“My staff call me mum”: How chef Sujatha Asokan creates a people-centric workplace at Quenino by Victor Liong

Since Sujatha Asokan was named the Rising Chef of the Year 2020 at the World Gourmet Summit, plenty has changed. Formerly head chef at Botanico (now rebranded as Au Balcon), one of the two dining concepts under The Garage by the 1-Group, she caught the attention of pundits with her clever meld of her Chinese and Indian heritage in a cuisine that transcends genres. 

After weathering through uncertain pandemic lockdowns and dining curfews with gumption — to keep overheads low, the Singaporean chef delivered the orders Botanico received on her own motorbike as the rest of the team manned the kitchen — she took a break to travel and regain inspiration.

Now, she’s one year in as chef de cuisine at Quenino, a fine-dining restaurant by Victor Liong, who likewise has made a name for himself in Melbourne with a uniquely multicultural contemporary fare. 

Learning from friends

When I arrive for the interview, the 32-year-old is preparing for an International Women’s Day (IWD) dinner with two other chef friends: general manager Alysia Chan from gourmet grocer Modern Provision and head chef Nadine Tay of Middle Eastern izakaya Habibi-san. Sujatha, or Su, as she prefers to be called, emerges from the kitchen a little distracted, clutching a piece of paper. 

Understandably, things are getting busy in the week leading up to the event. She’s worked alongside Chan at fine-dining establishment Pollen and started at 19 with Tay at celebrity chef Sam Leong’s kitchen supply store, ToTT. “He made us cut a lot of lemongrass,” she chuckles, “so one of our petit fours revolves around lemongrass.” The reason for the collaboration: “I really wanted to connect with friends.”

It took two months of planning and R&D to finalise the menu between visits to each other’s kitchens, Whatsapp chats, and Google Drive documents; not an easy feat in addition to planning for Quenino’s following seasonal menu. “Collaborations are a fun way to see and learn from each other,” she quips.

Both Chan and Tay subscribe to nose-to-tail cooking, which Su thinks is rubbing off on her. She explains that although sustainability is now a fad in cooking, she doesn’t want to feel forced to put some aspects on the plate just because.

Staying true 

Authenticity, a personality trait that has been Su’s cuisine philosophy since the beginning, hasn’t changed, and she’s become even more confident of her capabilities. Inspired by time spent travelling around Malaysia, where her father is from, and a new generation of chefs who value a holistic storytelling approach to cooking, she’s found flavours representative of her experiences. “I often travel with my team… to try a certain dish, find inspiration or rediscover certain ingredients,” she adds. 

Buah kulim, or jungle garlic, for example, is a lesser-known ingredient found in Malaysia’s forests. Long used by the Orang Asli (the first Indigenous people), it is more nut than bulb and has a pungent scent and umami taste similar to alliums. Su gets theirs from Borneo, which appears on the plate in accompaniment to a medium-rare Wilmot Beef Ribeye at the IWD dinner. 

Fostering a deeper connection with food for herself and her team is an essential step to taking pride in the cuisine they serve. At Quenino, tastings during R&D for a new menu involve everyone. She says assuringly, “Anybody can contribute, even my colleagues or an intern.”

Her chef de partie, for instance, created a curry sauce finished with passionfruit and has since become its “flavour police” for it, ensuring it’s always done perfectly. 

It’s the people that matter

Giving equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of gender, levels the playing field and has created a work culture in which people want to remain. Her restaurant team, including the front-of-house staff, comprises almost equal numbers of men and women (a rarity, especially in the usual male-dominated back-of-house). The kitchen team of seven has been with her since its opening in December 2023.

She considers them her second family, saying, “My staff call me ‘mum’.”

It all ties into “a culture where we care from the heart”, a service philosophy based on warmness and sincerity that is evident from how Su speaks of her team and in the service afforded to guests every night. 

“As a leader, it’s important for me to treat everybody as an individual to really understand how and figure out how to bring out the best in each of them,” she elaborates, acknowledging that it can get challenging without a one-size-fits-all solution. 

To her, the key to uplifting women is simple: equity. When given fair opportunities, female chefs can perform as well or even better than their male counterparts. She remembers feeling pigeonholed as a woman in the kitchen, saying, “There was this unspoken expectation that women would stick to pastry or the cold kitchen… I never let that limit me. I wanted to learn everything — the grill, the hot kitchen, handling heavier equipment.”

Proving her mettle through her actions and grit, she soon earned respect as a leader. Now, when it comes to hiring, she looks for a person’s connection to food, passion for food, as well as having a good attitude. She adds, “I’m not looking for a team of workaholics but someone interested in cooking and growing.”

Kitchens like Su’s reflect the times when the glamourisation of big egos and verbal abuse are no longer hallmarks of a great chef. It’s high time that credit is given to the hands toiling tirelessly behind the scenes to present dishes that are innovative yet nostalgic, simple yet exceedingly complex to execute. And it is in kitchens like Su’s that young female chefs can find safe, solid footing in the cutthroat culinary world.