Fuelled more by passion than experience, Mr Mervyn Phan is the owner of this cooking studio. Before this, he ran cooking classes part-time for six months.
“I want people to know that it is easy to prepare a good decent meal at home with a little flair and creativity,” says the self-taught chef. “Everyone can cook.”
This 30-year-old Hainanese boy’s adventure with cooking started with him observing his mother cook from a tender age.
Later, his job as a fine-food purchaser gave him access to exciting ingredients, which he used to practise preparing tasty dishes for family and friends. His then-girlfriend — now wife — would post these food pictures regularly on her blog, and she received surprisingly positive responses from friends and fellow bloggers.
“We had so much encouraging feedback on the creativity of the food prepared that we decided to extend informal invitations to people we did not know,” he says.
Soon, these home parties became a regular event, and their guests enjoyed it so much that they invited their friends to join in.
In good company
Call it a cooking school with a twist. Mr Phan’s classes are run as informal parties or what he calls “Cookyn Parties”.
Unlike conventional cooking classes, where students sign up to learn a particular dish or cuisine, his participants come together in parties of 12 to prepare a meal.
An advocate of group learning, he sees his work as sharing what he knows with others.
“Often, we enjoy our food without inquiring beyond that. So I angle my sessions to focus on understanding each ingredient as well as the methods in which the dishes can be prepared,” he explains.
Apart from getting involved in the food preparation, participants get to enjoy the fruits of their labour after each session while socialising over wine and good company.
“It is akin to holding a dinner party with friends, where everyone helps out and takes home a trick or two about cooking,” he says.
Mondays are typically a rest day for him, as weekends are the most hectic, with as many as four consecutive sessions at times.
The other weekdays are spent handling administrative matters such as bookkeeping and preparing new menus, while taking care of his one-year-old son when his wife works.
Drawing inspiration from cooking shows and cookbooks like Jamie At Home and The Professional Chef, he constantly experiments with new dishes to keep his lessons fresh.
This innovative chef’s repertoire includes tantalising dishes like Tasmanian oyster shooters in vodka consommé, poached barramundi with Parma ham, and crab and edamame pasta.
People who attend his parties often marvel at how simply these unique and elaborate dishes are prepared.
Their testimonials are posted online, and to date, Mr Phan has had participants flying in from as far as Penang to attend the Cookyn Parties.
Be realistic
Mr Phan admits that his start-up had its initial teething problems.
The most “memorable experience” for him was when he spent two hours on his knees cleaning the studio floor because of an overflowing drainage pipe.
But to this quiet and confident chef, such incidents are part and parcel of his job.
What brings him satisfaction ultimately is when people replicate the dishes they have learnt in their own homes, he says.
He agrees that living one’s passion can give one more satisfaction than any other mundane job, but he adds: “Be realistic, just do your best in all things within your control.
“Beyond that, let faith step in. Stick to what you believe in, stay humble and never be afraid to ask for help.”
For more information, visit www.cookyn-with-mervyn.com
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