Chef of the Week: Jeff Tan, Chef Patron at Chef Patron Viet Food & Go Viet in London
How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I have owned Viet food and Go Viet for 9 years. The restaurant opened in 2015 and was a partnership with friends. I also started my own consultant company in 2018 called JY Consultancy.
Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
My passion for cooking came from my father because my father is a chef. He trained me, taught me and influenced me to become a chef when I was 14 years old.
What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
The most enjoyable thing about being a chef is being able to provide quality food to meet the satisfaction of the customer. The happier the customer is with the food, the more I enjoy cooking.
Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
The main three ingredients are vegetables, fish and chicken. These ingredients are easy and acceptable with most religions, unless they have special requests in changing ingredients.
Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
A wok is the most important piece of equipment in the kitchen. Without the wok range, you are not able to cook most of the dishes that involve stir frying or pan-searing.
What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
Healthy food is the trend that I spotted recently. Most of the people will look for healthy ingredients like broccoli, tender stem, asparagus and other ingredients in the dishes. Majority of youngsters and seniors will request less oil, salt or gluten free to keep the body healthy as well.
What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
A common mistake that chefs make is never tasting the food after it is cooked. Sometimes the taste will be different when cooking with different temperatures, ingredients and the wrong amount of spices.
What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
My childhood food is never forgettable, especially food like fried-rice, that was cooked by my father all year round. It was very nice in taste and memorable when I was young.
Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
I never feel proud of the dishes that I created; what I do feel proud of is knowing that my food is eaten by people from all walks of life, different religions and fulfilling what they need.
How do you come up with new dishes?
Whenever I find new or quality ingredients, it motivates me to come up with the idea in creating a new dish.
Who was your greatest influence?
My family is my best influence because they have worked in the F&B line for quite a long time. When I was young, I used to help my family in the restaurant, and they taught me and trained me how to become a good chef.
Tell us three chefs you admire.
I don’t have a specific chef that I admire. Most of the time I attend chef events to watch how the performer cooks the dishes. I admire every chef who has a good skill in cooking and sharing ideas with them.
What is your favourite cookbook?
I don’t really have my own favourite cookbook. I will pick up any cookbook that I feel looks interesting.
Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
I would think it is more important to watch over the operation, concept and system of restaurant more than the chef, as it is important to have a system to work without any mistakes.
What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
I have been a lot of new restaurants since last year, but I found my favourite restaurant is HUMO.
