Singapore’s dining industry lost one of its rising stars on Thursday evening (Apr 25). Chef Tariq Helou, owner of the 18-seat restaurant Fleurette, died unexpectedly a few months shy of his 30th birthday. His cause of death is unknown.
Tariq broke into the dining scene with his Division Supper Club, a series of consistently oversubscribed pop-ups in 2019. Fiercely independent, he went on to establish Fleurette with money raised from friends and family. The restaurant’s elegant, soulful dishes were met with rave reviews.
Like most chefs in his industry, he dreamed of a Michelin star or a place on the 50 Best Restaurants list. Fleurette had yet to make it to both rankings not because the dining experience was below par — far from it — but perhaps due to the one quality that made Tariq so likeable: His humility.
In this age of the chef as Instagram star, Tariq preferred to work quietly in his kitchen and out of the limelight. It was not unusual to spy a politician or celebrity at Fleurette’s U-shaped counter or in its intimate private dining room, but Tariq was never the sort to splash their presence on social media. He much preferred to let his food do the talking.
No one was more surprised than Tariq when he was named Asia’s “most Googled chef” by travel platform Explore Worldwide earlier this year. “It must be some kind of error!” he told me that morning. “1.6 million searches??”