Sichuan cuisine gets star touch

On Oct 10, 2017, when chef Andre Chiang walked into his two-Michelin-starred Restaurant, Andre, in Singapore, he saw his staff working diligently. They knew exactly which guests were coming, where they would be seated, what they wanted to eat, and how to cook, season and create an unforgettable memory for each one of them.

That's when Chiang decided to shut the restaurant down.

"It's like drawing a picture－I paint from scratch, little by little, and one day it's complete, you don't want to change any detail－all I need to do is to sign on the picture and it's perfect," says Chiang.

After three decades' experience in French cuisine, Chiang launched his first project involving Chinese cuisine at the end of 2017 when he agreed to be the creative and culinary director of The Bridge, a Sichuan cuisine restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

"Some may wonder what I can do to reshape Sichuan cuisine. My mission is to enhance its beauty, which has existed for centuries, strip out the unnecessary and reinstate the true elegance of original Sichuan cuisine," says Chiang.

Chiang, who was born in Taipei, was first exposed to the kitchen when he entered vocational school to learn cooking. Outside of his classes, he took part-time jobs at restaurants.

He worked at the Landis Tapei Hotel for one year when he worked for Paris 1930 and at the hotel's pastry kitchen.

He first worked at the Landis Taipei Hotel for a year, and then at Paris 1930.

At 20, Chiang became the executive chef of Paris 1930, becoming the youngest French cuisine executive chef in Taiwan.