He Poached Ramsays Heart

Koh Han Jie, a rebellious boy caught for drug consumption before, had no interest in culinary at

all as a teenager but today, he could be one of Singapores most successful chefs.

By Greta Lau

The 10-minute countdown started and the four aspiring chefs from different institutes got to

work. It was a total black box - none of them knew that they would be asked to cook three

different types of eggs for this intern selection for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsays restaurant in

Singapore. (49 words)

Something did not seem right for one of them, who is ITE College West student Koh Han Jie.

One of his two stoves was faulty, and the clock was ticking away. Telling himself to manage his

time properly, Koh quickly calmed himself down, planning the sequences in his head before

serving up the omelette, poached egg and soft-boiled egg.

His effort paid off when Chef Ramsay, the famed chef of Bread Street Kitchen, crowned him the

winning intern.

Shocked, Koh stepped forward to receive the chef uniform from him. The ITE College West

student had won the internship position at Bread Street Kitchen with his perfectly poached

eggs topped with a brush of melted butter.

Getting the internship placement at Gordon Ramsays restaurant in Singapore further boosted

Kohs confidence. The executive chef of the Les Amis Group, a Michelin 2-star restaurant in
Singapore, approached Koh right after the intern selection to ask if he was interested to join

them after he has graduated. Koh also got a technical diploma recently and went for an

internship in France at a Michelin 3-star restaurant.

However, Koh, who is 23 this year, was not interested in culinary from the start. During his

secondary school days, Koh dropped from the Express stream to the Normal Academic stream

in secondary 2. After doing very badly for his N Levels, Kohs mother suggested that he took

something related to skills, which is why he randomly decided to pick culinary, but without any

interest in it at all.

Things did not improve much during his time in ITE, as he still had not found an interest in

cooking. During his first year of studies, Koh was caught for drug consumption and had to report

to the police station for a urine test weekly. During that period of time, Kohs attendance was

badly affected as he skipped classes. Mr Zave Toh, a lecturer at ITE College West who is still in

touch with Koh, said that Koh was a very rebellious boy. However, Koh also motivated him to

stay in ITE to teach.

Because of Han Jie, and what I can teach and share with students like him, I shouldnt be

leaving. Witnessing their growth and how they slowly find interest in culinary is very

heartwarming, Mr Toh said.

Koh only started to show more interest in culinary in his second year of ITE, when he went for

his internship programme at the Marmalade Group. There was an upcoming World Skills

Competition and Koh was interested in participating in it. Before that, a selection was held to

choose a representative from Singapore to join the competition in Germany. Koh won.
The preparation for the World Skills selection while going through his internship programme

became the turning point for Koh. That was when Koh became crazily involved in learning and

doing his best, said Mr Toh.

According to Mr Toh, Kohs reason for being suddenly interested in culinary was because of the

synergy he had with Chef Robin Ho, who was the executive chef at The Marmalade Group at

that time. Mr Ho put in a lot of effort just to train Koh for the selections, from forking out his own

money to buy fresh ingredients for Koh, to going to work much earlier with Koh to practise. Both

Mr Ho and Kohs hard work paid off when Koh won the first ITE medal locally. From then, Kohs

passion for cooking grew stronger.

Despite already being known in the culinary industry in Singapore, Koh keeps seeking

opportunities to further improve himself.

I cant be working in the kitchen for a very long time, so a diploma will at least get me

somewhere in future, said Koh, who applied for a technical diploma programme which was

planned and led by Mr Toh. The programme, a collaboration between ITE College West and

Institut Paul Bocuse, which is a school based in France, is a unique course which only accepts

20 students every year.

In July 2014, Koh was sent to France for training as part of his internship programme for the

technical diploma before he graduated from it. He interned at a Michelin 3-star restaurant called

Maison Pic for four months. Although the owner of the restaurant, Anne-Sophie Pic, was a chef

that Koh admired the most, the experience there was not all sunshine and rainbows.

Yes it was the most memorable internship for me but it is also the toughest 4-month period in
my life working in a restaurant because it is very fast and working hours are even longer - 7am

to 1am everyday, Koh recounted, The greatest challenge I had when working in the restaurant

was that I cannot speak French so I had a hard time communicating with all the staff there. I

was the only Singaporean there.

Upon completing his technical diploma programme, Koh accepted the Les Amis Groups

invitation for him to join them and is currently at Les Amis, a French dining restaurant. He

admits that it is tough working there as he has a bad temper so it does not help that he gets

yelled at very often when at work as the chef would want perfection in the kitchen. To

overcome this problem, which he describes as his biggest flaw, Koh thinks about how his

mother would coax him to take deep breaths to relax and how Chef Ramsay always told his

staff to be humble and to just apologise whenever they are in the wrong.

Koh plans to continue working in the kitchen for another 10 years to gain more experience and

hopes to open his very own restaurant after that.

Being able to come this far, I think its a very great achievement for me because I turned from

someone so bad to someone who has something to work hard for. Im looking forward to the

day I can set up my own restaurant and make my mother proud, Koh said with a smile, adding

that his mother would like be more excited than I am.

(1074 words)
Han Jie at ITE College West, the place which witnessed his growth from a rebellious teenager

to who he is today (Photo by Marie Quek)