For Quentin Pereira, 44, head chef and owner of Quentin's the Eurasian Restaurant, Eurasian food has always been an important part of his life.
Quentin, as he prefers to be called, is best known as the Skinny Chef and is the leading name when it comes to Eurasian cuisine in Singapore.
Aside from being an author of two books, Robin’s Eurasian Recipesand Eurasian Heritage Cooking, he has also hosted his own television show, “The Skinny Chef” which showcased the delights of Eurasian cuisine. The show featured local Eurasian celebrities like Don Richmond, Jeremy Monteiro, Jean Danker and many others.
In 2000, his brother Harry Pereira, bought a food stall at Changi Business Park(CBP) for their father to run, where Quentin would help out. This was where and when he started intensively learning how to cook from his father, like the sorcerer’s apprentice.
“The technique, the style, everything I learnt was from watching him,” Mr. Quentin says.
They started simple with only two main dishes: Curry Devil also known as “Curry Debal”, and Pot Roast Beef with Vegetables.
Many Eurasian dishes in Singapore have Portuguese roots blending Indian and Malay elements, and are built up from a very carefully prepared rempah (spiced paste) base.
After working for his father at CBP for six years, a group of Quentin’s friends tried to persuade him to open his own restaurant.
After quite a bit of coaxing, he decided to set up Quentin’s The Eurasian Restaurant at East Coast Road.
Quentin and his two business partners at the time invested over $180,000 to buy over the space at East Coast. He also used the earnings made from running the stall at CBP to pay for the restaurant.
However, after about eight months, the trio started struggling to break even. Both of Quentin’s business partners decided to leave, forcing him to buy over their shares with whatever money he had left in order to keep his business going.
The situation grew worse when the landlord decided to increase the rental three-fold.
Luckily for Quentin, in 2006, a spot opened up at The Eurasian Community House where the rent was a lot lower. After some persuasion by his friends in the Eurasian Association management committee, Quentin made the logical decision to move.
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Figure 1 Quentin's The Eurasian Restaurant at the Eurasian Community House at Ceylon Road
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In addition to the lower rent, the best thing about moving to the Eurasian Association was that he could continue imparting his knowledge of Eurasian dishes onto others.It gave him the opportunity to truly immerse his customers into the Eurasian experience.
He would conduct cooking demos and give talks about Eurasian Cuisine at the Eurasian Community house and the yearly Singapore Heritage fest. With less than 17,000 Eurasians in Singapore, he hoped that this could help educate the younger generation.
Quentin lamented, “Eurasian food will just die off if nobody continues it.”
“I believe future generations should get a chance to know what Eurasian food is really like,” he adds.
In addition to the renowned Curry Devil and Sugee Cake, Quentin serves up a storm with Prawn Bostador, Patchri (Fried Eggplant), Meaty Cutlets and Kristang Stew.
Figure2 Curry Devil ("Curry Debal")
The restaurant hosts 30 to 35 people on a daily basis. During the weekends, it is so popular that sometimes customers without reservations are turned away.
As the leading name in Eurasian cuisine, Quentin holds the responsibility of preserving traditional Eurasian food in Singapore.
With the need to maintain the quality of the food, a lot of time is put into each individual dish. Some customers have made complaints on Quentin’s Facebook pagesaying that they waited over an hour for their food.
“Everything is freshly cooked. That is where sometimes, it takes too long,”, Quentin reasoned. “That is where we try and overcome it by having the live band, giving them fish keropok, things like that.”
While waiting, customers can also take a stroll through the Eurasian Heritage Gallery located on the third floor of the Eurasian Community House.
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“Out of the many loyal customers that we have, I would say 10 per cent are Eurasians who don’t cook at home,”, laughs the Skinny Chef.
Erica Fernando, 22, who frequents the restaurant, first heard about Quentin’s four years ago from her grandparents who used to be active members of the Eurasian Association.
“I enjoy going to Quentin’s because the food reminds me of the Eurasian dishes my mother cooks at home,” she says.
According to Miss Fernando, the sambal that accompanies the fish keropok could “shoot you to the moon”.
Figure 3 Myself with Erica Fernando at Pasir Ris Interchange on Sunday,26thof March 2017, 12pm.
Over the years, Quentin’s restaurant has provided food at various events that included the People’s Association Chingay celebrations.
He was also selected by the Prime Minister’s office to present meals at the Singapore Day organized by the Overseas Singapore Unitwhich plans and co-ordinates a whole-of-government effort to engage overseas Singaporeans to keep more emotionally connected with Singapore.
Quentin’s restaurant is set to provide lunch for guests at the Eurasian Festival 2017 on the 9thof April 2017 where Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is the guest-of-honour.
With his restaurant’s success, Quentin hopes to maintain his position as the leading name in Eurasian cuisine, while also staying true to the traditional Eurasian recipes.
The Skinny Chef declared, “I think the most important thing is that you must maintain an exceptional standard. As long as you preserve the quality and people like the food, they will make return visits.”
