021

http://www.wnd.sg

For the
complete
interview,
head to
the People
section on
our website
http://www.wnd.sg

D

eborah Yeo turned her passion for food

into a career when she started working

at the former Cocotte restaurant in

Little India. She continued her chef ’s

journey at the former Joël Robuchon

Singapore, where she had the opportunity to see how

a fine dining kitchen was run. But it was her arrival at

modern Australian barbecue restaurant Burnt Ends

some five years ago that really ignited her love for

cooking with fire. During her four years with chef Dave

Pynt, she mastered various techniques of bringing out

the natural flavours of ingredients. Chef Pynt has left

his first overseas outpost, The Ledge by Dave Pynt at

The Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, in her good

hands. With Burnt Ends signatures and a number of

seafood options set to feature, she can’t wait to unveil

the full menu when the restaurant opens on 1 July.

What has been the toughest thing about adjusting

to living in the Maldives?

I wouldn’t say that it’s been tough but there are certain

considerations that come into play when living on an

island versus a city. A lot more planning is required

to ensure that we have everything we need for our

menus. It’s often about being flexible and working

with whatever is available.

What have been the greatest differences in the

kitchen environment, staff relations and working

culture?

This is my first time working at a large-scale hotel

establishment and it’s been eye-opening to learn

about the systems and processes that are in place.

The Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi has 11

restaurants serving 122 villas so you can appreciate

the amount of organisation and coordination that

goes into catering to an operation of this size. At the

end of the day, it’s about how we work together as a

team. When it’s crunch time, we have no qualms about

pitching in to help our neighbouring kitchen.

Have there been any unusual local produce you’ve

discovered and are planning to use in your dishes?

If you go to the markets, you’ll find plenty of fresh

seafood. Even produce like fresh octopus and eel

which you can’t find back home. We’re planning to

use the local eel in our eel and bone marrow dish. I

have also been experimenting and making my own

katsuobushi. I was inspired as we are surrounded by

tuna everywhere you go here in the Maldives! I have

yet to decide how to incorporate that into a dish.

Tell us more about your love for cooking with fire.

My love for the fire really began at Burnt Ends. There,

it’s all about bringing out the natural flavours of your

ingredients over a flame. Once you eat a steak that’s

been cooked over fire, you never want to eat one that’s

cooked over a pan ever again. I love how raw and

unadulterated this method of cooking is—it’s very

much back to basics, where you are using smouldering

embers to roast, bake or grill your food. Even using

different woods will add distinct flavours to the meat,

and it’s almost like a seasoning on its own. There’s

something beautiful in the simplicity of chucking a

leek on hot coals and pulling it off and having it taste

amazing on its own. I prefer to step away from the

more modern techniques of molecular gastronomy

and just, cook.

Are you well-accustomed to using the custom-built

oven and grills by now?

The grills at The Ledge are the third set of grills

I’ve worked with. With each version, Dave makes

modifications and improvements so no two are the

same. The way it lights up and the amount of heat

you get from each grill is different. The ovens also

have slightly different specifications and that means

having to relearn its temperatures and timings. It’s

quite an organic process if you think about the fire as

a living, breathing element that you need to work with.

A lot of the slow roasting dishes had to be adjusted

at The Ledge. For example, a whole suckling pig here

doesn’t cook at the same temperature and take the

same amount of time as it does in Burnt Ends. It’s not

particularly difficult to calibrate, but I’m just thankful

that I have had time before opening to play around

with all these things!

How has your creative relationship with chef Dave

Pynt developed from the time you were a sous

chef at Burnt Ends to the present as head chef at

The Ledge?

I would say that I am more in tune with what Dave

wants and over the years we’ve developed a rhythm

that’s built on mutual trust and understanding. We are

more or less in sync when it comes to what can and

cannot be compromised but I still have so much to

learn from him.

What are some of the exciting dishes to look

forward to at The Ledge?

We will be serving wood-fired meats, vegetables and

seafood at The Ledge. Highlights include dry aged OP

Rib, a 45-day dry-aged beef rib; lobster roll, a brioche

bun stuffed with freshly grilled lobster and lobster

aioli; and local grouper, a grilled whole grouper served

with a fresh cucumber and yuzu salad and a green

sauce. Because of our surroundings and the amazing

produce available, we will have a strong focus on local

and sustainably sourced seafood. For example, we

would never put a tuna dish on our menu in Burnt

Ends. Here however, we have access to skipjack and

yellowfin tuna, so we’d use it in our tuna and za’atar

dish.