Whey’s new chef is bringing Western flair to Singaporean hawker classics
While maintaining tradition, Keith Teo brings diverse influences to the Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, restaurant – a bastion of elevated Singaporean cuisine
This playful juxtaposition has been a signature of Whey, Sheung Wan’s celebrated contemporary Singaporean restaurant, since opening under chef Barry Quek in 2021. The Alain Ducasse-trained chef has excelled at delivering classic Singaporean hawker-centre flavours with creativity via modern French techniques.
With Quek still deeply involved at Whey, Teo knows he must strike a delicate balance. “I think the hardest part of the job will be trying to find a line between what customers want and what Barry also wants,” he says.
Both chefs may be from Singapore, but their culinary backgrounds and inspirations are starkly different. “My father’s from Indonesia,” Teo reveals, “so I have more Peranakan influence [than Barry].” The multicultural influences run deep. Teo’s parents spent time in Canada, and his mother, whom he credits with inspiring him to become a chef, was just as likely to cook lasagne as fried rice. “My mother incorporated a lot of Western food [into meals]. That’s actually why I took up Western cuisine at culinary school.”
This Western foundation became the bedrock of Teo’s early career. He cut his teeth during an eight-month internship in France. Having acquired a taste for European fine dining, he returned home to work at Singapore’s most acclaimed French restaurant, the three-Michelin-starred Odette. Then he returned to Europe to serve as a junior sous chef at Frog by Adam Handling in London, which holds one Michelin star.