Ian Goh wins the Food for Thought Award

Ian Goh has been announced as the global winner of the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award, a collateral award of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2022-23.

The young chef from Singapore won with his signature dish ‘Heritage lamb’, a creation, he said, that “blends my love of lamb with my hope to highlight my Hainanese heritage”. He beat 14 other young hopefuls to the award and will now travel to the Grand Finale in Milan in October to collect his prize, where he will also be competing for the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award as the winner of the Asia Regional Final.

The dish was conceived with the help of his Regional Final mentor Louis Han – Sous Chef from one-Michelin-star Nae:um in Singapore.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor, considering that he himself competed in 2016,” said Goh. “We spent long hours together not only for the training itself, but he also helped me to boost my confidence and mental steadfastness.”

The Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award is given to the chef who best represents their personal beliefs through a signature dish and is voted for by Fine Dining Lovers readers in an online ballot. It is the only collateral award voted for by the public and is the first to be announced for this edition of the Competition.

Two other collateral awards will also be announced ahead of the Grand Finale: the S.Pellegrino Social Responsibility Award, voted for by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and the Acqua Panna Connection in Gastronomy Award, voted for by the Competition mentors. For each award, 15 regional winners, one from each Regional Final, compete for a global prize.

Goh said being part of the Competition had been a “great experience”. “I think it gives a platform for young chefs to shine,'' he added.