AMANDA YONG

PASTRY CHEF

PERTH, WA

A life-changing decision to study cooking brought about a career in some of Australia’s top kitchens for this pasty chef who is ‘not a sweets person’.

Iwasn’t book smart, I was really rebellious and wasn’t the kind of person that would go to school and finish my exams,” says pastry chef Amanda Yong. Despite having no burning ambition to become a chef, Yong bowed to her parents’ wishes and, at 17, started studying at the At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy in Singapore where she was living at the time.

“I’d always liked cooking and my parents wanted me to have a diploma in something – anything really,” she says. “I just thought I’d go along with it, see how it was, but it changed my life. I met a lot of people and I grew and I found something I really enjoyed. And, as I continue this journey, I just get more and more interested and passionate about pastry.”

Yong went on to work at Perth restaurants Rockpool, Wildflower and Measure dessert bar before opening her own place, Callover Cafe, in William Street in 2018. Ironically, she claims that she is “not a sweets person”. “When I go to a restaurant, I’ll get whoever I’m with to order dessert and I’ll try a bit because I want to know how it’s made.”

So, what is it that she likes about making desserts? “It’s the small details and the way you can transform ingredients. You can compress it or add liquid nitrogen or whatever and every time it may turn out differently. You can do it every day and do it exactly the same, but there is one day when it doesn’t turn out right and that’s so frustrating. But at the same time, I like to figure out why. I think that’s because my personality is very logical.

Future plans include opening a new dessert bar within the next few months.

“I’m thinking about more wholesome desserts that are very dainty, very light ... things that you just want to keep on eating. I just want to do something on my own, and hey, you only live once, right?”