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“ I think cooking is very special. When you cook for someone to eat, it is a responsibility. You can make friends with strangers when talking about food and make better friends when you serve them and let them try your dishes. ”
Chef Alfie has been in Phuket with Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa for a few months now. This Singaporean chef has strong and passionate views about Asian food. Let’s see what his inspiration is and how he’ll bring Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa to its next chapter.
“I’m Alfie Jerome Mossadeg, I’m 44 years old and am now working in Phuket for the first time as an Executive Chef in Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa,” he began before we continued to talk about why he wanted to become a chef. And here is how the story goes:
“When I was 8-12 years old, my parents were separated and I stayed with my dad. He had to work in the morning and came back at night. I had to help with making dinner for three of us; my sister, dad and myself. My dad would usually call my grandmother, ask her for recipe and cook it up. I always had to help.”
“One day when I was 12 years old, my dad came back from work very late. The dish we prepared was shepherd’s pie which we’d done it many times before with my father but I’d never cooked it myself, only the preparation.
So that day he came back home late so I decided just to do it because my sister was crying hungrily. When my father came back he asked me ‘Why is the kitchen so clean? And where is everything?’ and I said ‘I cooked already’.
Alfie’s father was surprised, asking him how come he knew how to cook. The chef replied, ‘I see you cook all the time. I thought it was very late so I helped you.”
His father then asked the chef to bring the food out. “My father was a policeman. You have to understand this; he’s very strict like Gordon Ramsey.”
Food is special. It helps you forge a special connection.
“My father saw the food and he ate it. He cried and said ‘thank you’,” the chef recalls.
“That was the first time I understood that food can make an angry person a nice guy. I also understood that food brings people together.”
“So that how I was inspired to be a chef. Actually I didn’t really want to be a chef but I was in some ways forced to be a chef.”
“It helped me to realize that food is very special. You don’t have to be a chef, but food forges a special connection.”
“Later on, I was granted a free scholarship at the government’s special cooking school. After that I went to work ‘with a chef, not as a chef’. You have to start from the bottom even though you have the papers. You have to start from the bottom and then slowly grow up. So now I have been cooking for 13-14 years already.
Chef’s father was surprising asking him how come he knew how to cook.
“I think cooking is very special. When you cook for someone to eat, it is a responsibility. You can make friends with strangers when talking about food and make better friends when you serve them and let them try your dishes.”
“Also, now I’m more inspired as because I getting to learn more about Thai cooking.” He admits that conception of Thai food was limited before.
“When I came to Thailand, I discovered that this country has many kinds of food not to mention street food. It’s so amazing. I’m very happy to be here.”
New menu at Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa
“I’m thinking doing Southeast Asian foods over here. So when the guests come here, they will have a taste of Singapore laksa, Singapore chili crab, a bit of Malaysian desserts like Cendol, a bit of Thai food, Thai street foods is also brought to the restaurant. It’s a kind of dining experience at all levels. Asians share some names of dishes but they’re different. I’d like to feature Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, all Southeast Asia cuisines. We will have a little bit of Western Cuisine but the highlight will be Asian dishes after all.”
Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa has four F&B outlets: signature restaurant Trilogy, Pool Bar, Vu Rooftop Pool & Bar and Indulge lounge.
For more information, please visit www.dreamhotels.com/phuket
Address: 11/7 Moo 6, T.Cherngtalay, A.Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand.
For reservations, please call +66 76 609 888
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