Janice Wong

Janice Wong (born 1983)[1][2] is a Singaporean artist, chocolatier, chef, and entrepreneur. In addition to restaurants, dessert bars, and retail ventures, she is known for her edible art installations.[3] She has won multiple awards, including being named "Asia’s Best Pastry Chef" two years in a row by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants award sponsored by S.Pellegrino. Her single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolate brand, Janice Wong Pure Imagination, has retail outlets and production facilities in Singapore.[4]

Janice Wong
黃慧嫻
Born1983 (age 39–40)
Singapore
Alma materNational University of Singapore
Occupation(s)Chef, Artist
Years active2006 - present
Known forEdible Art, Contemporary Pastry
AwardsAsia’s Best Pastry Chef Award (2013, 2014), World Gourmet Summit Pastry Chef of the Year (2011, 2013, 2015)
Websitehttps://www.janicewong.com.sg/

Early life and education

Wong studied economics at National University of Singapore and graduated in 2006.[5] Later that year, she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where she graduated with a pastry diploma.[6] Following graduation, she worked as a pastry trainee at upscale French restaurant Les Amis in Singapore, then under Will Goldfarb at Room 4 Dessert in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood.[7]

She has worked with a number of notable chefs, including Spain’s Juan Mari Arzak, Americans Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz, and French pastry chef Pierre Hermé. Wong cites Achatz and renowned Catalonian pastry chef Oriol Balaguer as influences on her work.[8]

Career

The idea of opening a restaurant first came to Wong in 2004, while on an academic exchange program at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.[9] Three years later, Wong established her first business, 2am:dessert bar, in Singapore’s Holland Village in 2007.[10] The 70-seat open-concept establishment was based on the idea of inviting guests into her home, cooking in front of them, and staying late into the night.[11] Four years later, in 2011, she opened 2am:lab, a 2,000-square-foot culinary research and development lab in Singapore, for hosting guest chefs and workshops.[12]

In December 2014, Wong launched her eponymous brand Janice Wong Singapore with pop-up shops in Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay, ION Orchard,[13] and Marina Bay Sands.[14] The shop specializes in dessert chocolate that it describes as "interactive, edible art".[15]

Wong opened a pop-up dessert bar in Melbourne,[16] and entered the Japanese market with a 2am:dessertbar Tokyo location. The restaurant launched with a seasonal, localized menu taking inspiration from local prefectures.[17]

In January 2018, she opened Janice Wong MGM, a high-end shop in Macau’s MGM Cotai. The shop had a retail section, traditional bakery, and counters for sweets and gelato. In addition to a dining area, it boasted a chocolate fountain over seven meters tall with streams of dark, milk, and white chocolate.[18]

Fair Trade and Sustainability

Wong’s most recent business venture is Pure Imagination, a single-origin, bean-to-bar concept chocolate brand focused on cocoa purity, fair trade, and sustainability. The company works directly with smallholder farmers in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Philippines, and Thailand to produce small-batch chocolate bars.[19]

Its first location opened in Singapore’s Great World shopping center, complete with a small-batch chocolate factory in full view to the public, and workshops that take people through the chocolate-making process.[4]

With the long-term goal of producing Singapore’s first single-origin chocolate, Wong is on a mission to plant 1,000 cacao trees on the island.[20]

Publishing, television, and other appearances

In 2015, Wong appeared on an episode of MasterChef Australia season 7, where she challenged contestants to recreate her intricate dessert—the cassis plum.[21] She was also a guest judge alongside Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Nilou Motamed for the season 17 finale of Top Chef in 2020.[22]

Wong self-published a cookbook in 2011 titled Perfection in Imperfection[23] and co-authored a second cookbook in 2013 titled Dim Sum.[24] She has written two citrus cookbooks, one on Kochi yuzu in 2012, and A Taste of Kochi Citrus in 2018, published by the Kochi Representative Office in Singapore.[25] Both books explore the variety of citrus in certain prefectures of Japan.

Wong also speaks internationally on her culinary philosophy, which she also uses in part to represent Singapore.[14] In 2018, she was selected for the Culture Communication Forum in Seoul, Korea, as an ambassador to represent Singapore’s arts and culture.[26]

Every year Wong has showcased about 40 edible art exhibitions for public and private events, including for high-end brands in fashion, automotive, and skincare, such as Bally, Prada, Ferrari, Audi, Hermes, Olay, and L’Occitane. In 2016, she was featured at the Singapore Art Museum “Imaginarium”, which was a massive sugar coral installation. In 2018, she worked with Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki, Japan featuring the best of her works over two stories in the palace.

Awards
  • Pastry Chef of the Year, World Gourmet Summit Awards, 2011[27]
  • Young Woman Achiever, Her World, 2011/12[28]
  • World Gourmet Summit Awards, Pastry Chef of the Year, 2013[29]
  • World Gourmet Summit Awards, Pastry Chef of the Year, 2015[30]
  • SG Magazine Readers Choice Awards, Best Dessert Spot, 2012[31]
  • SG Magazine Readers Choice Awards, Best Dessert Spot, 2013[32]
  • SG Magazine Readers Choice Awards, Best Dessert Spot, 2014[33]
  • World's 50 Best Restaurants: Asia, Asia’s Best Pastry Chef, 2013[34]
  • World's 50 Best Restaurants: Asia, Asia’s Best Pastry Chef, 2014[35]

Books
  • Wong, Janice. Perfection In Imperfection. Gatehouse Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-9810895518
  • Kochi Yuzu, (2012)
  • Wong, Janice and Ma Jian Jun. Dim Sum: A Flour-forward approach to Traditional Favorites and Contemporary Creations. Gatehouse Publishing, 2013. ISBN 978-9810778705
  • A Taste of Kochi Citrus, (2018)

References
  1. "Oh, my old Singapore". The Straits Times. 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  2. Mancusi, Chiara. "Underwater Labyrinth. Of sugar&chocolate by Janice Wong". www.piwwe.com. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
  3. Gillan, Audrey. "Singapore: Edible Art". National Geographic. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  4. Goh, Amanda. "Pure Imagination: Janice Wong Unveils New Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Space at Great World". Tatler. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  5. Carbone, Suzanne (2015-03-06). "Janice Wong wows the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival with 2am:dessertbar edible art". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  6. "Janice Wong, Le Cordon Bleu Paris alumni, named Asia's Best Pastry Chef". Le Cordon Bleu. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  7. "Janice Wong: Young Woman Achiever 2011". Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  8. "Chef-Artist: Janice Wong". Exquisite Taste. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  9. Tan, Rebecca Lynne (20 February 2012). "Just Desserts". The Straits Times. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  10. "Singapore's Queen of Edible Art". Lightfoot Travel. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  11. The Creators (February 18, 2022). The Creators: Janice Wong (Television production). Singapore. Event occurs at 12:55.
  12. "2am:lab". SG Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  13. Tan, Annette (2014-12-19). "Chef Janice Wong has a new pastry wonderland". Today Online. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  14. Soh, Joanne (2015-07-15). "Superwoman of desserts". The New Paper. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  15. Waun, Sim EE (2015-01-31). "Make art, not dessert, with JANICE WONG". The Star.
  16. Carbone, Suzanne (2015-03-07). "Janice Wong wows the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival with 2am:dessertbar edible art". The Age. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  17. Goh, Kenneth (2015-11-03). "Pastry chef Janice Wong to open eateries in Hong Kong & Tokyo in the new year". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  18. "Singapore chef Janice Wong's new shop in Macau's MGM Cotai resort has 7.3m-tall chocolate fountain". Straitstimes.com. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  19. Chiew, Samantha. "Janice and the Chocolate Factory". The Edge Singapore. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  20. Loh, Genevieve Sarah. "Chocolate grown in Singapore? Dessert chef Janice Wong is planting 1,000 cacao trees here". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  21. "Singapore chef makes guest appearance on MasterChef Australia". The New Paper. 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  22. "Singapore pastry chef Janice Wong appears as guest judge on Top Chef season finale". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  23. Jung, Susan (2015-11-08). "Food book: Janice Wong's Perfection in Imperfection". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  24. Lee, Helena (2014-08-14). "This week's food trends". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  25. "More Than Yuzu: Chef Janice Wong Explores The Citrus Fruits Of Kochi". Michelin Guide. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  26. Min-sik, Yoon. "CCF 2018 to discuss 'essence' of Korea". Korea Herald. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  27. "PCB Pastry Chef of the Year". World Gourmet Summit Awards. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  28. [World Gourmet Summit (WGS) Awards "Her World Woman Of The Year 2011/12 Winners"]. Her World. Retrieved 23 May 2022. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  29. "World Gourmet Series Awards". World Gourmet Summit Awards. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  30. "World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence". World Gourmet Summit Awards. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  31. "I-S Readers' Choice Awards 2012". SG Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  32. "I-S Readers' Choice Awards 2013". SG Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  33. "I-S Readers' Choice Awards 2014". SG Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  34. Iyer, Meenakshi. "Dessert Queen". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  35. Toda, Fernando. "Cheryl Koh, Best Asian pastry chef at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants". So good... Retrieved 23 May 2022.
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