Our Chefs

Chef Judy Koh (Baking,Asian Cuisine and culture,Healthy Baking and Cooking)

Chef Judy Koh, Managing Director  and Executive Chef of Creative Culinaire The School and Caffe Pralet is widely celebrated locally and overseas as a chef ,food columnist and consultant.

Her passion for cooking and baking began as a child, and her favourite haunt was the kitchen.  She found joy in cooking and baking and she enjoys food presentation,development ofAsian and Western  recipes and research  and comparative studies on food. Chef Judy holds a Diploma in Hotel Cakes, Breads and Pastries (Singapore), European Cakes and Pastries (Culinary Institute of America), Entremets (Cakes and Pastries) in Lenotre and Bellouet Conseil, France.

She also holds a Diploma in Baking Science and Technology, (US Wheat Associates And American Baking Institute of Baking), Steamed and Fried Products, Frozen Dough and Premix(US Wheat Associates).

Chef Judy has close to two decades of professional baking  and cooking experience .She has worked in Hotel Otani (Singapore), Novotel Hotel (Chiangmai,Thailand) . Her school, Creative Culinaire, offers hands- on baking classes, demonstrations of various cuisines, school and corporate teambuilding sessions as well as  private culinary events . A variety of cuisines including Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Indian, Western Cooking and courses like Baking ,Cake Decoration, Gelato Making and Chocolate Making(from beginners to professional levels),international and local pastries are offered at the school. Chef Judy’s forte lies in developing recipes and is a sought- after   consultant and trainer for many Food and Beverage establishments in Singapore and overseas.

Not only has she been featured countless times in well-known local and overseas food publications ,but she is also the holder of several bakery feats.In September 2008, Chef Judy led her team to make the biggest birthday cake, at 500kg, in Singapore and made it to the Singapore Book of Records. Another achievement of hers is that she made it to The Guinness World Records as part of a team of three international chefs for breaking the world’s record in building the world’s tallest chocolate sculpture. In 2009, Judy also led her team  to bake and build Singapore’s tallest Christmas tree cupcake structure.And in 2010, together with her team, she built Singapore’s longest swiss roll. 100% of the sales of the proceeds were donated to Children’s Cancer Fund.

Although her specialty is in baking, Chef Judy is a true blue Singaporean at heart – she often incorporates local and Asian cooking into her culinary repertoire. Some of her culinary creations where Asian and Western elements are incorporated can be found in her  books, such as Recipes from the Heart and the  Pockets of Happiness ,which also showcases her talent as a poet. The East and West influences are also reflected in the menus and food offered at her café, Café Pralet, situated beside her school. She has recently been featured  in the book,’Do you have what it takes to be Boss?”,a collection of success stories of top local entrepreneurs.Chef Judy was also a nominee for the 2007 Spirit of Enterprise Award.

Cecilia Hough
Executive Profile – Chef Instructor

Cecilia has been involved in training and education in Singapore for more than 6 years and has a special interest in culinary and food and beverage training.  She is now an entrepreneur who delivers training to foodies of all ages.

Cecilia’s passion for the food and beverage industry was ignited when she first started to work at a catering company during weekends and school holidays when she was in secondary school.  Cecilia received 3 years of formal culinary training as part of her Hotel Management Study programme.  Thereafter, she gained practical experience working in the kitchen of the very busy Holiday Inn Johannesburg International Airport, where ‘working under pressure’ took on new meaning.    She moved to Cape Town where she worked at a very quaint Lanzerac Manor in the heart of the South African winelands.  Here the emphasis was on everything fine – fine food, fine wine, fine service and fine settings.  As the culinary heart of South Africa, chefs have to be super creative and innovative in order to showcase the best of what South Africa has to offer.  She also worked at Doornbosch Restaurant in Stellenbosch, where she was responsible for developing recipes to best illustrate the fusion of South African and Malay cuisine, traditionally referred to as ‘Cape-Malay’ cuisine. 

One of the highlights of her career was a two year stint onboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, where she had the opportunity to work with, learn from and train colleagues from around the word.  With menus being tailored to the region of the word the ship would be in at the point of time, she is familiar with cuisines from around the world. 

Our Chefs

	Chef Liu At the age of 17, Chef Liu studied at the culinary department of Guangxi Agricultural Broadcast School, Guilin Branch for 2 years, where he completed all the courses and passed all the examinations with flying colours. After that, he went on to work at Guilin Xiangjiang Hotel where he was awarded the “Excellent Worker” award as pastry chef. Chef Liu majors in bakery science, cake decoration, and the techniques of cake, bread and pastry making. Since 2007, he has been working in Creative Culinaire The School and Café Pralet by Creative Culinaire The School as chief baker and assistant to Chef Judy Koh in the teaching department. He was also involved in the creation of Singapore’s largest cake to date, alongside Chef Judy and her team. Chef Liu is popular with the students because of his sense of humour, clarity of presentation, and especially his dedication to his craft and his willingness to share his knowledge with the students.
	Chef Michael Koh Chef Michael Koh has done extensive work with both American ice-cream and Italian gelato, having done both formal courses and worked with ice-cream makers from US and Italy. In a recent renowned US course in Pennsylvania, Michael graduated among the top 10percent of class and went on working in creameries there and in Manhattan. Michael has also helped with the set-up of local gelatorias in Singapore.
	Chef Ace Chef Ace is one of Creative Culinaire’s home-grown talents. Having started out here in the baking team with no experience, he is now one of our top bakers in cake decorating. Chef Ace’s real name is Virgel but has earned a fitting nickname with his deft hands and creative methods for decorating cakes. Do check out our cakes section to see the numerous cakes that Chef Ace has had a hand in.
	Chef Keong He has more than 30 years of experience having worked in Marriott, Hyatt Hotels, Private Clubs and Restaurants.  He has extensive teaching experience, having taught in Private Clubs and Culinary Schools, and has proven to be a very poplar and well loved teacher, passionate, sincere and enthusiastic about his secrets of Asian cooking.  He is well known for being very exact and precise in his recipes so that you will succeed in trying out the dishes in your own kitchen. He is well known for his easy- to- follow From the very first lesson, you will learn from him the secrets in selecting and preparing the  fresh ingredients. The correct and proper techniques in using the cleaver, tips on how to prepare and advance so that cooking for friends and loved ones become an enjoyable, stress free and  rewarding process. We guarantee you that you will have a most enjoyable and rewarding time with Chef Keong.