Chef Sharwin no longer confined in the kitchen

It used to be that chefs were strictly confined to the kitchen. Not anymore. Since shows like Masterchef became popular — and since people like Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Bourdain gained a following, the idea of chefs as celebrities has become one that the world has wholeheartedly embraced.

Today’s chefs have successfully reinvented themselves into entrepreneurs, authors, even product endorsers and hosts. Especially in the Philippines — a country where good food is a lifestyle — there’s no escaping the fact any longer. Celebrity chefs are now everywhere, and doing a lot more these days than just cooking or slaving away over a hot stove.

One of the faces at the forefront of this trend is Chef Sharwin Tee. Host of the cooking show Curiosity Got The Chef (which is now on its fifth season on the Lifestyle Network), the former culinary student started making waves when he won Clash of the Toque-en Ones in 2010, a culinary competition where the prize was the chance to star in his very own food show. Chef Sharwin’s culinary talent and sprightly style — and his perpetually smiling face that makes cooking look so fun and easy — captured the attention of the judges and set him firmly on the path to becoming one of the country’s genuine, honest-to-goodness celebrity chefs.

Aside from currently hosting Curiosity Got the Chef, Chef Sharwin has also authored his own cookbook, which has the same title as the show. The book was launched late last year and became an instant success.

This year, he added another feather to his cap when he received an award for being an Innovative Celebrity Chef from the Best Choice Awards.

Chef Sharwin is social media-savvy, and maintains active Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/chefsharwintee), Instagram and Twitter (@chefsharwin) accounts where he regularly shares recipes and cooking tips in his trademark fun and youthful style.

Chef Sharwin, who grew up watching people like Stephen Yan of Wok With Yan and local culinary expert Nora Daza — just two of the people who inspired him to get into cooking — says he really tries to keep things fun and light all the time.

With his cookbook, for instance, he purposely made the recipes easy to follow. “Nothing is difficult,” he assured the crowd at the launch in October 2014.

This whole experience of becoming a celebrity chef, having his own cooking show and producing his own cookbook is something he describes as “a crazy dream that wasn’t supposed to come true, but did.”

He says: “I want to keep finding ways to share my passion for food, and I do want to strengthen the show, and in that way inspire people to appreciate food and make them want to cook for other people.”

And who is the person that he dreams of cooking for? “I’ve always said I want to cook for the President (of the Philippines). I hope I do get that chance,” he says.

He would also love to cook for Bea Alonzo. He has a long-standing crush on the actress and gave himself a deadline of 20 years to meet her (he’s still working on that one, though!).