Les Amis pays for staff to dine around the world – so they love their craft more
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Les Amis pays for staff to dine around the globe – so they dearest their craft more
It'due south all part of investing in talent, said Group chairman Desmond Lim, as he reflects on surviving 25 years in fine dining and launches four new concepts.
Les Amis Grouping chairman Desmond Lim. (Photograph: Mark Lee)
Running a restaurant is notoriously hard business. Especially so in lean and competitive times such every bit these, in a spoilt-for-choice-food haven that is Singapore. Which makes the story of Singapore's very own fine dining grand dame Les Amis all the more than remarkable.
This year, the homegrown institution – known for its impeccable service, who'due south who clientele and fine French cuisine – is celebrating its 25th birthday.
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Twenty-five silver years, that is, since stockbroker Desmond Lim together with his friends Dr Chong Yap Seng, chef Justin Quek and sommelier-turned-restaurateur Ignatius Chan opened Singapore's first contained European fine-dining eatery, right in the heart of Orchard Road.
In a time when high-cease restaurants were only establish in luxury hotels, Les Amis was the renegade jiff of fresh air. And its inception, way back on Mar xv, 1994, ended up changing the face of high-stop dining in Singapore forever.
For quarter of a century – over white linen tablecloths and polished silverware, enveloped in attentive table service and softly lit, hushed rooms – many a birthday, anniversary or proposal has been celebrated in Les Amis.
"Nosotros want to give every one that walks through the door a special experience... Non a snooty kind of service."
And what worked from the very showtime – exacting cooking techniques, refined, discriminating ingredients and a tremendous wine listing the likes of which Singapore had non seen earlier – is yet being served up at the eating house to this very day.
Armed with two Michelin stars since 2022 (the year the awards were first given out locally), Les Amis is currently headed by French chef Sebastien Lepinoy.
It has cemented its place as one of Singapore's foremost fine dining institutions. And laudably so. Just ask any i from its well-heeled stable of regulars, new converts and overseas fans.
So what is the underground ingredient in Les Amis' recipe for success and longevity?
Lim, who serves as Chairman of the Les Amis Group, tells CNA Luxury it's simply about a commitment to quality.
"Besides delivering top quality ingredients, the other is service," he said. "Not simply professional (service) because that'southward a given. But service with a certain warmth and sincerity."
"Non a snooty kind of service," he explained with a smile. "We want to give every one that walks through the door a special feel especially if you've come up from a far."
Les amis (which translates to "the friends") indeed.
As simple and unassuming as it may sound, the genial 62-year-old knows exactly what he's talking near. Later on all, the Les Amis Group isn't just surviving 25 years in Singapore'south F&B business, it's thriving.
To appointment, the group has grown from its unmarried flagship establishment to 22 restaurant concepts (every bit of Baronial this year) and 29 outlets in Singapore (every bit of June this twelvemonth), offering everything from French and Japanese cuisine to popular pizzerias and a chain of Vietnamese noodle bars.
The group as well has xxx overseas concepts including joint ventures and franchises in Hong Kong, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia, with more than expansion plans in the pipeline. Today, the group has within its portfolio a whopping 32 brands.
"Whatever nosotros exercise, nosotros want to deliver something very good, something of quality at every price point," said Lim. "Nosotros want to be proud at all levels."
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Looking back at the last 25 years, Lim told CNA Luxury that the Les Amis Group's other vital secret ingredient is constantly investing their best asset – their employees. For him, it's all most nurturing and grooming the next generation seeking to abound their culinary career and giving them that platform to learn and shine.
"This business is all about people – whether they are in the kitchen or upfront," he said. "I think over the years, that has not changed. The challenge is: How do y'all motivate them and to retain them?"
"I believe you lot accept to allow staff to fly as high and as far as they tin can get, even if that means leaving the organisation."
He explained: "I believe you accept to allow staff to fly equally high and as far as they can go, even if that means leaving the organisation. Some staff accept gone and some have even come back. And for those who haven't come back, we still keep in touch."
Indeed, some of Singapore's notable culinary wunderkinds – like one Michelin-starred Corner Business firm'due south Jason Tan, dessert chef Janice Wong, Antoinette'south Pang Kok Keong, Ola'south Daniel Chavez, and El Fuego By Collin's Koh Han Jie – have honed their talents at Les Amis.
Lim likes that Les Amis is "a good training ground" and is delighted to "find our alumni all over the place".
"I am just as excited today as I was 25 years ago when I come beyond raw talent," he said with a grin.
And it'southward raw talent that he is more than happy to invest in. In ensuring that service standards are upwardly to par, the group believes in organising fully funded trips to various parts of France, Rome, Naples and Florence in Italy, San Sebastian in Spain, and Tokyo for their chefs and service staff to dine in restaurants and meet food producers, such as Mons fromagerie – a cheese producer in the Loire Valley and caviar producer Kaviari. These are open to all staff beyond the Les Amis group, not but the flagship restaurant.
"We want to evangelize something very skillful, something of quality at every toll bespeak."
"We hope these trips will permit our staff to develop a greater appreciation and understanding for their craft," said Lim. "And inspire the team to evangelize memorable experiences for our guests."
Lim is also all most focusing on the next generation equally the grouping continually works alongside educational and preparation institution partners. To show support, the Les Amis Group raised and donated S$1.08 meg in 2022 during their 20th anniversary to dorsum scholarship programmes for students from Temasek Polytechnic and the Institute of Technical Instruction.
ALL About ASIA
Indeed, for the down-to earth Lim, this 25th year in an ever-evolving industry is now about concentrating on home.
"Where we sit in Singapore – multi-racial, multi-cultural, right in the eye of Southeast Asia – I think there is and then much more to offer here," he said. "I'm looking forward and am so excited to present more than humble food from our region".
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According to Lim, this next chapter is all about exploring Asian and local Singaporean food.
"I don't desire to see the inevitable demise of our food culture because the younger generation cannot bear on the legacy of their parents' food business." he said. "It's very hard piece of work and so I practise understand. But there is just so much potential right here."
And he's putting his money where his oral fissure is. This year lonely, the group will be introducing four new concepts – a Peranakan eatery called Indigo Bluish Kitchen, a Japanese izakaya chosen Yujin, an Asian eating place Uncle Wok which serves wok-based dishes and sustainable eating place Kausmo, helmed by Singapore female person duo Chef Lisa Tang and Front-of-Business firm Managing director Kuah Chew Shian.
"Today, (the F&B industry) has got a momentum of its own – a young brood of restaurateurs with fresh ideas," said Lim. "And then the challenge for a 25-year-sometime group like us is: How practice we refresh ourselves and remain relevant?"
"Where we sit in Singapore – multi-racial, multi-cultural, right in the center of Southeast Asia – I call up there is and so much more to offer here."
Will a young 20-something-year-one-time couple be excited about the cuisine that they're seeing on the plate today or volition they exist more than excited with the theatrics of all –similar smoke billowing out to provide movie-perfect Instagrammable photos? Or do they really go into the flavours of the food, the sauce, the quality and the history of the ingredients? These are just some of the questions Lim finds himself constantly asking.
"This is the claiming for us," he admitted. " Only that said, we won't compromise. We won't put something on the plate that we won't be proud of. Something that I won't enjoy eating myself."
STARRY-EYED
It is undeniable how much Les Amis has contributed to the Singapore dining scene. Indeed, she is the doyenne that not just survived just flourished in a time before celebrity chefs and Michelin stars.
Ask Lim what the two Michelin stars they currently hold truly mean to the restaurant and the man is refreshingly candid.
"We won't compromise. Nosotros won't put something on the plate that nosotros won't be proud of."
"I think stars are important. Only it's certainly not the 'be all and end all'," he said. "What the two stars have brought us is a alter in our profile of diners. Nosotros are now seeing a younger crowd as well as tourists who hail from the East similar Japan and Korea. It'south a more than Asian oversupply, which is dandy. Overall, it's a more than international audition."
He does acknowledge that the stars will always come with a "certain pressure of having to maintain" them.
"But to be honest, what we deliver on the plate and on service volition never alter, with or without the star," he said.
Then what's side by side for Les Amis? Maybe the elusive third Michelin star?
"It'll nice to have the 3rd. I'd be lying if I didn't say so," he said with a grinning. "Merely like I said, before, it's not the 'be all finish all'.
"I think life goes on, whether we get three stars or two stars. I don't think anything will change at all. What'south near of import to me is that our values will ever exist reflected in our service and in our food."
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