Artichoke flips the script

Chef Bjorn Shen is converting his New School Middle Eastern restaurant, which turns 15 on Aug 10, into a pizza parlour

- Tan Hsueh Yun

In Singapore's brutal food scene, where restaurants go belly up in the blink of an eye, staying open for 15 years is a feat.

Chefs and owners who get to that milestone should bask in the glow of achievement, of having had the wits to keep all those balls in the air for so many years.

Artichoke's Bjorn Shen is not basking.

He is converting his New School Middle Eastern restaurant, which turns 15 on Aug 10, into a pizza parlour. The 90-seat restaurant at New Bahru will serve its last Middle Eastern meal on Aug 10 and, on Aug 15, Artichoke becomes a New School Pizza Parlor.

Why? "I've been playing the same video game for 15 years, using the same character and the same weapon. And, like, been slaying all the bosses," he says.

"After 15 years of playing the same game, I'm getting bored. Can I change the character? Can I change the weapon?

"We're still playing the same Singapore F&B game. But we're changing the weapon now."

MIDDLE OF THE BARREL

He got into Middle Eastern food while working part time at a Greek restaurant in Brisbane, Australia. He had gone there to study hospitality and tourism at the University of Queensland. Cooking with and for his Middle Eastern colleagues spurred him to open Artichoke after he graduated and returned to Singapore.

Despite a rocky start when he opened the restaurant in 2010 - diners here did not understand his take on Middle Eastern food - he stuck to his guns. He let his inner dude and irreverence out. The restaurant started attracting attention from the media and diners.

He parlayed his image as a self-described "gun-slinging maverick who didn't care about the rules" into a successful business.