Rising local chef Tariq Helou dies suddenly at age 29

Up-and-coming chef Tariq Helou died unexpectedly on April 25. He was 29. The cause of his death is still unknown.

- Tan Hsueh Yun

The chef, who was of Japanese, Chinese and Lebanese parentage, owned Fleurette, an 18-seat restaurant in Rangoon Road he opened in 2020.

His mother, Ms Catherine Yong, told The Sunday Times that the restaurant will continue running.

"I spoke to the staff, and they have agreed to continue for now," she said.

He was the oldest of her four children, with a younger brother and two sisters.

Chef Helou started cooking at age three, scrambling eggs "without permission", he told The Straits Times in 2020. He said then that he grew up watching his mother cook and would hang out at his Japanese grandmother's home in Singapore.

He went on to culinary school in Switzerland, and worked there as well as in France and in Japan.