Lost At 16, This Chef Found His Purpose In Cooking – Then It Nearly Broke Him

At 16, Sherwin Poon had a problem. Everyone around him seemed to know what they wanted to do with their lives. His classmates were making plans for their future. Sherwin was struggling to imagine his.

He began questioning why he was even on Earth, asking himself, “what's my purpose over here?”

One day, feeling particularly defeated, he went for a long walk near his secondary school and sat down in a park. There, he made a desperate appeal to whichever higher power might be listening. “Just give me something,” he pleaded.

No divine intervention followed. No lightning bolt. No conveniently timed career counsellor. But later that evening, Sherwin asked himself a question that would change his life: What did he actually enjoy doing?

The answer was wonderfully uncomplicated: eating. So, naturally, he wondered: Why not try cooking?

Twelve years later, the 28-year-old is the Head Chef at Scotts Grill, a modern European grill restaurant under Les Amis Group in Singapore.

It's the sort of career trajectory that makes for an excellent LinkedIn success story: Directionless teenager discovers passion, works incredibly hard, achieves dream job before 30. Inspirational stuff.

Except Sherwin's journey also involved a serious work-related injury, crippling burnout, and the uncomfortable realisation that getting your dream job is one thing. Figuring out how to live with it is another.

From Gordon Ramsay’s scrambled eggs to culinary school

Sherwin's love affair with food began long before he considered making a career out of it.

Growing up, he spent much of his childhood with his grandparents in their terrace house near Upper Thomson. With his parents busy working, his grandparents became central figures in his life.

As a kid, Sherwin spent hours watching his grandmother cook - although he was only interested in eating. | IMAGE: SHERWIN POON

His grandmother cooked for relatives across Singapore, while his grandfather showed affection through practical gestures and the occasional bit of clowning. Their house became something of a family headquarters.

“Whenever someone has a difficulty, there’s always that house there to come back to,” says Sherwin. “It’s like a shelter for everyone.”

Yet despite spending countless hours watching his grandmother cook, young Sherwin had little interest in learning her techniques. “I wasn't interested in cooking. I just wanted to eat.”

That changed at 16, when his newfound curiosity sent him down a YouTube rabbit hole. Gordon Ramsay's scrambled eggs were an early inspiration. He spent entire nights watching cooking tutorials, sometimes staying awake until 5am.

Soon, he was experimenting in the kitchen. His first Father's Day roast chicken, inspired by Jamie Oliver, was hardly a triumph. “It was horrible,” he admits, laughing. Fortunately, the family was encouraging, and he kept going.

For the first time, Sherwin had found something he was willing to obsess over. “Once I grabbed hold of this, it’s like, I never want to let it go ever again,” he says.

He eventually enrolled in Temasek Polytechnic to study Culinary and Catering Management. What began as a teenager's search for direction was turning into a career.

Sherwin found his tribe in a French kitchen

At 19, Sherwin secured an opportunity that would transform his understanding of cooking and, more profoundly, himself. He was one of just two students selected for a six-month internship in France under Chef David Mollicone.

He had been warned that Mollicone was an extraordinarily intense character. Rather than being intimidated, Sherwin was intrigued. The warnings, it turned out, weren't entirely exaggerated. During their first meeting, Mollicone was warm and welcoming. But when restaurant service began, Sherwin witnessed a transformation.

“He was locked in. He was a different person and he was just so into the craft that you couldn't recognise him,” Sherwin recalls.

While some might have found that intensity terrifying, Sherwin noticed something familiar in it. “This guy is on fire,” he remembers thinking. “I found my tribe.”

Sherwin was only one of two students chosen for an internship in France with Chef David Mollicone (left). | IMAGE: SHERWIN POON

Mollicone's kitchen was demanding, occasionally intimidating, and hardly everyone's idea of a nurturing workplace. But Sherwin found in his mentor's intensity an obsession with the craft that matched his own.

Their relationship eventually grew beyond the professional. Mollicone became, in Sherwin's words, “like another father”. Years later, the two remain close, exchanging calls and messages. Mollicone even visited Scotts Grill during a trip to Singapore, a particularly meaningful occasion for his former student.

More importantly, the experience in France gave Sherwin something he'd been searching for since his teenage years: “I have a space on this earth.”

Back in Singapore, Sherwin continued developing his craft while doing National Service. His early experiments included home-dining sessions, which helped him discover something important about creativity. “What's personal will always be the most creative,” he says.

Burnout at 25: When passion becomes too much

If the early years of Sherwin's career were defined by an almost obsessive pursuit of excellence, his mid-20s brought a painful reality check.

At 22, years of physically demanding kitchen work contributed to a serious arm injury involving nerve damage. He underwent surgery and estimates that his arm now functions at around 85 per cent of its former strength.

At one point, he worked 17-hour days. By 25, he was experiencing severe burnout while working at Voyage, a Singapore restaurant headed by chef-owner Jonathan Koh, which closed at the end of 2024.

Sherwin with Jonathan Koh (left), chef-owner of now-defunct Singapore restaurant Voyage. | IMAGE: SHERWIN POON

Sherwin (foreground) at work in the kitchen at Voyage. | IMAGE: SHERWIN POON

He recalls looking at himself in the mirror after years of relentless work. “I hate this person,” he remembers thinking. He'd dedicated so much of himself to becoming a better chef that he began questioning whether the sacrifices were worth it.

Eventually, he made the difficult decision to leave. For a period, Sherwin stepped away from the relentless demands of professional kitchens, explored ramen-making and travelled to Japan, where he immersed himself in the country's food culture.

“It taught me a very valuable lesson: longevity is important,” he says of his injury. It wasn't enough to become exceptional at his craft if the process left him physically and emotionally depleted. He needed a different approach.

From burnout to Head Chef at Scotts Grill

The opportunity arrived through a former polytechnic lecturer, who contacted Sherwin about taking charge of a new restaurant under the Les Amis Group.

Sherwin was 26 and had never been a head chef. His initial reaction was uncertainty. “I don't think I'm ready,” he recalls telling the lecturer. The response? “But when will you ever be ready?”

Sherwin accepted the position and became the opening Head Chef of Scotts Grill. The restaurant specialises in modern European cuisine, with high-quality ingredients prepared simply to highlight their natural flavours. Fire and grilling techniques feature prominently in its culinary identity.

Sherwin was just 26 when he accepted the role of Head Chef at Scotts Grill by Les Amis Group. | IMAGE: SCOTTS GRILL

But Sherwin's approach has also been shaped by influences that have little to do with Europe. Take his koji black cod, for instance, inspired by a humble microwaveable fish dish he discovered at a Lawson convenience store in Japan. Or his spuds, inspired by an izakaya potato salad that made him wonder what would happen if the dish were served hot and crispy instead. These have become signatures at Scotts Grill.

His experiments include an off-menu one featuring handmade pasta, lobster stock and his grandmother's XO sauce recipe. Would he bring it back? No. “Because it’s too much work!”

Sherwin has since discovered that running a restaurant involves considerably more than producing excellent food. He estimates that he spends roughly half his time cooking and the other half thinking about operations, the dining experience and the restaurant's future.

“Being a chef is not just about cooking,” he says. “Being a chef is about curating an experience for everyone.”

Charcoal Grilled Spanish Octopus. | IMAGE: SCOTTS GRILL

60D Aged Dingley Dell Pork Chop with mustard jus. | IMAGE: SCOTTS GRILL

Why Sherwin wants his young chefs to outgrow him

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Sherwin's leadership philosophy is that he doesn't necessarily want his employees to stay with him forever.

He describes his approach as a “sandbox”, a space where younger chefs can experiment, make mistakes and develop their skills. The concept is deeply personal. “I believe in the sandbox concept because I am a product of a sandbox,” he says.

In France, Mollicone had allowed him to create dishes rather than merely follow instructions. That freedom helped him grow, and he wants others to experience something similar.

Sherwin encourages his young chefs to develop their own ambitions, even if that eventually means leaving Scotts Grill. “Don't be stuck with me for 10 years, 15 years,” he says. “The world’s big, you know.”

It’s not the most obvious approach to staff retention. But for Sherwin, the mark of a good leader isn’t how indispensable he becomes. It’s how confidently his team can function without him. “In fact, I want them to be better than I am,” he says.

Yet Sherwin admits he's still learning to step away himself. At the time of our interview, he was working seven days a week, although he planned to start taking proper days off, partly to give his team more room to grow.

For someone who once measured his commitment by how much he could give to cooking, learning to step away might be his next major challenge.

Black Onyx Striploin - a premium Australian Black Angus striploin, grain-fed for 270 days. | IMAGE: SCOTTS GRILL

What he’d miss most if he stopped cooking tomorrow

For all his European training and culinary ambition, Sherwin remains deeply connected to the food and family traditions that shaped him. His grandmother's curry chicken remains one of his favourite dishes. She's passed down the recipe, but he insists his version still doesn't quite match hers. Part of the secret, apparently, is the alarming quantity of oil. “It's diabolic!” he says, chuckling.

Today, he and his mother have taken over much of the cooking for their extended family's Chinese New Year gatherings, which can involve around 60 people. Sherwin is particularly proud of preparing the traditional dishes, including curry chicken. It's a responsibility he hopes to pass down to the next generation someday.

The dream for Sherwin is that his team at Scotts Grill can function confidently without him. | IMAGE: SCOTTS GRILL

Asked what he'd miss most if he stopped being a chef tomorrow, Sherwin’s answer is surprisingly revealing: “I think I would miss changing lives.” Not the accolades, the beautifully plated dishes or even the act of cooking itself.

“I would miss cooking, but I wouldn't miss it as much as nurturing and mentoring someone or loving someone or doing something for someone else,” he says.

“Cooking is just a gateway for me to do all those things.”

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