Noma Head Chef & S’porean Kenneth Foong Used To Visit Clementi Popular With His Dad On Weekends Just To Look At Cookbooks

When Singaporean Kenneth Foong became the first Asian to become head chef of four-time World’s Best Restaurant, Noma, at just 32 years old, everyone sat up and took notice.

Even more impressive was that he landed the role only nine months after he joined full-time in 2020.

During his time as head chef, Noma scored three Michelin stars in 2021, while also winning the World’s Best Restaurant title that same year.

Earlier this year, Kenneth stepped down from the role and now serves as the Director of Fermentation at Noma.

He is also married to Nicole Philipson, who is currently the head chef at Jatak, a one-Michelin star restaurant also in Copenhagen. They have no kids but an adorable dog called Pancho.

So what was this ex-Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) boy like growing up?

In an episode of Mediacorp variety show Find Me A Singaporean: The World’s My Stage, host Sharon Au flew to Copenhagen to spend time with Kenneth and uncovered the roots of his passion for food.

Kenneth recalls his earliest memory as a child was cooking with his mum.

“I remember coming back from kindergarten, and I would like help to cook and prepare. I probably made more of a mess than anything,” he says.

But it was his weekends with his dad that he counts as a core memory, deepening his love for cooking.

“I also remember on weekends, how me and my dad would spend time, we would actually go to Popular bookstore in Clementi, and we would look at all the different type of cookbooks and we picked one and we would try cook through one recipe a weekend,” he said.

Later on in the episode, Kenneth also revealed that as a student, he often challenged the teacher’s view in class. While some teachers found it distracting, his dad defended him.

“My dad was the first to say, “No, no, no, he is just being inquisitive”, which made me really appreciate the relationship that I had with my dad, even till this day,” said Kenneth.

“He knows that I am different. I was always trying to find a way to fit in, even during my junior college days, and this idea of just continually for the sake of it, it didn’t make sense to me,” he added.

Outside the kitchen, Kenneth is an avid cyclist and has been training for three years to compete in a triathlon.

But when Sharon was supposed to meet him for a spin, Kenneth messaged her that he was unwell.

Sharon then said that Kenneth’s mum had mentioned a dessert soup and proceeded to buy the ingredients to surprise him by preparing it.

A happy Kenneth was seen tucking in and even said it tasted like how his mum would make it when Sharon asked if it was different.

“I think it used to be a Sunday night thing; my mum would always make this. And because the weather was always so hot, I would always refuse to eat it like this and put it in the fridge. Then I would eat it several hours later, because it was so much more refreshing and colder,” he said.

In a video recorded for Kenneth later in the episode, his mum also reminded him not to overexert himself while doing triathlons.

“It really worries me a lot. Well, you love it, okay. We’ll always give you our support. But just be very careful and take good care of yourself. Okay son? We always have you in our thoughts. We love you,” she said.

In another surprise for Kenneth in the episode was a video call with his family, planned by his dad. Something he describes as rare due to the different time zones. While his folks called from Singapore, his second sister was calling from Melbourne.

Kenneth’s folks talked about how they should have spent more time with him and his siblings and how they would have if they could turn back the clock.

“Do you miss us or not?” asked his dad, to which Kenneth replied, “Of course we do, especially now, more than ever”.

Kenneth also highlighted how they last met in Kyoto and noticed that his parents have gotten older and how he has a desire to be closer to them and see them more often.

Kenneth's parents met up with him while he was in Japan for Noma's pop up in Kyoto.

The display of love got to Sharon, who said, “I am overwhelmed. Your parents are so warm. Your parents are so nice”.

Photos Mediacorp, Kenneth Foong

You can watch the full episode of Find Me A Singaporean: The World's My Stage with Kenneth on mewatch or the video below.