Chef Soong posing for a photo with the food he prepared for the children of My First Skool at 49 Rivervale Crescent.

 

Mr Lim Tzu Fui, who is affectionately known as Chef Soong, is a chef at My First Skool (MFS) at 49 Rivervale Crescent. He prepares breakfast, lunch and tea break for the children every day. 

Having worked as a chef for 25 years in western restaurants and hotels, Chef Soong became interested in creating healthy and nutritious meals for children when his wife was pregnant with their daughter. In 2019, he joined MFS as a chef after a friend recommended him to do so.

Initially, Chef Soong found it challenging to adapt to the pre-school kitchen, because the workflow for meal prep differs from what he was used to. After sharing his wealth of knowledge with his three colleagues at the kitchen, who were warm and receptive to his ideas, the team of four has been working very well together since. Another challenge was to constantly innovate the recipes to make the food palatable to children, while being healthy and nutritious, having less oil, salt and fried items in the menu. In addition, he would take note of certain food allergies among children, and prepare their meals accordingly.

Chef Soong looks forward to contributing more to MFS in the future, including raising the professional standards of each centre’s kitchen, and creating new recipes for children’s meals.

His favourite part of the job? Children’s honesty.

“You need to put in your heart and soul wherever you work. However, I find working at a pre-school very interesting because I love spending time with children. They will let me know when the meals I prepared were delicious. When they did not like the food, they would tell me too,” Chef Soong said.

Media Coverage:

• Lianhe Zaobao Online (28 July 2022): https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20220728-1297169 
• Lianhe Zaobao Print (28 July 2022): PDF attached

ZB_28 July 2022_费心为孩童备餐.pdf