It is about an hour before service, and the students of Taylor’s Culinary Institute are huddled in front of a whiteboard for a briefing. Through the glass window that connects the kitchen and floor of Truffles Restaurant at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya, one sees the diligent focus on their faces and can just about pick up the muffled discussion on how each dish is to be plated and explained.
Tonight, they are presenting a menu crafted under the guidance of chef Kevin Wong from the one Michelin-starred Seroja in Singapore, the prodigious talent who won the Michelin Guide’s Young Chef Award in 2023 and, 12 years ago, participated in this very same exercise himself.
Having just flown in from Japan the previous day, the alumnus enthusiastically shares how, when he got the call from the school’s lecturers to mentor the students for this showcase, he had instantly agreed, cancelling several other engagements to be here.
The young visionary opened his award-winning establishment back in 2022, naming it after the Malay word for “lotus flower” in reference to its focus on flavours from the Malay Archipelago as well as Wong’s origins — when his great-grandfather emigrated from East Asia, he settled in Jalan Seroja, Klang, where Wong’s family still resides today. The revered restaurant not only attained a Michelin star a year later but also claimed the country’s first Green Star, solidifying its place as both a premier location in Singapore’s culinary landscape and one of the most decorated destinations for Malaysian fine dining globally. Seroja also ranked 31st and 40th on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
For all his successes, Wong’s foray into food did not begin with any grand childhood ambitions or poetic passions. Rather, his early days involved picking up part-time jobs, of which the easiest to find were waiting tables at restaurants, a humble first brush with the industry. “When I turned 18, the big question popped up: ‘What do you want to study?’ I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I could work. So, I decided to become a chef without too much thought. I felt the lake at Taylor’s looked nice and applied,” he says with a chuckle.
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But what seemed like a spur-of-the-moment choice back then did not just randomly blossom into resounding acclaim years later. “I always say, when I choose to do something, I also choose to do it to the best of my ability,” he insists. It was Wong’s unwavering sense of commitment, coupled with a healthy serving of hard work, that earned him the opportunity to travel to France during his time at Taylor’s, when only the top four of 20 students could be granted that privilege.
“[In France], I met my amazing mentors. You see the world differently, because in Malaysia, you’re in your comfort zone. The restaurant industry at that time was not as serious. But, there, the chefs have two [Michelin] stars and are doing service every day, and it makes you start to really consider whether you want to do this for a long period. For me, the answer was ‘yes’. One of my mentors advised me to hone my craft; so, I continued my journey to America followed by Tokyo, and finally, Singapore.”
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His move to the Lion City allows him to be closer to family, now only an hour away by plane, but home visits admittedly still happen less frequently than he would like, given the highly demanding nature of his job.
Wong has also ventured into Vietnam in recent years, having opened two restaurants in Saigon and another in Hanoi, which has also been awarded a Michelin star.
But why cook Malaysian food in Singapore, one might ask? Not setting up shop in his homeland was a move informed by a practical understanding of the restaurant business. “To succeed, you need not only good food but industry connections as well. After eight years, I had already developed so many contacts in Singapore, so I felt I had the highest chances of success there.” The support of the local community, as well as his existing relationships with regular guests, made the daunting step of opening his first place a little easier.
Interestingly, it was also his cosmopolitan experiences that convinced him to return to his roots. Wong elaborates: “In the South of France, they don’t import ingredients — they use whatever is in the region. In America and even Tokyo, much of the produce is local. So, when I opened Seroja, that was the only way I knew how to cook: by using everything accessible to you. I cook Malaysian cuisine because you can’t beat a French guy making French food. So, why not cook what’s yours? That was my point of view when I started, and it’s something I’m very proud of.”
In addition to working with local growers and fishermen, Wong sources from plate makers and other artisans in pursuit of holistic sustainability. “Sustainability is a very wide topic. It can be about ingredients or zero carbon emissions, but many people don’t talk about it in terms of craft. If you don’t preserve your culture, it gets lost,” he stresses.
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As a man who attributes much of his current position to the help and tutelage he received along his journey, Wong strives to perpetuate the positive cycle of cultivating young talent by educating the aspiring chefs of today. “Every chef’s goal is to get a star and place on [The World’s 50 Best Restaurants] list. At 28, I accomplished both. But sometimes, when you achieve things too quickly, you lose your sense of purpose. I realised, at 31, that it was time to give back. Whatever I have has been based on the guidance I received from the teachers who passed down their philosophies to me. I am trying to do the same now. This is the first time I’m coming back to Taylor’s to do it.”
Wong has also been involved in multiple programmes at culinary institutes across Singapore. “It’s nice to see a lot of students really interested in cooking. With the boom of technology and AI, a lot of manual work is starting to disappear. It’s really important for professionals like myself to constantly engage with the next generation.”
Having been in the same position as tonight’s participating cohort, he notes how the “full-circle moment” is incredibly nostalgic — “but also very cool”. The menu for the night was developed by Advanced Diploma in Patisserie and Gastronomic Cuisine student Herriz Aidan in consultation with Wong, and features the student’s original creations — fermented shrimp and smoked banana pie tee and seabass roulade in a light laksa broth — alongside iconic dishes from Seroja, such as the Tropical Landscape (a vibrant salad which uses a rotating array of regional ingredients) and dessert of wild basil sorbet with rice tapai and bandung.
“I was really humbled that they chose Seroja!” Wong laughs. “I didn’t want this dinner to be about myself and my restaurant. Rather, it is just an inspiration for them. This menu is about the next generation, and I’m just here to guide them.
“Twelve years ago, we chose restaurants like Tetsuya’s [in Sydney, Australia] and Restaurant André [in Singapore] to model our menus after. Now, a decade later, those chefs are my friends. When we go for supper I tell them, ‘Did you know we had to cook your food in school?’ and they feel so honoured. What matters is leaving a legacy.”
His conviction to uplift others extends to those within his company, too — Wong says creating a supportive work environment is part of how Seroja has been able to perform so impressively.
“The most important thing is your employee culture. When I won my star, we had six chefs and three front-of-house, and we managed to achieve so much. But you can also get trapped in this cycle of trying to maintain your star,” he warns. His stance is not unfounded. Throughout the history of the Michelin Guide, there have been cases of chefs returning their stars because of the expectations and risk-aversion they invoked, with Marco Pierre White having been among the most infamous examples. “It is crucial for me to have a great team of people I trust. It’s about letting go, giving them space to lead and not micromanaging.
“We want to break the taboo that kitchens and F&B always involve punishing hours. I was an employee for the longest time, so I’m aware I need to provide my staff with tools and targets to grow. To be consistently winning awards, the people around you are vital. One person can go very fast, but 100 people can go very far.”
Everyone covets that extra six-pointed sparkle by their name, but Wong believes firmly in building the excellence at the core of his restaurant over measuring success purely from external approval.
Accolades are invariably valuable for a locale’s status and meaningfully validate its team’s efforts, but right up there with the trophies, the owner tells his team to focus first on self-improvement and doing better than yesterday. Egotism should never eclipse the enjoyment of your diners, he emphasises.
“People always ask me, what’s your goal? For me, it’s that my guests leave happily and let others know how great a time they had. Sometimes visitors feel intimidated by fine dining, but at Seroja, it’s different. The guests shouldn’t feel as though they are encroaching upon my ‘sacred temple’!” jokes Wong. “Our food is not rustic, but it is warm. If you look at our dishes, they’re very hearty, and we try to be ourselves. The main purpose of a restaurant is to serve food and make visitors feel good. We never forget these fundamentals.”
Asked what hurdles he has faced along his path, the optimistic Wong says he never feels something is a challenge, only ever part of a learning curve. Admittedly, though, the general public’s perception of local cuisine has made matters a little tougher for Seroja. “When we talk about gastronomy, the French have a long history of nouvelle or haute cuisine. They are the benchmark. So, when you come in doing local cuisine, people might interpret it as just reinventing street food, which we are not. How do you break and change that association?”
This is where Wong feels attention and recognition from media outlets and awarding bodies can help encourage the diversification of food and create an environment in which all nationalities of cuisine can be valued and appreciated equally.
Life is not all business, though, and the chef has personal hopes, too. “I want to spend more time with my wife. It’s crazy, because when I got married in 2023, I was attending my wedding at lunchtime, but by dinner, I was cooking for service! When you have a restaurant, this is your commitment.
My wife and I have been together for close to 10 years, but I’m always working. So, I wish to be with her more and, hopefully, build a family,” he smiles.
