Singapore’s culinary scene is highly competitive and demanding. Chef Zor Tan, a restaurant owner, exemplifies the strength needed in this challenging industry. His journey stands as a testament to the power of passion and persistence.
His path to culinary stardom isn’t a tale of overnight success or inherited skills. Instead, it’s a narrative of an unexpected journey — from working in a semiconductor factory to slicing sashimi at a local sushi spot, navigating Michelin-starred restaurants of celebrity chefs, and ultimately establishing his own.
Tan’s story begins in the small town of Taiping in Perak, Malaysia, where life is far removed from the glitz of gourmet kitchens. When he was just a child, a move to Johor saw his family running a modest economic rice stall, an endeavour in which young Tan played little part. His early life was humble, his ambitions unformed.
“I was too young back then to help out in the stall. I just liked to eat the food. But I understood that it was tough to run the business, as [my parents] had to wake up very early to prepare food and open the stall. It was also a lot of long hours, and they worked till late every day,” recalls Tan in an interview with Options.
Perhaps this exposure to the culinary world piqued Tan’s interest. When he was in his teens, he worked part-time in a dim sum restaurant. “I ran the bao station and mostly just steamed buns. But one day, the restaurant was short-staffed, and I was asked to go into the kitchen,” says Tan.
“This sparked my interest to venture deeper into the culinary world. An auntie who was working with me at the dim sum restaurant told me I could be a chef. At that time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do; I was just 14 years old. So, I thought being a chef would be a good idea,” says Tan.
However, when he turned 17, a young, unambitious Tan found himself in Singapore, working as an operator in a semiconductor company. It was a world of precision and routine, a far cry from the creative bursts of a kitchen. “I was looking for a job and chanced upon this in the newspaper. I didn’t know what it was, but I thought I would try. I worked for six months there and didn’t continue after my contract ended,” he says.
When his contract ended, Tan decided to pursue his dream to be in the culinary world. He started small but with purpose. He joined Sakae Sushi, a popular sushi chain. It wasn’t the glamour of a high-end restaurant, but it offered him something invaluable — the opportunity to wield a knife, a skill fundamental to any chef’s arsenal. This was also where he met his wife, who, as his girlfriend then, encouraged him to enrol in formal culinary studies back then.
Realising that his heart lay in the culinary arts, Tan worked hard at Sakae Sushi, saving up to fund his enrolment into culinary school. “I was in Sakae Sushi for about 2½ years to save money for school. And when I did, I went to Shatec. I think it is important to have proper education.”
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Persistence is key
Tan’s big break came when he joined the team of one of Singapore’s most renowned chefs, Andre Chiang. Under Chiang’s mentorship, Tan honed his craft, learning the intricacies of flavours and the importance of culinary innovation.
Tan recalls desperately wanting to join Chiang’s team at JAAN by Andre Chiang in Swissotel The Stamford back then. He was living in Johor Bahru then. Decked in a shirt and tie with an ambition to charm Chiang, he took an early bus into Singapore for his job interview. Chiang, however, was a no-show, but that did not dampen Tan’s hopes. He went back the next day and had his interview.
“After the interview, I kept waiting for a callback. I kept my phone close to me for two weeks, scared I would miss the call. I waited, and in the end, I contacted them and sent a text: ‘Do you want to hire me?’ I was persistent, and in the end, I got the job because of my persistence,” says Tan, jokingly saying that Chiang likely had lost his resume quickly after the interview.
Chiang, too, saw potential in Tan. Tan was later appointed co-executive Restaurant Raw chef in Taiwan and Sichuan Moon’s executive chef in Macau. Both dining concepts by Chiang have their own Michelin stars, exposing Tan to diverse Chinese flavours and cuisine. Tan was also the executive chef of Restaurant Andre in Singapore.
Today, Tan is the mastermind behind Restaurant Born, his restaurant that has become a gastronomic sensation in Singapore. Opened in 2022, Born, short for “Best of Right Now”, has already debuted at #36 on Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants 2023 and gained its first Michelin star.
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Celebrate life
Located in the Jinriksha Station, an iconic heritage building on the corner of Tanjong Pagar and Neil Road, Restaurant Born is a fine dining restaurant of contemporary cuisine and a space of striking theatricality. It celebrates the “Circle of Life” — a philosophy that embraces Tan’s personal and professional journey, representing what was, what is to come and “the best of right now”.
The Jinriksha Station is a conserved building circa 1903 that was a depot for rickshaws and today an icon of Singapore history. The building is also owned by famous actor Jackie Chan, making him Tan’s landlord.
Before Restaurant Born took up the lease at the space, a KTV was in its place. Where the stage of the KTV was previously is now the restaurant’s main stage or kitchen, where all the magic happens for diners to see.
The main dining hall is expansive, with lots of natural light shining through a double-height glass ceiling. Anchoring the main dining hall is an eye-catching, powerful paper sculpture by Peter Gentenaar, symbolising wrinkled skin that infants are born with and adorned as people age.
Playful inspiration
Now, Tan is refreshing Restaurant Born’s menu and introducing the second chapter. This new concept in dining celebrates Tan’s “ah ha!” moments — those bursts of inspiration and flavour discoveries that have defined his culinary journeys.
“This menu is inspired by the moment when I discovered flavours in my life,” says Tan. For example, the main dessert dish of Sweet Potato was inspired by his memory of his favourite childhood cartoon programme Doraemon, in which the main cartoon character’s favourite snack is the sweet potato. While the dish highlights the many textural possibilities of the sweet potato, Tan explains that this dish was born out of his memory of trying Japanese purple sweet potato for the first time and finally realising why Doraemon loved it so much.
Another source of inspiration in Tan’s cooking is his daughter. “When I’m playing ‘cooking’ with my daughter, she sometimes adds different food toys into a plate or bowl and serves it to me. Sometimes, I look at it and think: ‘Maybe this can work’,” says Tan. This is how the Mud Crab dish came about when his daughter “served” him a plate with a crab and asparagus.
The way he sees it, his daughter is his biggest critique. Tan makes an effort to cook for the family every day in the morning before he heads into the restaurant for work. “My daughter will always criticise my cooking. And when I’m not in the restaurant, I cook whatever my family wants to eat. My daughter is very creative, and I will try to put effort into creating fun dishes for her,” says Tan.
Tan himself, however, is less picky when it comes to the food he eats. “I eat whatever. But if I have to choose a favourite comfort food. I think it’s Nasi Lemak because I grew up eating it. I like it from Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang,” says Tan. Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang is a Michelin Guide restaurant and has won several awards.
A taste of life
Options had the chance to savour Tan’s new menu, where each contemporary presentation is a story on a plate, revealing an indelible moment in his life through each bite. Tan’s training in French and Chinese cuisines is married in this nine-course menu, where each dish is a reminiscence of Tan’s revelations.
The multi-dimensional dining experience starts with five snacks, with nuances of Tan’s childhood memories peppered into each dish. Pineapple/Licorice/Chilli awakens the appetite and introduces diners to Tan’s memories of eating canned pineapples from Pekan Nanas, a town in Johor. Potato/Vanilla/Caviar comes next, evoking memories of having fast-food joint French fries dipped in ice cream.
Prawn/Scallop/Uni is Tan’s version of a siew mai, the first dish he made for his family. Chicken Wing/Pig Stomach/Pepper is a reinterpretation of Tan’s mother’s home-cooked pig stomach soup. Lastly, Beef Tongue/Five Spice/Cracker takes Tan back to the night street markets in Taiwan.
The array of snacks leads into Kanpachi/Watermelon Radish/Green Chilli, Tan’s iteration of a Buri or yellowtail, which leverages complementing and contrasting ingredients to whet the appetite.
This is followed by Mud Crab/Asparagus/Smoked Hollandaise, inspired by playtime with his daughter.
The third course, Aged Cow/Oyster/Fried Bao, takes inspiration from Tan’s mother’s oyster “hao bing”.
The next course, Foie Gras/Custard/Espardenyes, evokes Tan’s first encounters with Espardenyes in Spain and Portuguese egg tarts from Macau. Monkfish/Fermented Capsicum/Chicken Fat is also a throwback to Tan’s time in Macau, where he grew to appreciate the classic Sichuan dish, “dou jiao yu tou”.
Another tribute to his time in Macau is Sea Cucumber/Koshihikari Rice/Raw Chestnut, his interpretation of the Glutinous Rice Stuffed Suckling Pig. The seventh course is the Squid/Cuttlefish/Celtuce, which articulates the chef’s first experience with “ika” or raw squid in a Japanese restaurant.
Pigeon/Grains/Corn is synonymous with Born, featuring confit and grilled pigeon breast and leg. This dish evokes the food web symbolism of pigeon, flower and grain — a circle of life within nature.
For dessert, the famous cartoon Doraemon emerges from Tan’s childhood memories, reinterpreted into the Sweet Potato/Oolong/Sea Salt dessert.
To complement the decadent meal, pair your dishes with either a selection of wine or an array of non-alcoholic beverages. We had the non-alcoholic pairing, which included an elaborate tea ceremony, a strong flavoured and slightly umami mushroom tea and a refreshing chrysanthemum and liquorice kombucha.
The chef’s tasting menu will set you back $368++ and an additional $198++ for wine pairing or $118++ for a non-alcohol pairing.
Every dish at Born narrates a personal story, mirroring Tan’s life journey — from his modest start in a dim sum restaurant to the precision of a semiconductor factory and the lively sushi chain that shaped his culinary path.
