The Test Is In The Pudding
It began life as a small shop on 21 Upper East Coast Road with a full repertoire of just 5 different types of bread and hardly enough stock to fill the shelves with. Today, it is a 15-strong chain of cafés specialising in organic breads and pastries that are freshly hand made every day.
A finance executive of 11 years turned self taught baker, Yeap Cheng Guat, 46, is the proud owner and founder of café chain Cedele.
From humble beginnings at the initial store in Upper East Coast, which she terms a “test shop”, where she experimented with and refined her different bread recipes, the Cedele chain has since expanded its menu to include an eclectic mix of confectioneries, breads, soups, and entrées.
Au Naturale
Her cooking philosophy is derived from Ayurvedic principles – an Indian system of holistic medicine that emphasises balance. There should be a balance in the six tastes – sweet, bitter, salty, pungent, astringent and sour, maintains Yeap Cheng, if you cannot include all six tastes in a dish, you must at least have 4-5 of them. Simplicity is key, and overloading the palate with a plethora of flavours is a definite no-no in her book.
She believes that food makers have a big responsibility to ensure that food is made right and customers’ needs comes first. “The hand that shapes the future, the hand that shapes people’s health.” She says, which embodies the main philosophy of Cedele - “Eat Well, Be Well”. In accordance with that philosophy, all gastronomic delights on Cedele’s menu are made fresh daily with organic ingredients.
Cedele has long used butter in lieu of margarine in their dishes.
I read an article in the Wall Street magazine that talked about a study which found some negative impacts that margarine could have on a person’s health about 12 years ago – before I opened the restaurant, says the self-taught baker, so the press thought I was crazy when I announced that I only use butter in my cooking, because at that time, margarine was considered healthy.
It turned out to be a well foresighted vision, when margarine was revealed as one of the prime sources of trans fats. Read more
courtesy:theurbanwire.com