SINGAPORE - Once scarcer than hen's teeth, Singapore chefs who head restaurants are not as uncommon as they were say, five, six years ago.

Some, like Han Liguang of Labyrinth and Malcolm Lee of Candlenut, run Michelin-starred restaurants. Others, like Bjorn Shen of Artichoke, have a second life on television and still manages to run his restaurant and a pizza bar, which, of course, is expanding. There is also Gan Ming Kiat of Mustard Seed, whose restaurant in a sleepy part of Serangoon Gardens is impossible to get into, so fervent is the clamour for seats.