Drew Nocente fell into cooking by accident. His cousin asked if he was free to help at his restaurant for one evening. Then 16 and still in high school, he needed a place to gain working experience to fulfil his course requirements. So, he agreed. “I fell in love with it from the get-go,” says Nocente.
The intensity and energy appealed to him. There was nothing like it anywhere else. Soon, one evening became multiple nights. Eventually Nocente returned every summer holiday. After graduation, the restaurant offered him a job in the kitchen, whipping up Italian food for Australian diners.
That humble start soon became a globe-trotting career. Nocente cooked on Hamilton Island, then flew to London to work under Jason Atherton and Gordon Ramsay before jetting over the ocean to Shanghai to helm a fine dining restaurant for two years. There, he fell in love with a Singaporean, married her, and came to the island city-state, thinking it would just be another stop in his global cooking adventure.
“I didn’t feel happy anymore. When I closed it, many asked me why I took a step back. But, to me, it didn’t feel like I was going backwards. I was happier. Isn’t that progressing forward?”
Drew Nocente on closing down Salted & Hung after six years
Ten years later, he is still in Singapore. He built a name for himself with Salted & Hung, a sustainability-focused restaurant ahead of its time. The beginning was a struggle, according to Nocente, who learned to respect animals and produce while growing up on a farm. Many didn’t understand his nose-to-tail ethos.
“Seven years ago, no one had seen a Western restaurant do something like this before, so we called it by a different name—minimal waste. Educating diners was still hard, but it finally worked out.”
Salted & Hung sparked a wave of new (and old) restaurants espousing a similar ethos. And while Nocente enjoyed pushing out regular favourites such as cured meats and porchetta, he felt a void within that only grew bigger. He closed the restaurant for good after six years.
“It was time,” says Nocente. “I didn’t feel happy anymore. When I closed it, many asked me why I took a step back. But, to me, it didn’t feel like I was going backwards. I was happier. Isn’t that progressing forward?”
Nocente had grown disillusioned with fine dining and wanted to return to his roots—cooking in a cosy space where the distinction between customers and friends is indiscernible. He finally created that with Cenzo, a joint venture between himself and F&B group AC Concepts. Operating along Club Street, the restaurant serves traditional Italian flavours with an Australian twist.
Nocente is happier these days. The kitchen is smaller and there’s barely enough space for his elbows, but his smile is a lot wider. “I just want to cook, enjoy life, and pass my knowledge and beliefs to the younger folks.”
Nocente’s sense of style mirrors his cooking philosophy—classic with contemporary elements—in many ways. He loves the duality of Jason Statham’s style: “Suits with the shiny shoes when the occasion calls for it.” On the other end of the spectrum, casual pants, T-shirts and a pair of sneakers.
Beyond style, Statham’s level-headedness speaks to Nocente. It’s also a quality that he believes represents the man who wears Zegna. “In his films, Statham is cool and calm, but jumps into action when the situation calls for it, right? I see someone wearing Zegna in the same light. Calm yet intense and energetic when needed.”
Just like Nocente in the kitchen, too.
Photography: Cher Him
Styling: Chia Wei Choong
Grooming: Aung Apichai, using Gucci Beauty and Kevin.Murphy
Photography Assistant: May Chong
