On the Comeback Trail

LIKE OTHER SINGAPOREAN chefs trying to create their own identity, Ace Tan learned the hard way that being original is no guarantee of success. Despite much of the hype surrounding his first venture Restaurant Ards in 2017, the fine dining progressive Asian restaurant shut down within its first year of business.

It was partly a combination of inexperience and error of judgment over its size, says Chef Tan, who is now head chef at 1-V:U, a new dining concept in Sentosa's Outpost Hotel.

"Looking back, we (he and fellow chef David Lee) were ambitious and went too big too fast with the pricing and capacity. It was a big space that needed a substantial number of covers daily to fill the restaurant, and the fine dining formula had a counter effect to that. We were two young chefs running the restaurant like chefs rather than entrepreneurs."