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“I told my wife I would get an MC [medical certificate] to stay out of the event,” recalls Edward Chong, executive Chinese chef of Peach Blossoms at Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay in Singapore. That evening, the city state’s top chefs and hospitality professionals would be there to hear if they had received, retained or lost Michelin stars for their restaurants. Chong was not optimistic about his chances of receiving a star, but decided to go in the end.

“In the ballroom, when fellow chef friends came to say hello, the camera popped up sharply at me and, just as fast, it left knowing that I was not part of [the winners],” he says. He was correct: Peach Blossoms did not receive a star that night. Michelin star or not, Chong, 41, has put in a lot of effort to establish himself on the gastronomic scene.



He has turned Peach Blossoms into a contemporary Chinese restaurant and it has seen a threefold increase in revenue since the start of his tenure in 2017 – when the hotel was still called the Marina Mandarin Singapore. Despite great reviews, Michelin’s inspectors did not think it was enough – but over the past two years, while many Michelin-star restaurants have struggled with business, the queues to get into Peach Blossoms have only grown longer. “It shows that I am going in the right direction.

And no matter how busy I am in the kitchen, I always make a point of checking on guests in the dining room to see how they are reacting,” says Chong. “Even if it�.

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