Chef Eric Neo is telling me about his favourite laksa. It’s by a man named George and his eponymous stall, which serves Katong Laksa (a nonya-style dish eaten only with a spoon), is along 307 Changi Road. “I eat there at least twice a week when I’m not working,” says Neo.
The affable 44-year-old is the new executive chef of hospitality mainstay Capella Singapore. Neo is a culinary veteran and has served in multiple hotels, including InterContinental Singapore, where I first got to know Neo, or at least his handiwork. His mastery of Asian cuisine is unparalleled.
Every night, I cried on the bus. I asked myself why I went to work every day just to get tortured.
Chef Eric Neo on his initial cooking years
Neo is unabashed about his past. He started cooking when he was 16 because he “had no education and no future”. He tried sales, first, for insurance products and then, crocodile leather goods at a crocodile farm along Fort Road. But, his soft-spoken nature meant that he barely made any money.
So, his father encouraged him to cook. Neo joined the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) as an apprentice and got his first job at a fast-paced Chinese restaurant gutting live fish. He hated it. The cooks berated him constantly for giving them fish that hadn’t been descaled or gutted properly, spoiling the dishes. This was in the 1980s when head chefs were notoriously hot-headed and profanity-laced expletives (and the occasional heavy utensil) were thrown about with wild abandon every night.
“Every night, I cried on the bus. I asked myself why I went to work every day just to get tortured,” says Neo. So, he would skive, either faking illness or just not show up. His taskmasters at the RAS finally called him and said that if he continued this behaviour, they would kick him out and force him to pay for all the lessons and other accoutrements. Neo bit the bullet and went back.
It was only during his time at another hotel before he got conscripted that he began enjoying the craft, thanks to a patient chef who taught him the ways of the wok. It was here that he discovered his fervent love for Asian food and that he was actually good at cooking. “I remembered making hor fun (wide Chinese noodle made from rice) for supper one night and after eating it, realised that it was just as nice as the ones I ordered outside.”
He learned the secrets to roasting duck — “You have to blow it up with air after marination to separate the skin from the meat” — and made dozens of curry varieties. Everywhere he went, he deepened his knowledge of Asian cuisines.
He plans to bring the same flair to Capella Singapore’s dining offerings. “I want to bring in unique products, for example, bringing in fish from Toyosu Market in Japan, and am looking at our ingredient sourcing.” Neo has his plate full. He’s going through the final rounds of tastings at Chef’s Table. The bespoke home-style kitchen and dining space will have a new oysters-and-champagne concept, with a curated chilled seafood menu that includes lobster, snow crabs and caviar. After that is launched in December this year, he begins work on the popular Bob’s Bar.
Neo wants to intrigue diners who try the new menus at Capella Singapore. “I want them to say, ‘Oh, this is interesting. I’ve never had this combination before’, when they eat the food here.”
Will there be laksa, I ask. Neo laughs before giving me a knowing glance.
