The Chef JKP Podcast
The Chef JKP Podcast
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Kelvin Cheung - Jun's, Fame & Push Ups!
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In this episode of the ChefJKP Podcast, Kelvin Cheung shares his formative years working in his dad's restaurant and his path into the industry.
Kelvin also touches on the challenges of maintaining a work-life balance in the demanding world of hospitality.
Despite the accolades and recognition, including being featured in the Michelin Guide and the prestigious Gault and Millau Guide, Kelvin remains focused on the simple joy of feeding people and creating memorable experiences for his guests.
ChefJKP and Kelvin discuss:
- The Demands of the Hospitality Industry
- Advice for Young Chefs
- Transition to a More Positive Management Approach
- Kelvin's Growth and Changes in Management Philosophy
- Unique Disciplinary Methods in the Kitchen
- Discussing Mental Health and Wellness in Kitchens
You can follow Kelvin on HERE
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That's right. The podcast is now on YouTube, so you can watch all of the interviews at your leisure. At the same time, your contribution to the show by hitting that subscribe button makes a monumental difference to the show,
as you can keep inviting the guests you love and keep having the conversations that no one else is having. The only thing that I ask is that you share the show. Welcome to the Chef JKP podcast with me,
James Knight Pacheco. checko. memories.
Wherever you are in the world, whatever you're doing, I ask that you sit back and listen and perhaps take away a few more sorts of advice. There will be laughter,
we're gonna get serious. Above all, lessons for life. You're listening to the Chef JKP podcast and this is what you can expect on today's show.
Keep us in mind, every holiday, every occasion, every birthday, any fun time in the world. your friends will be partying, you'll be cooking.
And it kind of hit home because I realized every one of our birthdays, every Christmas, every New Year's, every Chinese, every single major holiday occasion, we would always have to celebrate week or weeks afterwards if we had a chance to celebrate at all.
- Right. - And it kind of hit home because I was like, I need to understand that your life, this is your life. There's no halfway. There's no way. There's no part time being in this industry. It's either all or it's nothing.
When I create dishes for the menu, every single dish is tied to something that I've tasted or something that I've experienced. And when you come down to everyone on this planet, we're tied together by food.
Somewhere, somehow, there's some connect with every dish, every flavor. It doesn't matter if we're Canadian, if you're American. if you're Emirati, if you're from Dubai or from somewhere else in the world.
This is common denominator between humans. It's our food. Don't get caught up in the spotlight. Our should be, at least, our industry is not about being famous.
We are here to feed, to provide a service. This is what we do. We feed people. We feed people. And a lot of young chefs forget that.
They don't remember that our sole job is to take care of people and to feed them. And they get caught up in the spotlight. So I would say as a young chef or as aspiring young chef,
stay humble and keep your head down and you keep cooking. - The chef we have on the show today has made a big impact on the global food scene. has made a big impact on the global food scene. has made a big impact on the global food scene. The restaurant where he created the food scene The restaurant where he created the food scene dishes from his food memories and travels is located within the heart of downtown
Dubai. And if that's not enough, the restaurant has been operating for just over a year. In that time, he has been recognized by the Michelin and the prestigious Goan Milo guide. He has made his culinary mark when it comes to all things gastronomy.
He's the chef and partner at Juns in Dubai. On the podcast this week, I talked to Kelvin Chung. We discussed his formative years in his dad's restaurant as well as his extensive travels within Europe,
India and the Middle East. We also discussed what it's like to work in a completely different continent as well as what wellness means to him. We also discussed several challenges when it comes to being a leader and how best to adapt.
Kelvin has a lot to say and there are a lot of takeaways from our conversation. Above all, you can feel his love and passion for what he does and his love for his family. Listen out for a story involving push -ups.
Time to rock and roll. Just before we begin, here is a small message from this week's guest. This is Chef Kelvin Chung of Junes Dubai. If you liked the podcast,
please make sure to follow, share and subscribe. Welcome back to the Chef JKP podcast. and on the show today We have the absolute honor of having the multi -award winning chef Kelvin Chung Kelvin.
Welcome to the show Thank you for having me. So first line of attack Can you please tell me your first or favorite ever? childhood food memory one of my earliest memories was obviously in my father's restaurants I grew up in the very atypical kind of Chinese restaurant family.
So the entire family went to work. And when my brother and I, I was four, my brother was six, my parents were at the restaurant every day. And there was no babysitters back then, there was no nannies back then.
We couldn't afford it. We were just trying to struggle and push and make the restaurant happen. So in essence, the most basic way of babysitting and childcare was putting us to work. Thank you. So even when we're old enough just to sit properly,
we had a bakery on the bottom floor and the old pastry chef who was with my dad for probably like around 50 years, he would just make 40 KG batch of dough. - Nice. - And me and my brother would sit there and we would make all the almond cookies,
all the fortune cookies. And I said we would serve to the guests. And by sitting in the bakery and working essentially, that was keeping us safe in a kind of safe -ish kind of environment, even though it was a hot kitchen. But that was our childcare.
- Wow. So, and how was that for you? Did you enjoy it? Was it work, or did you not think about anything? Was it fun as a kid? - It was fun because it was presented in a manner that we were making cookies and baking, and we're chipping and helping the family.
And so there was a sense of responsibility because I could already see my brother helping. I could see my sister already helping because she was slightly older. So she was already helping out the cash. My mother was working every day, seven days a week. My father was working seven days a week.
Our entire family was employed. So my cousins, my aunts, my aunts. my grandmother, everybody was in the restaurant. So it was kind of an honor to be kind of put into place where I could chip in and kind of do my kind of share,
even though I was only four. - So where was that in the world when you were growing up? - That was in Toronto. That was my father's, I believe, his fourth restaurant at that time. - Wow. So you obviously come from,
your bloodline is essentially restaurant, right? So when growing up, so when you were, let's say a little bit older, sort of teenage. onwards, were you still very much involved or were you trying to do your own thing?
- So it was funny 'cause I think my dad always had this master plan and as kind of immigrant families, the parents always overwork themselves and try to push to set up their kids for a better future.
And that's kind of the dream, right? But even though that was the dream for us to be professionals as they deemed whether it be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, et cetera, we still had to do our part in the restaurant. - Right. - So from the childhood era of baking cookies and doing stuff in the bakery,
as essentially we got stronger or bigger, then our roles changed. So my brother was always bigger and taller, so he moved on quickly to dumplings, and he would be pressing the skins for the chefs to roll,
and I would help clean up, empty them some baskets and put the papers in. But by the time I was a teenager, I had progressed from that to the front of the house, house Which again was a diabolical plan that my father had because he would make a start from the bottom up So as soon as I was big enough then I became a busboy as soon as I became more mature than from a busboy I became a waiter from a waiter I
became a captain from a captain that became a bartender and then finally I got my chance to kind of manage a dining room and Then only after I successfully could run the front of the house Then he plopped me back into the kitchen to wash dishes well,
and - And from there, what go on? Yeah, from there went dishes to peeling vegetables, to cleaning meat, cleaning fish, and then I would start cooking finally. So it was a whole journey. - So how old were you by the time you got to sort of go in the kitchen?
- I was probably around, I mean, I started washing dishes when I was 12. - Yeah. - But by the time I was actually cooking and cleaning vegetables, it was probably around 13, 14. - Okay, so then through high school, - Through high school.
were in the kitchen as well? - Every day. - So then after you graduated, did you go straight into culinary school or did you want to do something completely different? - So I was part of that immigrant dream.
I was the one who was pursuing medical. So from there, it was college, it was biology, studying that, and then prepping for med school, pursuing that whole dream of having a doctor in the family.
- But you were still working in-- - Still cooking every day. - Okay. was, it never ended. Even from the earliest age, it was wake up, go to school, 3 .30, get picked up, go straight to the restaurant,
30 minutes of time to do homework, to have dinner, and then your shift would start, whether it be washing dishes, whether it be in the kitchen, wherever it may be. And when the rush was over, straight home, pass out, do it all over again.
- Wow, and that's quite an amazing sort of, I feel, it's quite an amazing work ethic that your parents obviously gave your family. you know, but also the sense of community that you're all doing it together,
I think is also like really nice. Yeah, it was bred into us. Yeah, which is, I think it's beautiful, really. So let me ask you then. So during the time that you were in med school and doing all that sort of,
I think it's phenomenal. I think that you're sort of doing that job and at the same time, from a linear perspective, you're working. Did it ever in your mind occur that you wanted to be sort of in hospitality for time,
or was the plan for you, "I'm going to work with my family, and then I'm going to graduate, and I'm going to go straight into medicine"? So I think the journey towards medicine was to fulfill their dream.
Whereas, I think deep down, I had already known that somehow, some way, that my true love and my true passion were always going back to cooking. And, it took some time.
because while I was attending classes, it was quite easy. I didn't find much difficulty in completing the daily tasks and projects and essays and just it was very mundane to me.
And the only time I was happy was that a night after class when I went back to the restaurant to help out and chip in. So I took that leap of faith and sat my parents down and I was like, I think I'm going to drop out.
So let's stop there. Before you had that conversation, how many months or years had you already been in med school? It was first year. OK, so you finished the first year or it was within?
Within. OK, so then you had to have the big chat. The big chat. And OK, how did your parents take it? They were furious at first, which is understandable, because they're like,
oh, we work so hard to provide you with this, this, this, and you want to give it up and you want to go back to this. And I was explaining to them, I was just-- I could do it. But would I be happy in 10 years,
15 years, and 20 years? And what would the point of that be? Would it be accomplishing the task just because I decided to do it? Or would it make me happy in life? And it took some time,
but eventually my parents sat me down, and their only conversation was, "You need to look at it." us. Look at what our relationship is." My father straight up just said,
"Look at our relationship. What do you remember from your childhood?" And I was like, "With you? Nothing." He's like, "Every day your soccer practice, your piano practice, your homework, was I there?" And I was like,
"No, good point." He's like, "You need to understand that you will not have time and it will be very difficult for you to prioritize." prioritize your family. Right. And I was like,
that's a great point. And then I said, the next point, if you're lucky enough to find a partner who understands this wild world of hospitality, then you may find a partner who will accompany you on this journey.
Because like, look at your mother. Your mother gave up her entire career to help me make my restaurant succeed. And I was like, huh, at that point I was single. So I was like, yeah. So how old were you when you had that conversation?
- 22. - But had you already known that you'd have to make time sacrifices whilst sort of growing up, being in the restaurant,
going through college, did you already have that instilled in you? - You kind of know, because you start to notice things. And this is his last point was like, keep this in mind, every holiday, every occasion,
every birthday, any food, fun time in the world, your friends will be partying, you'll be cooking. And it kind of hit home because I realized every one of our birthdays,
every Christmas, every New Year's, every Chinese, every single major holiday occasion, we would always have to celebrate week or weeks afterwards if we had a chance to celebrate at all. And it kind of hit home because I was like,
I need to understand that your life, this this is your life. There's no halfway. There's no part time being in this industry. It's either all or it's nothing. - So after all of that,
you had the conversation, the parents were, but it's good that your dad told you, this is what it's gonna be like. I think that's really, I mean, it's amazing that he was so honest with you to sort of make sure that you're in.
So did you want to sort of go into a pro kitchen straight away or did you want to also go to a pro kitchen? culinary school? - So we were very lucky because Phoenix in Chicago turned into almost an industry hangout.
So it was where all the chefs came to eat. It was where everyone in the industry would come on their day off. And I got a lot of opportunities to interact with essentially the biggest, baddest chefs from all over Chicago.
And my father suggested is like, if you want to get a taste of it, why don't you go try working in their kitchens to make sure that this is on the right side of the table. you want to do because you only know my kitchens. You don't know what's out there.
So anytime a chef came in I just be like hey can I like just drop in and do a shift or do a couple shifts or do a week and I kind of just started plugging away throughout the city. Every chef that walked in I would just be like hey chef do you mind if I come stag for a day a week whatever they allowed me to do just so I can get a taste of what a kitchen outside of the traditional Chinese kitchen felt like.
So after doing those certain stages starges, which kitchen did you eventually land in full time? - Nowhere. So from there, I went to culinary school. - Ah, okay. So you thought, this is what I want to do.
You really thought that was it? - Because one of the, actually a bunch of the instructors from the culinary school in Chicago were our regulars as well. So after the starges, that's when I had the conversation with one instructor saying,
"What are the chances that I can get into the school?" And because they see me cook, they've tasted my food, they've seen me cook. work. They're like, let's, I'll talk to the dean, let's, let's make this happen. Okay. And we made it happen. So then that was how long?
Two years? Three years? So I did a two -year associates first, but because of my visa situation, at that time I was still working towards getting a green card. I extended my two -year associates,
which I finished and completed and got that degree, and I did an additional two years for a bachelor's degree as well. Wow. So four years total. total, we're not counting med school, but four years total with culinary.
During that time, still the fire was there. You wanted to be in, you wanted to push. There was never a doubt that you wanted to go back to med school? - No, not at all. Never, never look back. - So then what was your first job that you landed after culinary?
- So I turned into kind of the school's ambassador almost because I think of what my father instilled into me. - I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, there was an event, special program, anything that happened in the school,
I was the first to jump at it. And because I outworked everybody else, the dean essentially took favor to me. And anytime the dean wanted food, anytime he was hungry, anytime he wanted something done,
I would leave at it. Whether it be cleaning the kitchen, whether it be scrubbing the floors, every single opportunity that happened, I jumped at. And that kind of led me into. my first opportunity Which was an event from one of his friends was a Belgian chef He did an event at the school and after the event the chef was like one job and I probably should have done some research but I kind of just said sure and
just blindly stumbled into it and leap of faith found myself in this tiny bed and breakfast and a place called Dino in Belgium And it changed my world also from the US you you went to Belgium?
- Yeah. - Not speaking a word of-- - So I remember a little bit my French, my Canadian French, which if you can call that real French, but it was in a town where they only spoke French or Dutch.
- Wow. So what was your job in that place? - Looking back, it was probably one of the harder things that I've done in my life, but I don't think anywhere else,
at least in Belgium, in North America, I would have been able to learn what I learned there. So the routine there was that, seven a .m., we wake up, it was me, the other chef, and the sous chef. We would go to the farm,
pick up all the vegetables, pick up all the herbs, make sure everything was prepped by the time chef would go. - Okay. - What time did he wake up? - Depending on how much he drank the night before, it could have been anywhere from 7 .45 to eight to 8 .15,
and no one knew. - Jeez, man. - But he would stroll down, and then the moment he'd stroll down, we would sit, and that's when we'd have breakfast. Once we finished breakfast, that's when prep would start. So we would prep and get ready for lunch service.
And the interesting thing was that we never, we didn't have a dishwasher. So every single thing that the restaurant used, every piece of equipment the restaurant used, other than me doing my work as a cook, I would have to clean as well.
So we would get ready for lunch service, and then we would fire lunch service, and I would have to wash. wash the dishes. But the cool part was that around 10, 10, 30, the hunters would come. And whatever they caught,
that would be our proteins. So some days it was duck, some days it was pheasant, some days it was boar. It could be anything. And I would sit in the garage, and I would clean them. I learned how to clean buckshot out of these live animals,
how to de -feather them, and how to age them, and we would cycle through. We also had a fish pond. So every order of fish that we got in, I would have that. run outside with my little net and catch the fish, bring it back inside, but you're clean and cook it to order.
Wow. What, what a schooling because culinary school would never taught you that. Or restaurants. Yeah. All restaurants and the butchery and all of that sort of stuff and the discipline. So that was five days a week or six days a week?
Seven days a week. And how long for? What were you there? But just over a year. So you must have learned a huge deal apart from the language. - Unpaid. - Unpaid.
- Unpaid. - Why was it unpaid? - It's kind of that old kind of like cloth, right? Like back then, you didn't get paid to work. You got your payment, your salary was learning.
- So essentially, of course, they gave you like bed, breakfast, food, all of that kind of stuff, right? Room and board, wow. - So then when did you, did you go straight back to the US after that to your family, or did you carry on in the US?
Europe? So at the end of it the chef's wife who was mama, she took care of us and She gave me an envelope full of cash at the end of it and she was like thank you for your work I hope this is something like that you can enjoy So I just took that money and just jumped on the train and just bounced around until my money was gone Popped around all around Europe and then that was time to go.
So back once you were home What was the next step? step? - So that was a tough time because I was trying to figure out my whole visa situation. And that's when I had the opportunity to open a restaurant.
And it was interesting because you're coming straight out of Century Connery School, fresh off the block. But I was fortunate enough that I had some of my closest dear friends who were also my students when I was TAing at the Connery School as well.
And we left at the-- chance. So we opened this restaurant pretty much learning on the fly, but it was my first chef job, like my first head chef job. So we opened this tiny little Asian restaurant in the southern suburbs of Chicago.
And I was fortunate enough because my best friends believed in me, they all left insane kitchens to come work for me. And the five of us rented this tiny little apartment and tried to open a restaurant.
And it was probably some of... the most fun that we've had as baby chefs, but it was a wild journey. We won for Best New Restaurant and we obviously partied quite a bit because living in the same house,
we would wake up in the morning, go to the markets, come back, prep, smash service, head straight back to the city, drink until five, six a .m. in the morning and do it all over again. Personal question for you.
Being the head chef, working with your friends, did you find it difficult to differentiate between being a chef leader and their friend? It would have been a very different situation if I had to hire other chefs who I didn't know.
But because we had such a strong bond, they're still my best friends now. They really respected me and my word. They also knew that I was holding them to a much higher standard than we've ever done.
And we managed to pull it together. and it was tough, it was very tough. But these are probably the best chefs that I've ever worked with, because they all came from this insane pedigree working in Michelin Star restaurants,
who gave up that just to come help me for this one year. Sadly, the owners and I, the whole team, we had different perspectives of how the business should have been run, so we all left.
And it's quite beautiful because that crew, crew that worked with me went on to work at Michelin Star restaurants, three Michelin Star restaurants,
and got their own stars as well. And we're still best friends. Sounds quite cool though. Very cool. Yeah, but I mean, I can imagine at times it must have been a bit sort of conflicting that you're the, you're the best mate friend,
you know, and then, but you're also the head chef and you're trying to sort of run this restaurant. So when someone's making mistakes, it's how to manage that. It was. very difficult because I had to learn very early on on how to manage people.
- How was your management style then? - Still, quite, quite embarrassingly, and I'm quite ashamed of it. Because of the way I was taught, it was that very old school kitchen where there was a lot of yelling,
there was a lot of swearing. But with these guys in particular, I knew that... me making them feel like I was disappointed was far more effective than me shouting,
screaming, yelling at them. So it was always that you gave them that parent like mom look, just like, you know, and then that lit a fire into them and they would just turn back on. So that was far more effective back then.
So then what I want to do is I want to sort of fast forward to sort of 2012, when you first went to. India. So obviously,
you've seen Europe, you knew what it was about. Obviously, you, as you had your own place, what was the catalyst for you to go to another continent? Because it's very different, India,
super different. Not just in culture, food, I mean, everything. So this was when I was back in Toronto, me and a couple of my best friends were trying to open a restaurant. We secured a location.
I designed the menu, I already started procuring equipment, and when we were supposed to sign the lease, we got into a disagreement with the landlord. So we dropped the restaurant, and I was sitting in my room,
not doing anything. Got a random phone call at 3, this was two days after we dropped the restaurant. Got a random phone call at 3 am, and it was one of my old students who was from Bombay, and he calls me up,
and it's like... "Hey, bro, we opened this cool restaurant with a young, ambitious owner who wants to kill it and do really crazy stuff." They had hired the Botagio brothers who were just fresh -off their wins from Top Chef.
Death & Co. was number one in the world for their bar program. Thomas Schuess, one of the elite designers around the world, designed this beautiful restaurant. It's an amazing place, but something wasn't clicking and it wasn't working.
So he's like, "Would you like to come out and help us out? And I was like, no, not at all. At that point in time, I had no idea what was happening in India,
nor did I even want to go to India at that point. At that point, I was just trying to figure out life 'cause I had just dropped my restaurant. But he started to explain to me that Bombay especially, around 2012, was one of the most exciting F &B markets at the time.
Because of the emerging middle class? and this is when social media was just starting. He said there is just this vast population who are just thirsting for good food,
good drink, good experience and it's a really cool market for you to kind of enter and try. So as he pitches to me I'm thinking okay I'm not doing this restaurant. I don't have anything on hand. I'm like okay you kind of got my interest here.
I was like give me a shout tomorrow and let's chat more. Go back to bed. A couple of hours later, my phone rings again. And I answer and he's like, yeah, wait, wait, wait. The owner is on the phone with you, he wants to talk. - Jesus.
- And I was like, wait, I'm in my underwear, it's 5 a .m. And I was like, you really want to talk now? He's like, yeah, he's really excited to talk to you. Let's talk. I was like, all right, I guess we're doing this. So we chatted quite a bit and yeah,
we made it happen. And it was a leap of faith, a six month contract, which kind of turned into 10 years. 'Cause I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. a huge leap of faith. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So during that time,
what were the types of concepts and restaurants that you were managing? - So the first one was, it started off as a extreme fine dining, where we were flying in ingredients and doing all sorts of wild things, like 26 component dishes.
- Right, right, right, right. - 'Cause that's when like a bully was on fire and Kiki was there, like everyone was like trying to do, like the world's best was like, just like pushing. pushing these crazy great restaurants, but it wasn't working because the market wasn't ready for that sort of restaurant.
So I flipped it around. And from that, I turned it into almost fun dining where it was still the same standards, but just simpler, very approachable food, five, six ingredients per dish,
and they exploded. It turned into the hotspot. - But the price point also, you have to be quite sensitive because the price point in India is - - Especially at that time. - Yeah, exactly. It's completely different to Europe UK US.
Yeah, it's very sensitive to all of that. Okay. And then from there I did a seafood restaurant I did a street food restaurant lots of burger brand Started an Asian restaurant.
It was it was we were it was very blessed that run Because it built a lot of great brands and was able to establish myself and what and do do different things So then the other thing I sort of wanted to sort of analyze and have a chat with you about is Your management style again would have had to adapt to the culture To the language per se.
How was that for you in the beginning? It was very tough learning and again looking back It was probably some of the worst management and leadership that I've ever done done.
Because I was taught you make mistakes, you get yelled at. I was taught if your temps are off, your sauce is wrong, anything that you do wrong, you get yelled at. And I actually emulated that.
So the amount of screaming and shouting, it's embarrassing because I was known as the angry chef. Everybody in town, because I would storm around the dining room with my eyebrows fair and just looking to yell at someone and it was not the way to do it,
looking back. And it took all the way till now, till this whole journey, till I reached Dubai, till I became a father. For me to really understand,
it's useless. Me shouting, screaming, kicking, swearing, throwing, all of that's useless. 'Cause you'll never, ever be able to teach someone. Even though that's the way I was taught.
What happens during a service when something goes wrong? You yell, you don't yell, you don't yell, you don't yell. kick, you scream, you shout, you throw plates, you break plates. The person who you're doing that to, they break down,
they lose concentration, and nothing gets fixed. At the end of the day, the guest is not getting a better experience. So what does me destroying someone do for me serving this guest?
Whereas now, if I take the time to prepare my team, to arm them with the knowledge, arm them with the skills, teach them to be prepared for it, even if there is a mistake,
if I show them how to fix it and do it with them, that I can get to my guests immediately. And it'll happen less and less and less.
So then let's say, let's say, I mean, you started in 2012, you had, you know, the usual sort of teachings of what they would do in the US or Europe. whatever, let's say aggressive.
Very aggressive. When you went to India, and obviously there is a clear language barrier, also there's an accent barrier, right?
That must have not only frustrated you, but have also frustrated everybody else, right? Because you've got your message and things to say. Comey, Sushev, CDPs, restaurant managers per se would have also...
also had things that they wanted to say to you, but maybe not communicated them in the right way to get the message. It must have been quite like so much stuff going on, you know, and you're away from home, but your management style from,
let's say, 2012 to, let's say, 2020, did it change? It must have changed some time through the years. It was already starting to evolve. I had already noticed what was working and what wasn't working.
And because I was running multiple outlets with multiple teams, I learned that first off, everyone's personality was completely different. - Yes. - So whether it's someone needs a little bit more cuddling,
whether someone needs to be a little bit more soft, some people just need that formal, strict guideline. They need those boundaries. Learning to be able to gauge everyone for their individual kind of personality.
personality type that helped me the most because when I was back in Canada again managing a hotel there. I quickly learned that I couldn't just shout and scream because we had unions We had reps in the kitchen.
So the moment I raised my voice I would get a call from HR and be like hey come down the office and that turned into a routine thing It would be a running joke because every week I would end up in HR and the lady is like What did you do now and I just be like I don't know cook cuz I it didn't compute that I couldn't do it,
but I had to learn how to adapt and learn very quickly in order to be successful. - You're right, because also there's so many different types of kitchens, but again, there are, I think still to this day,
there are two types of schools. You've got the old school, which is kind of a screamy -shouty, and then you've got this sort of new school that you are sort of more mentor -esque, so to speak.
Some people would argue which one is more effective. to get the job done. But I agree with now a days, especially with mental health and all of those things, it's how do you keep mentoring and teaching people and making sure that they're doing the correct job.
At the same time, the guest needs to get the right taste food and so on and so forth. So it's a lot to manage. But then after 10 years, a serious 10 years stint, June's award -winning winning restaurant here in Dubai.
Can you please tell me the inception, how did that come about this project? - So this was after I returned to Las Vegas and Neha Anand, my partner, reached out to me and said, "Would you be interested in coming to Dubai?" I had previously scouted Dubai with some other companies.
So I knew what was happening here. And it was always very high on my list of potential places to open a restaurant because I understood. that in Dubai it is packed with the most amazing restaurants,
the most amazing chefs, but what Dubai has done so beautifully is that if you have quality, if you have originality,
it is a place where you can succeed and that always made me want to come here. So when we find started just trying to come up with the idea for Jun's,
I already had known that there's so many great Asian restaurants here who are serving Asian flavors. There's so many great chefs cooking these Asian cuisines and flavors. So what I wanted to create was something different so that I could stand out.
YB won amongst the rest. - Yep. - And here I get to cook the latest version of Kelban's food. - So what I saw was that was I wanted to capture those Asian flavors without following those same formats that a lot of other people were doing.
And this is how it became very third culture cooking, which is me. It's my history, it's my journey. It's my father's Chinese Hong Kong Cantonese cuisine.
It's my mother's Singaporean background. It's me growing up in Toronto. me growing up in Chicago, and experiencing every single ethnic flavor that was around us so that it all became part of my flavor profile,
my palate, my food memories, all the way through North America, Belgium, India, and now Dubai. So if you were to take me through the customer journey and the concept for anyone who's never been,
ha ha. you describe the food? How would you describe the dining experience? - So we try to give you the experience that you would at any of these fine dining establishments across the world,
let alone Dubai, but in a very fun, casual sort of environment. I did not want to be the destination spot. I didn't want to be the occasion spot. I wanted to be the place where you're hungry,
you think of me, you're on it. date night, you think of me. You have girls night, you think of me. If you want to celebrate an occasion, I still can give you the wagyu, the truffles, the caviar, but I want to be your go -to spot because you know that it's gonna be a fun experience for great food,
great drink. Now for the food, I would always want new clients who have never come before, new guests, new friends, new family, come with an open mind because it's gonna be flavors and things that you taste by your side.
you haven't had. But it'll also kind of hit your flavor memories and your nostalgia because you will be able to still have those same Asian flavors just in a very different format. And that's the goal of the restaurant.
When I create dishes for the menu, every single dish is tied to a memory. Every single dish is tied to something that I've tasted or something that I've experienced. And the interesting part is that I really believe that when you come down to...
to everyone on this planet, we're tied together by food. Somewhere, somehow, there's some connect with every dish, every flavor that we've done.
It doesn't matter if we're Canadian, if you're American, if you're Emirati, if you're from Dubai or from somewhere else in the world. This is a common denominator between humans. It's our food. I totally agree.
I totally agree. Because it is. it's you know anything and everything to do with life is memories any occasion Whatever it is everything is tied to food attention chefs restaurateurs and business owners if you're looking for hospitality design experts with a keen sense of interior design branding and customer journeys and look no further than 2106 they believe that design is a powerful tool to shape narratives and elevate
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Now back to the episode. Now talking about occasions. Kelvin the one thing which I really love that you do also and celebrate and make other cakes. I want to talk about the cakes because these cakes are not just any types of cakes.
Describe these beautiful cakes to me. Okay so let's put it out there very clearly to everybody. I'm not a pastry chef. I don't have the temperament. I don't have the mentality. I do dabble in pastries and desserts because I enjoy them.
I love desserts. desserts. This was when my wife was pregnant still and she called in the middle of service on a Friday night. Didn't answer 'cause it was busy.
Calls again, didn't answer. Calls again, I'm like, she's pregnant. I need to call, I need to answer. So I like lean over and answer and babe was up. And she's like, "Hey." I was like, "Hey babe." And she's like, "What's the last thing you made a cake?" And I was like,
"I don't know, like culinary school?" And she's like, "I think you should make cake." cake I was like okay whatever she asked I'm gonna try it so I stayed back after service at the end of the night everyone's gone home and I started baking and I made the first cake and the idea behind the cake was the anti -cake because it suits me the cakes that for the predominately that you see they're perfect their layers and
perfect frosting you know like even this and that But my issue with a lot of cakes was always that every time we get a size of cake, by the second or third bite, I'm bored of it.
And generally, except for the great cakes out there, they're always too sweet, very boring. So I wanted to do a cake where I would create different textures and layers and very complex combinations so that every bite was fun and that every bite would get keep you interested.
But it was at a level of sugar and sweetness that was more balanced so that you could actually have a slice of cake and that's why we've kept them naked. So I've always kept the cakes naked because I wanted people to be able to see it.
There's no hiding. You buy a cake that's frosted with butters, cream and fondant and whatever. You can't see anything and they get to hide a lot of their flaws. So what I did was I wanted to showcase everything that we put into it.
And the cakes, there's a basic format for the cakes. So how I broke it down was there's a sponge, there's sauces, there's garnishes, and there's textures. And that's how I combined them and designed it so that every bite will give you some of each.
- Every bite? - Yeah. - Wow. And they're also like super cool different flavors, right? - Yeah, we can try to go out of way to create fun flavors. - And do you get a lot of requests? now? - We do. We've been very blessed.
Again, people like the cakes. So we saw a lot of these things. - So now you've been Junes for how long? - So Junes has been open for just over a year now, a year and a bit. - Over that year, you've managed to get in the Michelin guide.
You've also, you're in Gomelow, top 50 best. Was that ever a vision for you originally? - No. - I think if you ask young Chef Kelvin, it was a vision. it was always a goal.
Everyone wants to be on World's Best. Everybody wants to get their star. And it was something that you strove for. And I think just as time has passed, for me, what would I consider a success in a restaurant?
Some of my best friends, like Chef Dan Burke, who was one of my closest friends, he has his star now in Bangkok. Chef Matt in LA, he went on to work for Mission Star Place, et cetera.
For them, this is a success. was always their life dream, and they set their career in that path. I knew, even though I've worked in those places, I knew that I think my father's imprint was very deep set into what,
how I see food and how I see that relationship with people who enter my restaurant. For me, a success is not the awards. For me, a success is not being in media and being this fame and famous.
All that goes away. away for me a success is Being able to feed people what I want to feed them and them enjoying it And that's it and I've reached a point in my life and career where that's my only goal now if I disappeared from everything and I had a full restaurant only cooking food that I could cook that I wanted to cook and people enjoyed it For me that is a success because - Because a lot of chefs would
say completely the opposite answer, Kelvin. They would say, no, it wasn't that, but we want to progress, we want to push so on and so forth. But at the same time, I do completely agree with you, the rest goes and it fades very quickly.
And chefs who have been in the game for some time, their answer copies exactly what you've just said. Not only that, work life balance. It's because they,
in the beginning, when they were much younger, they dedicated their soul into the hospitality industry. But now as they get older, they've done, you know, the 20 hour days,
whatever, they have families and they want to spend those days, you know. But do you see Jun's progressing food wise? Yeah. Because it was such a different sort of concept than everyone else in this landscape,
it took some time. for people to understand what we're doing. So I kept things very approachable, even things on like our tasting menu, which we've launched coming on a daily basis to get a slice of what we do at Joons.
Now that people really understand what we're doing and why we're here, this is when now I can turn it up. So this new menu that's coming up, this new tasting menu that's coming up, I'm gonna push my team and myself again harder so that we can really up our table.
and complexity in the dishes. And I think that's what people want. And I'm able to create new, more fun stuff now that people understand what we're doing. It doesn't mean I'm doing, I'm not gonna put you on this four hour journey again,
but it means that I can really push harder in doing really, really fun stuff that I've wanted to always do throughout my career now. - Because also the nice thing is that you're also in timeout market.
Tell me about the concept in the future. food you're doing there. How different is it? So it's very different. Little Junes in timeout market is, I guess, the younger sibling. It's the fun version,
the wild version. So that's where it's more approachable. It's things that you will find almost in the food courts across Asia. And that's the idea where I'll capture those more Asian street foodie type stuff.
And then you can come in and just grab a drink and then have some plates at Little Junes. Junes. And then because it's quite meteoric what you've done here in such a short space of time within a year,
those beautiful accolades, the restaurant's busy, you know, you're not only cooking within Dubai, but you're also cooking internationally. Is there a point where you would think or yourself and your business partner would think to sort of have Junes somewhere else,
or would it only be for Dubai and you'd make another concept somewhere else? - So we're already working on pushing the next couple of projects. I feel like Junes is something that could be replicated in multiple spots,
'cause it's not, for say, like a me -driven concept. It's not a fine -nining experience for 20 people where they would want me for everything.
Because the way I'm working with Junes designed the menus, because of the way we've instilled the training to the teams, every single person who comes in gets the same experience. Every single member on the floor knows every story,
the history of every dish and how I've created it and why I've created it. So for example, if we're blessed enough to open a place in London or back in New York or wherever,
that same... same dish served to you sitting in a different country, different continent. You should have that same experience, that same story, and be able to experience Chef Keldon's memory.
- And that's what you're aiming to do? - Let's see. If we're lucky enough, I think that's what's gonna happen, although I am working on some other things now as well. But if, yeah, if we're lucky enough, I think that can happen.
- Because you know what's going on in the scene here. There's a lot of brands and all. restaurateurs or chefs who are homegrown per se and they're going out internationally. You know,
because the world seems to be within the Middle East, you know, especially from a dining perspective, it's exploded, especially in the last five years. But then the other thing that I wanted to sort of touch upon is a word that we never,
I would say, ever really use in society. especially kitchens and restaurants. Wellness. To you, personally and professionally,
why is wellness so important in our industry? So this is where, I mean it ties it all back together because you've asked me about my management, you've asked me about the way I perceive my balance.
So I went from that angry chef who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. drank half a bottle of whiskey a day, and a lot more on weekends, who shouted, "Kick screamed." To now,
I pretty much don't drink anymore of quit smoking. I worked out for the first time in my life after I had met with O 'Hife, and I noticed that the healthier and stronger I became,
the better I was able to work. Right. And one thing I'm not sure... sure if people have seen, especially on my Instagram and stuff, they might have seen it. Instead of yelling and shouting now, we do push -ups.
We do burpees. We do planks. So when someone makes a mistake, and this goes for everyone. - I love that. - 'Cause you can catch it. In middle service, if you see me drop to the floor, it's because I've made a mistake.
So the middle service, if you see me just like drop, take my apron off and fall on the floor and start doing push -ups, it's because I messed up. up and it goes across the board every single person in the kitchen does it and in the front They just don't do a drink service,
right? I can do my drink service. They cannot right But if I were because I noticed that if I were to have to yell and Shout at a hundred people in a day Either someone would die or I would die my heart would burst especially with the stress the all that kind of stuff like you know So instead how about we make a mistake and you do 20 push -ups?
You make another 50 push -ups. It may as well do 100 push -ups, right? And there was a kid who started off as a dishwasher, who turned out to be a pastry chef in another company.
This kid was a scrawny 110 pound kid, soaking wet when he first started. By the end of that, he was with me for what, eight years? By the end of it, this kid was ripped.
'Cause he did 100 push -ups. push -ups every day. Because he made so many mistakes. So many mistakes. But at least he learned. He learned. He's strong. And he's an amazing chef now. Wow.
So do you think that's something that all kitchens should take on? I feel like it's a great way to do it because it turns into a game, especially if I'm willing to do it. The moment I drop and do it, then everyone knows it's real.
Yeah. You know? And I have no problem doing it. If I make a mistake, I'm happy to admit it. So I think we should organise it. like a like a push -up competition between the chefs because They need to start training for it now,
but it's it's a but joking aside I think it's a great way as you said to motivate someone and to give somebody a lesson but in a much different perspective then you know because you're gonna get through to them so It's really important.
But what about your your own personal? I mean as you said before growing up you're working seven days days a week with the family, so on and so forth. Now you have a partner, you're a father. How do you instill that into your family?
And what about your family life? Because you must cherish that a lot. So two things. One, none of this would be possible without my wife. Andrea's a ninja. Everything that I have done since I've met her,
everything that I've accomplished, everything that I've succeeded in, everything that I've failed in and come back from. is all her. She has given up the majority of her life and her free space,
everything, her career, put everything on hold, so that I could focus on my career and she could help me build that. And it transcends into our family as well.
My son is a happy, healthy child, only because... of her, because she's been able to support me enough where I can come in and be the fun dad,
the fun parent when I've allowed myself to do it. Now, I advocate for this work -life balance. I advocate for this mental health.
I advocate for this physical healthness and wellness and being. Do I practice it myself? myself? Taking a serious look at it, I need to be better at it. And I think we all do. And it's discipline.
And it's something that I've always lacked outside of work. And I think that's inherent in most of our industry, because you're so disciplined at work. Your station is spotless.
Your cuts are spotless. Your temperatures are flawless. So, I think because of that intensity within our workspace, the moment we leave, it's very hard for most of us.
I have some friends who are amazing at it, but in order to maintain that discipline outside of that workspace as well, for most of us, it's very difficult. And I am one of the biggest culprits of that.
- But I think it's good that you obviously recognize that within yourself and you touched upon something which I think we all should sort of understand is the discipline. - That word, because...
because discipline beats motivation, 2 million percent, I'm motivated to read a book. It's about the discipline, you know? So I hope that now more chefs,
as you said, sort of taking the time to at least trying to have that work -life balance, whether it's with their own family or within their own personal space. But I think that's something that needs to be much more highly discussed,
open, and honestly, instead of... it being some sort of taboo subject that no, I don't have mental health, no, how dare you? - We're all mental. - Yeah. - Very straightforward. More, you know, more ways than one,
right? But that thing that you used to say about family support, I believe is huge. It's really something that should be instilled and again, discussed with your mentors at work,
even through culinary school. Time management, I think, is something that we never... discuss in, I don't know if it was discussed in college, but during my time in college, that was never discussed.
- No, never. - Time management, even on a section, you know? No, so, but why not, you know? So do you find it sort of going back to running the business because you're not just the chef,
you're a business partner in that business. What are the pressures that you face running a business? - I've been in the business. I've been very blessed with my partner, Nia. She unwaveringly believes in me and allows me to have the freedom to create and do pretty much whatever I want,
especially when it comes to the food and the drink. But you know, you have those natural hurdles which a lot of times people who aren't in the industry, they don't understand.
You have an entire staff who relies on you to have a stable, successful business so that they can provide for their families. You have vendors,
you have the PNLs, which you need to look at at a daily basis. And this is the non -glamorous side of it. This is the adulting side of it.
Cooking is easy. Cooking is the easiest part of our job. It's It's managing people, I believe is the hardest part, then managing these numbers is the next hardest part,
which is something that most chefs don't get the opportunity to learn. And that's probably our weakest part of our industry, is that we are not armed to deal with this side of the business.
- It's very true, because you're right. Everything, again, when you say to younger Kelvin or whatever, in the beginning, everything is about the food. food and the passion and the fire and it's just the food.
You don't know or care what a food cost is or overheads and so on and so forth. But when you do get into it, it's just like, oh, geez, I wish I learned that when I was much younger. So I think that,
again, is something that should be discussed open and honestly with everyone, with any chef, it doesn't matter if it's McDonald's or high -end fine dining. No, no. The numbers and the numbers and you must...
must know, you have to know, and especially P &L sheets. In the beginning, I hated P &L sheets. I was just like, oh my God, the finance manager and the purchasing and it was just like,
yeah, we hated each other, but my hate, and I say that hate, came from my insecurities of not understanding, you know? Just like them, if I was to say, listen, can you cook for a thousand people at a wedding buffet?
(laughing) You know, it's the same. kind of thing. So it's a bit of give and take. So then once, you know, you've been in the industry for some time now, but specifically within the Middle East,
how do you see the future of F &B here? - This is the best perfect landscape in the world right now. The leaders here,
again, I think we've touched upon this earlier, have created such a wonderful landscape. beautiful environment where people like us who are doing interesting, amazing,
beautiful things, gives us this opportunity to succeed. And this region is only growing. A lot of the issues that you're seeing around the world, we don't have to worry about that here.
And that allows us to focus on building these brands, building these restaurants. restaurants, building these hotels, building these bars, and as the Middle East kind of goes to their evolution and their changes,
that would only give us better and better opportunities here. Because you're right, the pedigree of management, of chefs, of leadership, all of it is so aligned,
and, you know, thank God and touchwood, we all work in harmony together, and we understand you. each other. Not only that, we also understand each other's religions and celebrations and so on and so forth.
So it's really thriving, you know? But it's fantastic and real congratulations to you and the entire team for what you have achieved here because it's not easy to do in such a short space of time.
- Yeah, we've had a very blessed run because we've, I think very early on we've had the right, I like to describe them as ambassadors. I find that... that, especially in Dubai, it's not about these influencers or these food mafia and these whatever.
What can make a place succeed, especially in Dubai, is forming these relationships with people who come into your restaurant, who become your ambassadors. They spread the word.
They spread the gospel. They spread the belief of the restaurant. And that's what works well here. And we-- were very lucky, we were very blessed to have a lot of the supporters who came through. And that's the other thing is that I think also,
I mean I'm talking from personal experience, I don't know what you think, but you also chefs themselves, they also celebrate you and they're not, you know, they really want to celebrate each other, you know, so I think it's a really beautifully connected relationship that we all have.
So then Kelvin, now we've come to the quick fire question. questions. I hope you're ready. First of all, gym or meditation? Gym, 100%. Sweet or salty?
It used to be sweet, then it went to salty, and now it's back to sweet. Okay, favorite ingredient? Oh, this is a great one. It's changed so many times over the years. Right now,
I'm back on my acid kick. So anything sour, that's what I'm using. All right, so then... spicy or pickled? - Again, it's a sign of age. It used to be spicy,
I love spicy. I used to eat chilies, breakfast, lunch, dinner, I used to eat them, now, cannot eat them, so definitely pickle. - Who would you say are your top three culinary heroes?
- Ooh, great question. - And they don't need to be chefs. - Ooh, even better question. Culinary heroes? heroes would have to be one is my grandmother. She was my grandfather's chef.
And then she went on to become my father's chef at his first couple of restaurants. She is 104 now. - What a legend. - Yeah. - Amazing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I still need to get all her recipes, which I look very angry about because one of my aunts who has a restaurant in Toronto,
you have the recipes and I need them. - What's her name? - This is Auntie Jean. Auntie Jean. Jean, come on. - So her for sure. There's also a chef, Dave Gunawan,
who was one of my students in my TA time as well. But I went to work for him as a sous chef. And that was one of my biggest failures as a chef today.
I went into his kitchen thinking that I was gonna be a badass and I was gonna take over his kitchen. And every single cook chef in that kitchen kitchen ran circles around me and I quit after I think my second week and I was embarrassed.
I was humbled but instead of giving up that was a sign to me saying listen it's a big world out there. There's a lot of chefs who are way better than you.
You better focus and hone your craft. So I spent the next couple of years really deep diving and learning again and it was thanks to him because he was like. listen You just need to get better. So I stole him a big. Thank you.
And then the last one. I mean and I hate to be so so Stereotypical, but it was probably my dad. He was a very difficult eater,
but His style of training for me Every time I cook from this is after I began culinary school and whatever I loved the school He would never let me use any spices or any herbs when I cooked from.
'Cause he was like, if you get to cheat and cover up your cooking with these spices and whatnot, I can't tell if you're a better chef now. So whatever I cooked from,
I would have to just use whatever natural proteins and try to, or vegetables and try to extract flavor from it. So it was one of the hardest lessons that I had to do. - What a phenomenal lesson though. - Yeah. - Yeah, you know, what a task.
(both laughing) What would you say are your top three cuisines right now for you? - To eat? - Yes. - It's always going to be Chinese first.
I feel like Chinese cuisine is just so vast and it's just so complex and so undervalued. People don't really know what they're talking about. that when you go to China It's not what you've seen History of the world and the cultures and the provinces.
I mean exactly every region Yeah, it's gonna be so so different and it's so unexplored. So I don't think it's had its time yet Where you're seeing these explosions of these other cultures who've had their time Next would probably be Japanese me and my wife We just we can literally have Japanese food every day and it's also one of our favorite places in the world to go to.
And Lassie, right now, I want to say it's going to be Thai food. I'm on a binge of Thai food right now, which I've always loved. But again, super complex,
so complex. Cause people often think it's just the sweet kind of whatever, but learning how to actually balance those flavors, very, very cool. Making those pastes are not easy by hand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a lot of work. I agree.
So then what would you say? has been the funniest kitchen incident that you've either witnessed or been involved in?
- I'm gonna give you two because-- - Beautiful. - One, I'm actually ashamed of because I was a part of it and looking back, I need to find this person if I ever come across you.
I don't know if I should mention your name or not, I'm not gonna mention your name, but I'm gonna find you. I made this person never cook again. - Right, okay. - And it was very embarrassing. - Because I destroyed this poor young chap who was a change of career person.
He was a big ol' construction worker, like six foot four, like solid muscle. And he thought he could cook. And he came in, he jumped on the grill station and he said,
"Chef, I got this. "I don't need your lessons. "I need you to teach me." So we started service and he fell apart. He just fell apart. He just could not keep up. and I threw a stake at him in front of an entire room full of guests in an open kitchen and it hit this guy in the face and the kitchen stopped and the dining room stopped and I just,
I lost it and I'm so embarrassed by it because looking back this was the absolute worst thing I could have done to him and I made him stand there while I ran his station throughout the entire service and this bulk of a guy was just crying his eyes out and I feel terrible and it's something that I'm so embarrassed about and please don't do this chefs like this is not what you do to guys but I think the funniest
was I had a catering event for a thousand people and we were late we were rushing over and we hit a speed bump and we dropped the cake and it fell apart and it 30 minutes we assembled a cake with our bare hands in the back of a car.
But we managed to serve it and no one noticed. But we made it happen in the back of a car with our hands. Yeah, we made a hand cake. Hand cake. I like it.
Everybody was hygienic and they cleaned the hands afterwards. Two more questions for you. What would be your particular or best advice, let's say,
for anyone who is wanting to become a professional chef? First off, you have to make sure this is something you want to do. I think the onset of... This is even when I was already halfway through becoming a chef.
It's when Food Network kind of exploded. It's when social media was kind of over the place. Don't get caught up in the spotlight. R... Our, should be, at least,
our industry is not about being famous. We are here to feed, to provide a service. This is what we do,
we feed people. And a lot of young chefs forget that. They don't remember that we, our sole job is to take care of people and to feed them.
And they get caught up in the spotlight. Sorry. So I would say as a young chef or as an aspiring young chef, stay humble and keep your head down and you keep cooking. The second thing I guess would be this balance.
People often forget that as a chef, we need to be able to cook for a very long time. So unless you're healthy, unless you're strong, you're not going to be able to cook in 10 years and 20 years and 30 years.
That's one thing that I'm trying to get back on now because because as soon as I got handover of this restaurant, before the restaurant even opened, I stopped working out. I stopped doing all the things that I needed to do. I stopped meditating.
I stopped doing all these kinds of stuff. And we just forget about it, right? Because you get so caught up in your day -to -day life. And I know that in order for me to be able to cook for at least another 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, who knows, I need to be healthy.
And this goes healthy in body, healthy in mind, healthy in heart, right? So this is very important. And something that, again, as young chefs, we just forget about, you know? It's not a very fun life,
so. - True, I agree. - We get caught up in it. - What advice would you give to 16 -year -old Kelvin Chung? - Oh gosh. This is a funny one because looking back,
sometimes I'm like, "Bro, just finished school." (laughing) - You'd probably be healthier. You'd probably be making more money. probably more stable. But,
but it's been such a glorious ride, it's been such a fun, exciting ride. The only things I would say is be more disciplined, be more focused, and I think if I could instill that discipline into 16 year Kelvin,
even 12 year old Kelvin, I think I'd probably be better. better chef. And I'm lucky that old Kelvin realizes that there's so many other better chefs out there that I need to constantly learn and better my craft in order to succeed.
And I think that's the one thing that I would tell my young self and my old self that we always need to do better. There's always a better way.
there's always some way we can make everything a little bit easier, more efficient, and taste better. - Agreed. - Well, look, just to recap, Kelvin, we've gone through a huge amount. I mean, your first or favorite food memories,
I love. I love that the type of food growing up, the education you had med school, which I think is really, really interesting. Belgium, and then going into Europe. And then,
of course, that incredible... journey you had in India, going through that entire time. And of course, Jun's here in Dubai, the accolades,
what you have achieved so far, all of the business acumen that you've discussed, the wellness thing, which I think is a really important point for everybody, not just for chefs. Of course,
the pressures of running a business and being fortunate enough to have a partner, a business partner. a business partner and a life partner who both believe in holy and everything that you do. And then the quick fire. And thank you very much for the advice for anyone wanting to become a chef because that really resonates in it.
It's true. It's super true. So I just want to say on behalf of the chef JKP podcast, a massive thank you to you for what you're doing. Keep inspiring everyone. Keep pushing and really keep flying that flag.
And thank you so, so much for taking the time to be here. - Thank you, thanks so much for having me. - I don't know if you can tell, but I really enjoyed that conversation. Kelvin is such a fantastic guy,
and just imagine changing your education from medicine to culinary school. I really do admire his journey. At the same time, he recognized how best to become the best possible leader and mentor to his team,
but it wasn't an easy journey. Kelvin's meteoric rise did not just happen overnight. It took an entire lifetime's worth of hard work and pure sacrifice for him to get to where he is today.
What I particularly loved about this conversation is that Kelvin credits his success to his wife. He mentions that Andrea is the one who made it possible for him to become a dad, a chef,
and a business owner all within the realms of juggling family. life. I have absolutely no doubt that Kelvin will forever be pushing himself and his team to even greater heights.
I hope you managed to learn a few lessons along the way and perhaps even make push -ups a thing. What a great way to motivate the crew. If you want to see more of what Kelvin and his team are doing, I'll place all of the details in the show notes.
A big thank you to JJ and the entire team at Podcast Now for producing the show. And don't forget, you can now watch us on YouTube. And if you haven't already, make sure to follow, share and subscribe.
I would just like to ask one small favor. If you like the show or think someone you know could learn a few lessons from the guests and the conversations we have, please share the show so that we can reach as many people as possible.
And who knows, perhaps these episodes can inspire someone to take action and become the very best at what they do. This is the - final show of our collaboration with the grilled podcast by the staff canteen.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be a host on their platform. This has been a fantastic collaboration and an honor to be part of such an incredible platform.
A huge thanks to all of you. The final thank you is to you for staying on listening to the entire show. Thank you for your support. Thank you for every single follow. This really does make a huge,
huge impact. So, until next time, food is memories.