The restaurant heralds a new chapter while showcasing the chef’s “best of right now”
Chef Zor Tan spent the most part of his career working alongside world‐renowned Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang, first at Jaan at the Swissotel The Stamford, then Restaurant André, Raw in Taipei, and later Sichuan Moon in Macau’s Wynn Palace, as executive chef, where he led the restaurant to secure two Michelin stars just five months after its opening in 2019—and becoming the highest new entry at No 23 in the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2020.
The pandemic brought Tan home to be with his young family (by then, he had been travelling back and forth between Singapore and Macau for almost two years), and last June he finally stepped out of the shadow of his mentor to set up his own restaurant, so named Born to signal his culinary rebirth—and his life coming full circle. The restaurant takes up residence in the historic Jinrikisha Station, once a depot for rickshaws, at the junction of Neil Road and Tanjong Pagar Road.
“When Restaurant André closed [abruptly in 2018], everyone was asking me about my next move,” says Tan. “I’ve always [worked] under the shadow of chef Andre, and if I was going to open my own restaurant, it had to be something that belongs to me. I want to start from zero—and I think [the name] Born suits me best. It’s something very simple, but has a lot of meaning behind it.”
While the seeds of starting his own restaurant were planted earlier on, Tan took on that one last stint with Chiang at the aforementioned Sichuan Moon, before the opportunity came knocking from the 1855 F&B lifestyle and hospitality group to partner up for its second chef‐led concept after modern Asian restaurant Path by chef Marvas Ng.
Read also: New Restaurant Alert: Path Serves Up Mod-Asian Fare With French Flair
For Tan, the name Born is also an acronym for the “best of right now”. He explains: “These moments [right now] are my best moments because I need to stand up on my own”. And this is very much connected to his culinary philosophy of the circle of life, expressed in the contemporary cuisine at the fine dining restaurant, with influences from his more than a decade‐long experience working in elite French kitchens and his Chinese heritage.
“I come from humble beginnings. Since young, I wanted to be a chef and started from a commis cook to becoming a chef‐owner as well as a mentor to young chefs today,” says the Malaysia‐born Tan. “In Chinese culture, we always say that life is like a circle—everything will come to an end and restart again. Born reflects my life and culinary journey, through this circle of life philosophy.”
Some of his fondest memories growing up have been around food. His parents ran an economic rice, or chye png, stall in Malaysia, and “I never had to worry about going hungry; there was always food ready for me when I came back from school. So I hold to the belief that contentment comes from having a full belly”. While Tan never got to help out at the stall, he stood on the side lines watching his parents in the kitchen—and this very much influenced him later in life.
