Acclaimed Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang (江振誠) on Monday announced that he plans to retire at the end of this year as head chef of RAW, his Michelin two-star restaurant in Taipei.
The restaurant in Zhongshan District’s (中山) Dazhi (大直) area, would cease operations on Dec. 31, and be transformed into an international culinary school, he told a news conference at RAW.
The multiple-award-winning chef said that he had achieved his goal of “exhibiting the quality and standards of an international restaurant to young chefs,” after opening RAW in 2014.
Photo: AFP
Speaking about his “retirement,” Chiang said that people might not have a chance to eat his dishes starting next year, but he was shifting from one stage to start “building a bigger, more important and significant new one.”
He seeks to open the eyes of more young Taiwanese to creativity with “better chef training and cultivation programs,” he said.
He would “continue to create new opportunities and find solutions” for Taiwan’s culinary industry and young talent, he said.
Photo: CNA
Chiang hopes to train the next generation of young chefs and “perhaps even revolutionize the industry” by cultivating “hundreds or thousands of Andres,” RAW said in a news release.
Chiang did not give any details about the school at the news conference.
The move from the kitchen to the classroom represents a major shift in Chiang’s career.
The 48-year-old was the first Taiwanese chef to receive Michelin stars for his Restaurant Andre in Singapore, which closed in February 2018.
He is also the only chef of Chinese descent to have appeared in three top listings: the Michelin Guide, and the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and the Top 100 Chefs lists.
He was awarded the “Life Time Achievement Award — Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant in 2018,” and named one of the “15 most influential chefs of the next decade” by the Web site Elite Traveler, the digital magazine Tatler Asia said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, RAW launched a “World Tour III” menu that was a collaboration with 13 acclaimed chefs from around the world.
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