FOCUS
Chef & the
Permanent Roommate
The One with the
Meet the power duo behind
the Emmanuel Stroobant
Group, one of Singapore’s
hottest culinary movers
as they regale us with
tales and advice from the
kitchen. Trust us, it will
get hot in here.
Unsurprisingly, the kitchen is the
pièce de résistance of Emmanuel
Stroobant’s two-storey apartment in
River Valley – a large marble island
with an induction stove, a wall-to-wall
chiller that could likely store food
for the whole of France, and enough
knives and equipment to rival a fullservice kitchen. What is surprising,
however, is that this Belgian celebrity
chef is a vegetarian, and has been one
for the past five years.
The yoga enthusiast explains that it
was a gradual lifestyle change; he had
to stop eating meat due to his alarming
cholesterol levels and saw a dramatic
improvement during his daily yoga
practice. Slowly but surely, Stroobant
began cutting out eggs, dairy and
seafood from his diet until only plants
were left. “I have a weakness for
good sashimi and chardonnay though,
and indulge in it two to three times