Sebastian Ng exiting Ember

REST to walk further, goes a Chinese expression - and that's what chef-owner Sebastian Ng will be doing when he leaves Restaurant Ember at the end of next month. "After 12 years, I want to take a long break and get some new ideas before I get back into business," says the 39-year-old, who has sold his 50 per cent stake in the Keong Saik Road restaurant to co-owner and local hotelier Loh Lik Peng.

Details for the new business - which will also be run in partnership with Mr Loh - are still being worked out and it won't open until the end of the year or early next year, says Mr Ng, but would probably be a casual Western dining concept that's less reliant on labour. With the manpower shortage in the food and beverage sector amplified by the government's recent tightening of foreign labour quotas, Mr Ng says that he would be looking at "using more advanced technology to produce high quality food with minimum manpower".

But his immediate plan after his departure is to first take a three-month holiday with stops in Penang, Hong Kong, London and Santorini, among other cities, before heading to Japan for three more months to further hone his skills. Drawing on his contacts there, he hopes to apprentice at "a mix of traditional Japanese or French restaurants and modern dessert places".