Khairudin ‘Dean’ NorThe 39-year-old chef brings more than 17 years of culinary experience to the Chedi, a 20-villa estate set amid five hectares of landscaped gardens, ponds and pagodas sharing a border with a sweeping panorama of undulating rice fields and tropical jungle. Raised in multi-ethnic Singapore, Chef Dean was mentored for eight years by acclaimed chef Emmanuel Stroobant, host of the “Chef in Black” TV series. He cooked his way up the ranks from Chef de Partie to Sous Chef at the prestigious Saint Pierre restaurant in Singapore, winner of ‘Restaurant of the Year’ at the World Gourmet Summit 2007. A world away from the competitive kitchen of Saint Pierre, Chef Dean says going off into the garden is half the fun of his new position as executive chef of 70-seat semi-fine-dining restaurant at The Chedi Club in Ubud.