Chef Xian Bin Li has been in the restaurant industry for over 23 years. But his tryst with food can be traced back to his childhood spent in the countryside of the Sichuan province, China. As he enters a fresh chapter in his life as the new chef de cuisine at St Regis, Li recalls, "Growing up in a Chinese joint family with a matriarch, who had close to perfect culinary skills, gave me the perfect head-start, paving the way for a career that also became my passion. Monitoring livestock at home to taking morning jaunts with my mother to nearby produce markets, helped hone my skills further."

Later, at the age of 21, the 45-years-old Li went to a culinary school in Sichuan. This equipped him with technical knowledge to fine-tune heirloom recipes. It makes sense then, that in his new role at By The Mekong, the chef hopes to introduce dishes that rely equally on age-old recipes and culinary skill.