Kitchen Stories: The chef whose dog Milo inspired pet-friendly gelato shop Mylo's

Dining

Kitchen Stories: The chef whose dog Milo inspired pet-friendly gelato shop Mylo's

Michael Wilson always wanted to open a coincidental gelato buffet, and his golden retriever, Milo, played a role in making it happen. Psst: The chef, who came to Singapore with a Michelin star to his proper name, is also closing Pollen and opening his own eatery, Marguerite, at Gardens By The Bay this month.

19 Oct 2022 07:10AM (Updated: 19 October 2022 07:10AM)

When chef Michael Wilson took his Golden Retriever, Milo, to an animal communicator just for fun, he wasn't expecting to hear, "The dog said he's bored and he wants to work".

Milo's idea of working, he was told, looked like what the friendly pooch used to do at a pub they ofttimes visited: "He used to walk around and people would pat him and he would requite them advice".

So, when developing the concept for his new pet-friendly gelato buffet, Wilson used the working championship "Mylo'southward", as a little joke.

The name, of class, stuck, and on weekends, if the stars align, y'all might see Milo himself strolling effectually the laid-back cafe at Gardens by the Bay, looking every bit if he owns the place.

He is, afterwards all, the only heir to his human father's trio of restaurants.

Australia-built-in Wilson, formerly the executive chef of Pollen, is in the midst of endmost that restaurant and opening a brand new concept in the aforementioned location at Gardens By The Bay.

The new eatery, called Marguerite, is slated to open tardily this month, and Wilson is its chef-possessor, in collaboration with Unlisted Drove, which opened Pollen in 2022 with British chef Jason Atherton.

Wilson has also merely launched a new concept, called Hortus, on the second floor in the Flower Dome, turning the casual cafe space into a Mediterranean eating house complete with a beautiful new pergola.

Hither, you lot'll find wood-grilled whole infant fish, business firm-made pita, hummus fabricated the traditional fashion by cooking chickpeas in baking soda so they shed their skins, raw fish with pomegranate juice instead of citrus, and lots of olive oil – dishes inspired by his visits to the Mediterranean.

"I just effort to exercise things that I honestly honey. That's it," Wilson, 37, said.

Hortus "is similar if you came to my firm for a barbecue or luncheon – that'south what I'm going to cook you. Unpretentious, nice recipes, freshly cooked ingredients".

Marguerite, which volition serve tasting menus merely and cultivate a more than refined mode of cuisine, is "what's trapped in here… betwixt my ears". He tapped his temple.

And Mylo'southward "is something I've e'er wanted to do", subsequently spending two months in Italy learning the art of gelato making. "It's been great to exist able to do a place that people can bring their pets to, and it's good to encounter people savor themselves," he said. Personally, "I don't desire to become dressed up and become to fancy restaurants – ask whatsoever chef."

CHEF, Married man AND Domestic dog DAD

What does he do on his days off? Well, with four-year-erstwhile Milo in the family, Wilson and his wife find themselves going to the seaside a lot.

"On the weekend, it forces you to get out into nature. Would I go to the beach on a Monday if I didn't have a domestic dog? Honestly, probably not," he chuckled. "He's helped me to relax a bit."

And subsequently, "the more relaxed you lot are when you're non working, the more focused you are when y'all're working. It's not about hours worked, it'southward most quality of work."

For almost a year, though, the family was separated because of the pandemic.

Before moving to Singapore to head upward Pollen early last twelvemonth, Wilson and his wife, who were living in Shanghai, took a few months off.

Wilson had been a celebrated chef at the PuLi Hotel and Spa, leading its Phenix restaurant to a Michelin star within mere months. That was when Milo came to live with them as a puppy.

During his hiatus, they took Milo to India, where his married woman's family lives, while they travelled the earth.

As Wilson was getting settled in Singapore, his married woman went dorsum to fetch Milo. Merely before they could render, Bharat closed its borders.

Wilson spent a year solitary without his wife and canis familiaris, while getting used to a new job and a new country.

The menu he rolled out at Pollen was spectacular.

Just the venue had been hard-striking past the pandemic. "Every bit a chef, I'd never spent so much time at abode," he recalled. "Nosotros were hit actually, actually bad, because the restaurant's in a park. It was deemed not-essential, so we couldn't even do takeaways from this venue. We prepare a venue higher up Esquina for a while, only y'all can fit six people up at that place, and nosotros have a staff of 30-something."

It was a tough time, but "information technology gave united states a good gamble to reset", he said.

Now that his wife and Milo are happily back in Singapore, Wilson doesn't even mind having to larn to share the couch again with his very big fur kid.

And being a canis familiaris dad has even made him a little less reactive in the kitchen.

"Chefs accept a reputation of freaking out – not me, merely in full general! It's not as mutual these days, only it was always a matter – I've worked with enough of them. And equally soon equally they had children, they became the most patient people e'er. I mean, I'm not comparing my domestic dog to a child, only you know, when you come home and your door frame'southward chewed, suddenly, an overcooked egg is like – 'Oh, we'll just melt a new 1.'"

At Mylo'south, there'south a small bill of fare for doggie patrons, with choices like bone broth popsicles made with veal, or yogurt and fruit desserts, and too a complimentary beige for each dog. And because Milo has some food allergies, that "made us do more enquiry into healthier options for dogs". Pumpkin and oat biscuits, for instance, are more often than not allergy-safer.

From time to fourth dimension, Milo gets a small taste of real gelato, but non also much, considering of the carbohydrate content.

Wilson recalled, "In Shanghai, there was a gelato shop around the corner from my house. Yous know when you lot go to a corner and you desire to go one way but the dog wants to go the other mode? The lady would e'er come out and give him some gelato. So, he's very fond of frozen treats."

DREAMING Upwards A NEW Restaurant

Beach days notwithstanding, information technology's a busy time for Wilson equally he launches not ane only iii new concepts. "I've always wanted to take a casual Mediterranean restaurant, a gelato store and a fine-dining, tasting-menu restaurant, and lo and behold, I have all three of them! I wasn't expecting to do them all in a infinitesimal and a half," he chuckled.

Marguerite, named after the marguerite daisy "which brings happiness and hope", is where he'll accept the nearly room to showcase his evolving style of cuisine, which is all virtually deceptively simple dishes that belie razor-precipitous technique. The restaurant volition "utilize more premium ingredients", is "a little bit more expensive" and is also "more than refined".

A dish of smoked eel that will be on the menu, for example, features caviar, oyster leafage, dill oil and a savoury horseradish gelato. "We juice horseradishes, so, imagine going into a mustard gas chamber. I have the centrifuge juicer, and you're just putting a dry horseradish root in there, so from 3 kilos you lot become about 300g of juice. And and so nosotros brand a savoury gelato base and infuse information technology with this juice."

Similarly, some other dish of carrots and marigolds that's existence worked on involves making marigold oil. "To make an oil strong tasting enough, you need to buy a kilo of marigold leaves. So, now you're talking about caviar prices for a herb, in order to get that intensity.

"That's what nosotros try to do – intensify the flavours, and so blend them together on a plate."

Taking the step up of owning a restaurant was never in question for this chef, who started his career at the age of 14 at a restaurant in his native Melbourne and has been cooking for more than than 20 years.

"I once worked with this Scottish chap," Wilson recounted wryly. "He said to me, 'Michael, you lose the paranoia, y'all lose the edge.' I didn't sleep well that night!"

Does he consider himself a gamble-taker?

He paused. "See, the funny matter is, I didn't await at this equally a risk. But you're entirely correct. Yeah, probably. I mean, I have coin in the crypto market place as well – people seem to think that's risky! COVID-xix; iii venues – it probably looks actually risky. But I suppose I'grand focused on what needs to happen, and we need to go information technology done, make sure it happens."

He mused, "You know, you're 18, and you go to the eye of Melbourne – I was from the outskirts of the city – and yous meet these fancy places similar Crown Casino, and the fancy restaurant in the corner, and you lot're like, 'One day, I'll be a chef only like that!' And so y'all practice it, and and then you're, like, 'Non skilful plenty.' So y'all get a star – Phenix was the commencement restaurant I did with my own identity, and Phenix got a star relatively quickly, and that was some other check, right? And so you're like, 'I want ii!'" He laughed.

"I was talking to a chef friend of mine the other 24-hour interval. Our dreams have been fulfilled several times over. But you merely have this thing inside you lot, where you get there, and you lot want to get to the next ane.

"Yep, I don't know how to explain it."

Mylo'south, Hortus and Marguerite are at 18 Marina Gardens Drive.

Kitchen Stories: The chef whose dog Milo inspired pet-friendly gelato shop Mylo's

Ad