We pay our respects to a much-loved chef and friend, who ignited the love of food and drink to all who knew him.

Tariq Helou was interviewed in April 2024 for this feature. We share his words here in his memory, as a gastronome and staunch supporter of the Singapore F&B scene. Despite his youth, Tariq impressed us with his maturity and experience, especially when it comes to sake, one of his favourite beverages.

Tariq Helou
Chef Owner, Fleurette 

Tips for selecting sake for your restaurant:

1. Have a decent range. There’s no need to have five different Junmai Daiginjo, you can take the opportunity to showcase different polishing ratios, styles and yeasts.
2. Depending on the size of your place, and generally speaking, 5 to 10 bottles is enough to create pairing menus.
3. What sake has over wine is the seasonality - you can switch it up with spring, summer and winter sake for more variety over the year.

Tariq Helou has always been interested in food since he was young, and along with that, a curiosity around beverages as well. “My grandmother - my mother’s mom - is Japanese, and sake has always been around while I was growing up. I got into sake before wine, as I feel it is much more approachable than wine, which requires a much steeper learning curve,” he explained.

Tariq first became the talk of town with his underground pop-up private dining in 2019, called Division Supper Club, which served a style of modern omakase that blended Tariq’s east-west influences. The Singaporean chef is one quarter Japanese, one quarter Chinese, and half Lebanese, and had gone abroad to train in restaurants in Paris, Geneva and Tokyo before he returned to Singapore. After the success of Division and getting to see different restaurant set-ups, he established Fleurette in 2020 with his vision of fine dining, featuring classically rooted French cuisine with Japanese influence. 

Tariq created the food and beverage pairings himself, and he saw sake as being more advantageous than wine in a few ways. He shared, “Sake is super versatile, especially today when chefs are working more with Southeast Asian spices. Sake can go with spice and heat, or the cleanest tasting fish, or dessert. Though I’m a wine lover too, sake is easier to pair, and you can even find sakes that will take you through the whole meal, from amuse bouche to dessert!”

Tariq gave the example of chicken curry. “After tasting the curry, it can bring out white wine’s bitterness and tartness, while bringing out more alcohol taste in the red wine. You can try orange wine with it, but not all diners accept the flavours of natural wine. So sake can contain the heat of the curry, while sake with a bit of age can match the complexity. Sake solves everything!” he laughed.

However, you still need to choose sake with some guidelines in mind. To pair with richer dishes such as foie gras, Tariq recommended more complex yamahai and aged sake. He also reminded customers not to focus too much on the polish. “Some people relate clean, super light Junmai Daiginjo to the grand cru of wine, but higher polishing ratio does not mean it is a higher quality. In reverse, higher polishing could mean losing more flavour.”