Yvonne Lim: Food as a metaphor for love
The Singaporean actress and variety show host is also a star in her own kitchen
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WATCHING YVONNE LIM CONFIDENTLY STIRRING a pot of fragrant Taiwanese braised pork belly in her kitchen, one would never believe that the bubbly Singaporean artiste once could not even fry an egg.
“I was in a variety show once, and I mistook salt for sugar – that’s how bad I was,” says the 49-year-old mother of two as she bustles about in her Bukit Timah condominium.
Lim – who was named All-Time Favourite Artiste at Star Awards 2025 – is still settling down in Singapore, having returned with her family in early 2025 after a decade of living in Taipei.
When she uprooted herself to join her Taiwanese husband Alex Tien in 2014, cooking was more “out of necessity” than interest.
“My firstborn, AJ, was just a toddler and he wasn’t eating well,” she explains. “I was really worried as a mum because I felt I wasn’t doing enough. We had a nanny and I wasn’t the one cooking at the time, so I thought that maybe I should step in.”
She was inspired by her late mother, who “always made sure we had three dishes and one soup at every meal – we called it san cai yi tang”, she recalls. “The food was always simple but comforting, like pork and potatoes.”
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So she set out to recreate her mum’s recipes from memory. “Everybody can see the size of my son now, so I guess I did a pretty good job!”
Bitten by the cooking bug in Taipei
Encouraged by this, she started to devour cookbooks, watched YouTube videos (“yes, there were some kitchen disasters”) and soon discovered she had a flair for both cooking and baking.
Pretty soon, she wasn’t just cooking for the kids but also whipping up elaborate spreads of Singaporean favourites for her Taiwanese friends. It got to the point that “Saturday at Yvonne’s place” was a permanent fixture on their calendars.
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She even planned her menus according to the different festivals celebrated in Singapore – Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and even Deepavali.
“I wanted to teach my kids about the four races in Singapore,” she says. “So for Chinese New Year, I would do yusheng and make my own jiaozi (dumplings); for Hari Raya, I would cook rendang and satay – I even tried to make my own ketupat.”
She was even more ambitious for Deepavali, having “almost” perfected the flip for roti prata. “But it was too much work – it’s easier to just come back to Singapore and eat our local roti prata!”
Honing her skills with Miele
What was meant to be a two-year stint in Taipei stretched to a decade instead, and Lim continued to hone her cooking skills while bringing up her kids, AJ and Alexa – now 11 and nine, respectively.
“I love the food culture in Taipei,” says Lim, citing the night markets and small family-run eateries in particular.
“Night market dishes like salt-and-pepper chicken and lu rou fan were my favourite,” she adds. The latter – five-spice-scented pork and rice – has since become her signature dish.
“Just like (how) we know what the taste of nasi lemak or bak chor mee is… living 10 years in Taipei means that I know what real lu rou fan is. So I’m pretty confident that mine is very close to what you’ll find at the night market.”
Lim first encountered Miele appliances at her Taiwanese friend’s home. “I really love how precise and reliable they are,” she stresses. “Especially when it comes to baking, which is what I do a lot of. Cooking itself is quite intuitive – it’s up to you how much soy sauce or other seasonings you want to put in – but baking is more precise.
“If the oven isn’t functioning properly, you won’t get good results. That’s why the Miele oven is my favourite because it gives reliable and consistent results.”
Her baking repertoire is not to be sniffed at, either. Lim is adept at cakes, caneles and cheesecakes, including the light and fluffy Japanese variety. And no one’s birthday goes by without a specially made cake from her.
Baking as therapy
Lim’s friends in Taipei were emotional when she told them she was moving back to Singapore, especially at the thought that there would no longer be Saturday feasts to look forward to.
Their loss is her Singaporean friends’ gain, however, as she continues to host get-togethers, albeit less often and smaller than before.
“It’s a proportion thing,” she explains. “Singapore is smaller, and so is our home. My kitchen in Taipei was much bigger.”
But she made sure to outfit her Singapore kitchen with Miele appliances including a combi-steam oven and 90 cm convection oven. The latter is her companion on quiet late nights, when she does her baking after her kids have gone to bed.
“I don’t sleep much,” says the self-confessed “energiser bunny” who calls her nocturnal activity her “me” time.
“I can’t sit still. Back in Taipei, I needed a hobby, which is why I started cooking and baking. But here, it’s therapeutic for me to bake in the middle of the night. My kids are not running around and asking me questions, so I can fully concentrate on what I’m doing.”
Her night-time exploits ensure a steady supply of bakes for her production crew members, who love them so much that they’ve asked her to sell them. “But no, it’s too much work and I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
Food as connection
Friends have also suggested that she do a pop-up, which she is toying with but only if it doesn’t compromise her main priority – her family. But she has always harboured a dream of starting a food truck of sorts – a live food station where she could cook and serve a community of, say, elderly folk, and interact with them.
“I love being able to serve food, talk to people and listen to their stories,” she says. “Food has this magic of bringing people together, and I think that’s one of my strengths.”
Food is also an important emotional connection to her mother, who passed away when Lim was just 13. “My regret is that I didn’t get to learn to cook from her,” she reminisces.
“I have memories of her cooking – making a dessert like almond beancurd or a simple fried fish. They’re pleasant memories, and I hope (my cooking) will provide the same for my kids as well.”
While food is family, Lim firmly believes that it’s also about kindness. “When you offer food to someone who may be going through a hard time, you’re showing care, concern and love – that they are not alone. It’s why I wanted to do my food truck.
“It’s my way of saying that, with what is happening now in the world, we need a little bit more kindness.”
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