The Star
By MARIAN YU
IT-man-turned-remisier, and today, chef and owner of Marco Creative Cuisine, Daren Leong’s roundabout culinary journey has come a full circle.
Food, especially Western cuisine, figured prominently in his early life as his maternal grandfather was a cook at a bungalow in Fraser’s Hill while his grandmother assisted as housekeeper and maitre d’. As a child, he spent a lot of time there during Christmases and Chinese New Year; the emotional connection was undeniable.
“I remember the Christmas pudding which had brandy poured all over it and lit up, then cut open to reveal coins and notes inside!” says Leong, 43.
He recalled the smell of smoke from the cast iron kitchen stove, fired up with wood, and “having roti toasted over the fire to eat with kaya!”
Armed with an IT degree in 2004, Leong worked for a year as a remisier as he “wanted to make money”. After a year with the brokerage firm, he decided to join his uncle who owns a Nyonya kuih business which fueled his passion as he had hopes of becoming an entrepreneur since his college days. For three years, he went to work at 3am, helping out with production and learning the essentials of the business. He even assisted in the delivery of kuih to coffeeshops and five-star hotels.
“Though the working hours were hard, I trained my mindset and learnt persistence from my uncle to find what I wanted to be. I was fascinated by the big kitchens in hotel restaurants. Then, there was AFC (Asian Food Channel) and other food channels on TV. That awakened my interest in cooking and the restaurant business.”
He left the kuih business to work in a bank, but that lasted only a year. He put in time with a local coffeeshop chain and then left for Singapore in 2010 to join a Japanese F&B chain of cafes, starting as an intern, rising through the rank-and-file, and learnt how to cook.
IT-man-turned-remisier, and today, chef and owner of Marco Creative Cuisine, Daren Leong’s roundabout culinary journey has come a full circle.
Food, especially Western cuisine, figured prominently in his early life as his maternal grandfather was a cook at a bungalow in Fraser’s Hill while his grandmother assisted as housekeeper and maitre d’. As a child, he spent a lot of time there during Christmases and Chinese New Year; the emotional connection was undeniable.
“I remember the Christmas pudding which had brandy poured all over it and lit up, then cut open to reveal coins and notes inside!” says Leong, 43.
He recalled the smell of smoke from the cast iron kitchen stove, fired up with wood, and “having roti toasted over the fire to eat with kaya!”
Armed with an IT degree in 2004, Leong worked for a year as a remisier as he “wanted to make money”. After a year with the brokerage firm, he decided to join his uncle who owns a Nyonya kuih business which fueled his passion as he had hopes of becoming an entrepreneur since his college days. For three years, he went to work at 3am, helping out with production and learning the essentials of the business. He even assisted in the delivery of kuih to coffeeshops and five-star hotels.
“Though the working hours were hard, I trained my mindset and learnt persistence from my uncle to find what I wanted to be. I was fascinated by the big kitchens in hotel restaurants. Then, there was AFC (Asian Food Channel) and other food channels on TV. That awakened my interest in cooking and the restaurant business.”
He left the kuih business to work in a bank, but that lasted only a year. He put in time with a local coffeeshop chain and then left for Singapore in 2010 to join a Japanese F&B chain of cafes, starting as an intern, rising through the rank-and-file, and learnt how to cook.
