A Street food chef has become the world’s first to earn a Michelin star
Could Swansea market or Cardiff’s trendy Street Food Circus soon be serving up Michelin-starred food?
It might sound crazy but a simple fast food vendor in Singapore has just become the first to be awarded cooking’s most sought after seal of approval.
Malaysian-born Chan Hon Meng said he was dumbfounded when he got a call from the famous restaurant reviewers inviting him to an awards ceremony.
And he was even more shocked when he was handed a prestigious one star award for his work.
Chan, who has been working in kitchens for 35 years and trained in Hong Kong, said: “When I received the invitation I was uncertain.”
“I asked them, ‘Are you joking? Why would Michelin come to my stall?'” he continued.
Malaysian-born Chan Hon Meng said he was left dumbfounded when he got a call from the famous restaurant reviewers“I said, ‘I’ve never heard of Michelin inspectors visiting a street stall, can even a hawker be nominated?’
“He said, ‘We only judge based on the food, not on the venue.'”
Incredibly, the 51-year-old, who works 17 hours a day, was then honoured with a one Michelin star award.
On receiving the award he told Reuters: “Never knew hawker food can go global. Hopefully the next generation will also pick this up.”
And in the Michelin Singapore video he added: “About 30 years ago when I first became a chef there were chefs who told me the highest honour you could attain is to be in the Michelin guide.
“At that time, we didn’t imagine that the Michelin Guide would come here [to Singapore]. We thought it was just something found abroad.
“For us chefs we long for the day we are recognised internationally.”
Chan sells 180 chickens a day and serves Hong Kong -style soya sauce chicken noodles, regularly seeing queues of 100 people lining up to buy a portion of the meal.
The hawker feast, priced at just over £1 per portion, is now the cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world.
