Chef de cuisine Jordan Keao of Butcher's Block
Cover Chef de cuisine Jordan Keao of Butcher's Block

There’s a new head on the block, and he’s already making waves

Hell’s kitchen is a country mile away from Chef Jordan Keao’s thinking. He’s dispensed with the brimstone but is definitely bringing the fire.

Chef Jordan Keao seems to be a nice guy. This would prove him to be the exception to the previous rule that executive chefs have to be monsters in the workplace, bending the will of their underlings into the required shape, and chewing out those who didn’t cut the mustard.

Times have changed, and the Gordon Ramsay school of intimidation, invective and profanity should be things of the past, but even in today’s woke age, the wielding of soft power in a high-powered, high-profile kitchen is not always easy to achieve.

It helps to be a ‘nice guy’, but you’ve also got to know not only what you’re about, but what the others about you are also about. Keao strikes one as an individual who can wield an axe when circumstances dictate, but only with precision, and only when it means that the cut better serves all involved.

See also: Why You Need to Check Out Osteria BBR by Alain Ducasse, Which Opens on July 23

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Tomahawk
Above Tomahawk
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Grilled oysters
Above Grilled oysters

His upbringing in Hawaii, USA, is well documented—he might have become a professional surfer, but discovered that his passion and creativity could be made manifest in the cauldron of a commercial kitchen—and it informs his current incarnation. Keao is a creator of a cuisine that speaks to his roots, but isn’t overwhelmed by them, nor is he slavish to them. He recognises adaptation and seems to relish the challenge of bringing an ostensibly unsophisticated cuisine into a more urbane market. He may well have fished and dived with his uncles when he was a youngster, and helped granny cook for friends and family, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t trained well, learnt a lot, and doesn’t have the right to take his place at the top table. In this case, it’s Butcher’s Block at the Raffles Hotel, which has had its fair share of difficulties in the past, but now, I would suggest, is in safe hands.

“I want to be a role model for my children and a mentor to other chefs,” says Keao when I ask him what he wants to be when he grows up. He resists the temptation to amuse. This is because he’s a serious man, who knows who he is and what he wants to achieve, especially in his current job, and that’s to “deliver a dynamic, exceptional dining experience for guests by capturing the essence of pure wood-fire cooking.”

'gallery right' 'gallery right'
'gallery right' 'gallery right'
Photo 1 of 5 Baby corn
Photo 2 of 5 Burnt carrot
Photo 3 of 5 Japanese Hamachi and wagyu tartare
Photo 4 of 5 King crab
Photo 5 of 5 Wine library

There’s fire in his belly, and there was fire in the cooking of the food he grew up with. Cook-outs, barbecues and family meals are just some of his earliest memories and what inspired him to want to cook for others and share his delicious experiences.

“My passion for wood-fire cooking was sparked by my childhood years in the kitchen,” he says, with a greater degree of authenticity than many others who invoke the ‘grandma’s cooking’ trope when talking about early inspiration. “I built fires and helped my mother prepare dishes for dinner, and at Butcher’s Block, I draw on my heritage and ‘roots’ for cooking with wood to present an avant-garde wood-fire dining experience, expressing the elemental affinity and finesse of cooking with wood-fire.”

While it’s a tad grandiose, the word ‘elemental’ is an interesting one. Mankind has been cooking with fire since it was created/invented/discovered and harnessed. Keao has spent the best part of his career seeking to understand it and what it can do to (and with) food. In his current position, he has managed to find the backing of a pukka establishment that has given him his head and a license to grill. It’s a very good fit.

See also: Raffles Courtyard Collaborates With Chef Shen Tan for a Noodle-Themed Fusion Menu

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Butcher's Block dining space
Above Butcher's Block dining space

The cuisine at Butcher’s Block has changed, and there’s a genuine sense that in eschewing the ostensible complexity in the make-up of a dish – in favour of simple, ‘elemental’ processes – good food can get back to its roots as much as Keao has to his own. This demands an ingredient-driven imperative so that he has a favourable expectation of what will occur when the protein or vegetable is either licked, caressed or assaulted with fire. Provenance is key. Quality is paramount, and when you’re operating an outlet within the Raffles Hotel, you don’t mess around.

“We source the best ingredients from around the world,” Keao says, “and showcase them using the nuances of fire.”

It sounds simple enough, and I like the concept as we return to the elemental. The new menu at Butcher’s Block is surprisingly unsophisticated in that it is so ingredient-driven that the beauty and precision of taste relies on the understanding of the cooking processes that need to be applied. This could be basic; this could be complex, but the perception of what’s required can only come from one who’s honed his craft, knows what works, and has the expertise to apply the relevant techniques.

And what of the man who professes that his top priority in the morning is to “play with my kids”, even before having a coffee? And that he’s, “not one for expensive clothing or jewellery,” and whose most valuable items are his “treasured knives”. Is he too good to be true?

Maybe, but I suspect not, because there is a verity to his responses to my questions that suggests the presence in Singapore’s culinary midst of an authentic human being who believes in what he’s doing and might just be able to persuade the rest of us that menu item descriptions don’t have to extend to a paragraph of text and that we might care to go for the purity of taste and the simple combination of perfectly prepared ingredients.

Keao has enough experience to know how things work, and what goes with what, in the manner of an artist depicting a landscape that doesn’t possess a whole signifying outstanding element, but agglomerates to a satisfying whole. In understanding the essential elements in a dish of food, and treating them accordingly and with respect, Keao accepts and relishes his role as a serious ‘cook’ who doesn’t take himself too seriously, but whose food demands serious respect.    

Butcher’s Block
Western   |   $ $   |  

#02-02 to #02-07, Raffles Arcade, 328 North Bridge Rd, S (188719)

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