Cover Burnt Ends chef-owner and his team of slayers in the open kitchen
Burnt Ends chef-owner and his team of slayers in the open kitchen
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The 368-page tome created in collaboration with Fool Agency traces the restaurant’s success story with riveting images, personal stories and anecdotes from the chef and key members of the team
Can you imagine Dave Pynt, the chef and founder of modern barbecue restaurant Burnt Ends, doing yakitori? Believe it or not, that was the first concept on his business partner Loh Lik Peng’s mind when he first approached Pynt in the early 2010s for a new open-fire restaurant concept in Singapore. Pynt tells Tatler that he was travelling across South America with Katrina Wheeldon, his then-girlfriend and now wife, when he got a call from the Unlisted Collection founder inviting him to come to Singapore and discuss a potential collaboration.
Yakitori was all the rage on the island back then, but Pynt admits that “there’s so much culture behind it” and he hadn’t even been to Japan yet. “Who was I to do yakitori?” he chuckles. He did, however, pitch the idea of opening a version of Burnt Enz—his highly successful modern barbecue pop-up in London—and Loh agreed. That was the seed that launched the highly successful Burnt Ends in 2013, opening its doors in a shophouse on Teck Lim Road. It has since moved to a bigger space in Dempsey Hill in 2021.
Above At Burnt Ends, Pynt uses ironwood—a hardwood from Queensland, Australia—as charcoal, as they burn hotter for longer
At Burnt Ends, Pynt uses ironwood—a hardwood from Queensland, Australia—as charcoal, as they burn hotter for longer
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While Burnt Ends is one of the most perpetually booked and lauded restaurants on the island—boasting one Michelin star since 2018 and a consistent spot on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, among many accolades—Pynt lets on that this wasn’t always the case. There were a lot of challenges, learnings and, of course, successes over the last decade, which he has penned in his inaugural culinary book titled Burnt Ends. Releasing in October of this year, the 369-page, self-produced tome was co-written with Australian journalist Max Veenhuyzen, conceptualised in collaboration with photographer Pers-Anders Jörgensen, and art director and graphic designer Lotta Jörgensen of Swedish creative studio, Fool Agency.
Fire & Flavour
In the book, Pynt opens with the question: what is modern barbecue? Barbecue, as we know it, is an age-old cooking method utilising fire that crosses borders and encompasses different cultures and traditions. Pynt discusses in the book that it has been a vital part of his life, growing up in Perth, Australia where backyard barbecues with family and friends were a way of life. But it was through working with lauded chefs like Nuno Mendes (Viajante and The Loft Project, London), Rene Rédzepi (Noma, Denmark), and Victor Arguinzoniz (Asador Etxebarri, Spain) which shaped his culinary philosophy on wood-fire cooking. As he writes in the book, modern barbecue is “cooking whatever you want … as long as it’s tasty.”
Above The heart of Burnt Ends kitchen is the customised four-tonne, dual cavity, wood-burning oven
The heart of Burnt Ends kitchen is the customised four-tonne, dual cavity, wood-burning oven
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For Pynt, cooking something tasty involves Burnt Ends’ customised four-tonne, dual cavity, wood-burning oven, which he refers to as the “heart of our kitchen”. Service after service, the culinary team dishes out one signature dish after another—from the smoked quail egg topped with caviar to the Blackmore’s striploin—which have been kissed by smoke or licked by flames. Cooking by wood-fire has to be so meticulous and precise that Pynt customised the design of his oven to be a cross between a “classic Italian wood-fired pizza oven and the [Asador] Etxebarri ovens”.
How the oven’s design came about, shares Pynt, was that he discovered the use of elevation grills while working at Asador Etxebarri; this allowed the culinary team to have better control of what they were cooking. One challenge, though, was finding enough place to burn the coals (made from iron wood that burns longer), so he decided “we needed a cavity large enough to burn enough wood into coals that we can cook on elevation grills all day”. Moreover, he wanted an oven that could fit a suckling pig, baby goat or baby lamb—so that dictated its massive size.
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Smoked quail egg
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Open Secret
Aside from discussing the science behind his oven, Pynt also delves into the secrets and techniques in cooking various ingredients on the grill—whether it is the maitake mushrooms that are dipped in a mixture of water and smoked beef fat a few times while grilling so they don’t become dry or the steaks which are “aged to [expletive] perfection” and cooked on the grill without salt, pepper and oil. When asked why he’s openly sharing the learnings in his book, Pynt explains that the team doesn’t really gain anything from keeping secrets. “If we help educate, inspire, teach and train others, there will be more great restaurants, better places to visit and happier chefs,” he enthuses.
Perhaps it is with this in mind that Pynt finally decided to include recipes in his book, after initially wanting to omit these in the planning stages. But then he thought, he was only planning to launch one culinary book in his life, so it might as well be complete. Pynt was quick to point out though that the 70 signature and base recipes chosen were not tweaked for the home kitchen, sharing that “we didn’t do research and development for the recipes in this book” and these were written exactly how they are prepared in the restaurant. What he hopes readers can take away from this book is that it inspires them to cook and experiment in their own kitchens.
Pynt in the kitchen with his team
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Burnt Ends’ narrative is supported by Pers-Anders’ rich and captivating photographs taken during the four trips he made to Singapore in the span of one-and-a-half years. Pers-Anders—who took over a thousand photographs—tells us over a Zoom call that he tried to capture the “generosity and hospitality” of the team in the book. “At Burnt Ends, it’s just so full of experiences [that draw diners in] ... it isn’t stiff, unlike many one-star, two-star or even three-star restaurants,” he enthuses. Flipping through the book, one gets pulled into their story with behind-the-scenes shots of Pynt working the grill, his team cooking in the open kitchen, and their celebratory moments outside the work environment These are complemented by beautifully shot images of the raw ingredients, various steaks with beautiful marbling, and these dishes cooked over coals.
In designing and layout of the book, Lotta shares over Zoom that they wanted it to reflect Pynt’s personality. To show his playful side, they worked with illustrator Ryan Inzana to tell the beginning of Burnt Ends’ story in a more fun and playful way—via a comic strip that shared light-hearted stories such as his dad burning the sausages at one of their backyard barbecues, backpacking across South American and being exposed to the various food cultures that inspired some of his signature dishes. About his dad burning the sausages, he laughs and shares that “he obviously got better over time”.
Above Burnt Ends modern barbecue book
Burnt Ends modern barbecue book
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A Piece of History
What is notable about the book, too, is that it also tells the story of Burnt Ends through the eyes of its key members. Loh recalls how no one understood what Australian barbecue was when the restaurant first opened, while general manager Thomas Koh (who has been with the team since its earlier days) witnessed the trajectory of the restaurant from its difficulties filling lunch slots to being fully booked three months in advance.
The original book comes in a hard-bound cover with the restaurant’s signature flaming skull logo; it also has a special edition version imagined by Australian interior designer Emma Maxwell (who also designed the restaurant in Dempsey Hill). Weighing a hefty 6.6kg, the book’s cover is made from a smoked ironbark signed by Pynt, and will be imprinted with the buyer’s name. And in true Burnt Ends fashion, the book comes in a custom-made metal box finished with a matte black metal surface and adorned with 12 handmade bronze skulls to represent its iconic ovens.
The Burnt Ends cookbook will be launched on October 30. Pre-orders are available at the Burnt Ends website.
Watch this video of foodies Leon Chua and Aun Koh crashing Burnt Ends’ family meal before dinner service:
Credits
Images: Pers-Anders Jorgensen
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
