Pristina Mok has worked at some of Singapore's top Michelin-star restaurants, like Odette and Zen. In 2023, she quit the big leagues and opened a small fine-dining restaurant in her home. Now, she serves up Southeast Asian-inspired dishes to 24 guests weekly and is happier than ever.
As 7:30 p.m. drew close, Pristina Mok set her dining table for eight guests, assembled gold cutlery, dimmed the lights, and sliced up some turbot fish.
From the quaint, cozy atmosphere, it looked like a dinner party with old friends. But this was the first time she would meet her guests. This is — a modern Southeast Asian fine-dining restaurant located in Mok's two-bedroom public housing home on the island's western coast.
And the 28-year-old serves the food, plated fine-dining style, right out of her home kitchen. Mok's culinary journey started when she was 19. She joined the team at Odette, a three-Michelin-star modern French restaurant at the National Gallery of Singapore.
After a few years at Odette, she worked at Zen, a three-Michelin-star restaurant serving Nordic dishes with Asian influences. She also had stints at restaurants located inside luxury hotels like W Sentosa and Raffles Hotel. Mok said the adrenaline rush used to keep her going through long, 14- to 16-hour days in the kitchen.
"But as you start to grow older and you advance further into your career, your body starts to give up on you," Mok said. She questioned if she could last another 10 or 20 years working on the line. "My .
