example , and they just

56:37

want to be wearing that apron

56:39

?

56:41

Just keep going . It's very easy

56:43

, and chefing can be

56:46

a very holistic

56:48

journey , something that's very wholesome because

56:50

the people around you really

56:52

care for you , if you can find a space where

56:54

you work , where the head chefs

56:57

really look after everyone . I

56:59

think that's very important . In

57:01

Singapore we're very lucky that a lot of chefs do

57:03

that , so it's not so difficult . But

57:06

chefing can also be a very lonely journey . It's

57:08

not easy to . You're going to have

57:10

to sacrifice a lot of personal time

57:12

. If you have a girlfriend

57:15

who's not in the industry or you have a boyfriend who's

57:17

not in the industry , it's going to

57:19

be very tough for you to maintain your relationship

57:21

because you're going to start work some

57:23

days at nine in the morning and you're going to end at three

57:25

in the morning the next day , right , and

57:27

your spouse , your partner , your

57:29

girlfriend , boyfriend it's not going to see you much . So

57:32

, you can get very lonely . So

57:34

my advice if you can find someone

57:36

from the industry to date or don't

57:38

at all , or don't at all that's fine

57:40

. And when you finally make it as a chef , don't worry that

57:43

there will be people at the door waiting to

57:45

marry you Exactly .

57:46

Wonderful , wonderful advice , mr Indapal

57:48

Singh . Thank you so much . Thank

57:50

you very much , brother . I think it has been wonderful

57:53

, a nice insight into the

57:56

MasterChef series , as well as yourself , your

58:00

thoughts , your insights into

58:02

what's happening , and we

58:04

wish you all the best for your future .

58:06

Thank you very much .

58:07

And this has been the latest

58:09

episode of the Silver Fox Hustle Podcast . Don't

58:11

forget , before we go , just click on the follow subscribe

58:14

button . Youtube , spotify

58:16

, apple Podcasts we are everywhere , so thank

58:19

you again , indapal .

58:20

Thank you very much .

58:21

The hustle beats talent . When talent doesn't hustle

58:23

, cheers .

58:24

Thank you guys , thank

58:52

you , thank

58:57

you .