Singaporean chef Han Li Guang, who helms and owns the one-Michelin-starred Restaurant Labyrinth in Esplanade Mall, was the first Singaporean chef to appear on the South Korean cooking competition series Chef And My Fridge.
In the show, chefs whip up dishes using ingredients found in the fridge of a featured guest, with the guest picking the winner of the challenge.
Han appeared in a special episode that aired in South Korea on May 11 and featured chefs heading the kitchens of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list. Restaurant Labyrinth, which serves modern Singapore cuisine, ranks No. 37.
The episode will be available to stream on Netflix in June.
Other chefs who appeared in the episode were Yusuke Takada of La Cime in Osaka and Antimo Maria Merone of Estro in Hong Kong.
The episode also featured famed South Korean chefs like hit Netflix cooking competition Culinary Class Wars (2024) winner Kwong Seong-jun, also known as Napoli Matfia; Choi Hyun-seok; and Yoon Nam-no, better known by the moniker “Cooking Maniac”.
In the episode, Han took on Choi in what he said was an “intense 15-minute cook-off”, using ingredients from K-pop idol Kim Jae-joong’s fridge. Kim was previously a member of the boy band TVXQ.
The theme for the challenge was to create a dish that would go well with the traditional Korean alcoholic drink, makgeolli, a type of rice wine.
Han, 39, said on Instagram: “So proud to be the first Singaporean to compete on this global show and even prouder to present to the world a take of our national chilli crab (and squid) dish with whatever I could find in the chiller.”
He posted photos of himself in the makeup chair for the series on his Instagram Stories. He also uploaded wefies of him with Choi, and another South Korean chef Son Jong-won, as well as a snapshot with Kim.
Chef And My Fridge is a long-running and popular programme in South Korea, which first aired in its home country from 2014 to 2019. It was rebooted on Netflix and cable television in South Korea in 2024.
The programme regularly features A-list celebrities in South Korea, who willingly trot out the contents of their fridge to have their regular diet examined, before a professional chef cooks them a meal.
In its most recent rebooted season, stars like supergroup BTS’ J-hope, girl group Ive’s Jang Won-young, actor Song Joong-ki and actress Ha Ji-won have appeared on the show.
Chef And My Fridge is available on Netflix, with new episodes every Sunday. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
