From Turkish and Asian descent, Alfie has been helping his father in the kitchen ever since he could walk. At first, he didn’t really like to cook because it kept him from his friends and playing football. His tasks were as a general kitchen hand doing mundane jobs such as peeling and slicing onions and cutting vegetables.
However, one fateful day when he was 12 years old changed the course of his life. His father had asked him to prepare all the ingredients for ‘Shepherd’s Pie’. While waiting patiently for his father to return home, he decided to go ahead and prepare the dish himself. He received such praise for his efforts that he's loved cooking since then and has never looked back.
After graduating from SHATEC, he was made the assistant to the Chief Cook, cooking for 500 people every day. A few months later, when the Chief Cook left, he took on his position.
Recently, Alfie has joined a reality competition on Suria Channel called Chef Selebriti. This has brought him to another level in the Culinary world.
Without his knowledge, his wife has called Ms Siti from Qrios to find out more about the audition as he had missed the first one. She entered his name and Ms Siti from Qrios called him for the second audition. Well, he got nothing to lose so he went for the second audition.
So there he was for the second audition. Lucky for him he had the support from his Executive Chef, Mr Patrick Heuberger & the team from Au Petit Salut at Harding Road.
Also not forgetting Ms Lynette Foo from Palates Sensations (Cooking Class in Portsdown Road), friends like Chef Francois Mermillod (Flutes at the Fort) who have given me their moral support.
Bless her soul, my mother-in-law for lending me the cooking books of Chef Wan and Asmah Laili.
At home, Alfie likes to host parties for close friends and always tries out new recipes. Their favourite has always been the Singapore Chilli Crab and his Seafood Aglio Olio. Sometimes, he would whip up a barbeque outdoors and make such delights as grilled calamari with stuffed butter rice, fish parcel which consist of stingray and sambal, lamb-chops with special sauce, beer stuffed in chicken and grilled to perfection and to end it all, grilled Hawaiian pineapple to wash down the palate.
Now, running his own kitchen at Public House Kitchen in Hotel Rendezvous, Alfie is extremely passionate about food and is constantly learning new cuisines.
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