Mise En Place, a French (culinary) term for having "everything in place", is probably the most important word in any food-related business and yet you probably never heard of it. For most customers, we often only notice what is in right front of us and rarely celebrate the countless hours spent making those dishes presented to us. We want to help put a spotlight to the sacrifices many chefs put in behind closed doors (or to be more precise, shutters).

In our third feature, we follow Chef Leo, Head Chef of Siri House, as he goes about a typical day in running a Modern Asian restaurant in the quaint yet stylish neighbourhood of Dempsey Hill.

Grandma's boy

"Growing up, I loved to dabble in cooking, helping my grandma especially, to prepare dishes and to learn more about food. I found myself really being happier learning more about food than doing anything else."

A recurring topic that always came into my conversations with Chef Leo is that many of the dishes he's come up with were inspired by his childhood memories, especially those of him with his grandmother. An example being the Chilean Seabass on Siri House's menu, which is a modern rendition of the very traditional steamed fish dish that would appear on every Chinese family's lazy susan at least once every lunar new year.

Joy in creation

"As long as the guests are happy eating our food and come back time and time again to enjoy the rest of our creations, that's more than enough for us."

It does not take long for anyone to realise the amount of effort that Chef Leo and his team puts in to creating all of their dishes, from the time-consuming (but totally worth) Crustacean Cream Pappardelle to their comical Tropical "Tau Huay" with macerated mango and chili (yes, chili) that completely blew me away.

When I visited Siri House for the first time, I was really impressed with their mains, especially their signature Crustacean Cream Pappardelle (yes it warrants a 2nd mention!) but even more so when I tried their dessert selection, namely, Sesame, Tropical 'Tau Huay', Jam & Toast, Orange & Chocolate, and if I were to ever return, which I will, I wouldn't mind having the desserts alone because they were oh, so good.

Drop them a visit!

Address: 8D Dempsey Rd, #01-02 Dempsey Hill, Singapore 249672

Opening times:

• Monday (Closed)

• Tuesday - Thursday: 11:30am - 10pm

• Friday - Saturday: 11:30am - 11pm

• Sunday: 11:30am - 4pm

Check out their social channels too!

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sirihousesg

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sirihousesg

• Website: https://www.sirihouse.com/singapore/restaurant