
SOON YUEN LI, HEAD CHEF
With 14 years of kitchen and F&B management experience across restaurants and hospitality establishments across Singapore, Chef Soon now helms the culinary planning and operations at Hotel Indigo Singapore Katong and Baba Chews Bar & Eatery, a standalone all-day dining establishment introduced alongside the opening of the hotel.
“Creativity in culinary has always been my favourite part of the job, I enjoy experimenting with new dishes and east-meets-west combinations have been a big part of my creations so far,” shares Chef Soon. In fact, one of his creations, the Chicken Rendang Lasagne, has achieved rave reviews since Baba Chews started focusing more on Mod-Sin (Modern Singaporean) cuisine in early 2019.
Some of the key highlights in Chef Soon’s career include winning the bronze award for the personal category in the Hong Kong International Culinary Challenge (HOFEX) in 2010 as well as his involvement in a successful major media event to publicise the opening of Hotel Indigo Phuket Patong in Singapore. During the event, Chef Soon’s creativity took centre stage and was well-complimented for his Thai-inspired cocktail canapés.
Passionate for cooking since a tender age, Chef Soon grew up in Malaysia where in between pursuing a culinary education, he spent time exploring the specialty cuisine of the various states in the Peninsular. That exploration soon expanded beyond local cuisine to that of Thai, Italian and American. He is particularly fond of using fresh local ingredients whenever possible, as evident from his efforts to set up a herb garden within the hotel premises so diners can expect house-grown herbs used in the preparation of the food.
