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From Courtroom To Cookroom: A Lawyer’s Journey Of Passion, Grit And Eggs
Pretty eggciting stuff.
Becoming a lawyer after many gruelling years in law school is a career path often set in stone for many. Lynette Zheng, however found a higher calling.
Eggs.
Trained as a lawyer and untrained as a chef, she has pursued her love for food and opened Crack with two friends.
Crack, as the name suggests, is all about eggs. From their trailblazing Otah Scotch Egg to their own spin on the familiar Egg & Cheese Sandwich, Crack is all about redefining the egg experience.
Behind Lynette’s mellow exterior is an individual who has the dexterity and grit to face the heat of the kitchen. While the transition from corporate world to culinary world is not the easiest, she has definitely taken a crack at it.
“I was a lawyer for about five years, specifically a litigator. I did enjoy it for the most part, but I just didn’t see myself doing that as a career for the rest of my life.
I always thought that I would want to go out on my own and do my own business, something that really interested me, and for the longest time that has been food.
I love to eat and cook. So I had a chat with a couple of friends about what kind of project we could do, and we ended up on how much we all love eggs!
So we decided to do something which featured eggs. That was how Crack was born.”
“I just love eggs. I eat three eggs a day or more with no regard and concern for cholesterol levels at all.
It’s one of my favourite ingredients both to cook and eat because it’s so versatile. You can do so many things with it and it adds another dimension to whatever it is that you are cooking or eating.”
“Being a chef requires organisation, planning, and thinking five, ten steps ahead. That’s a big part of what you do as a lawyer as well.
To see all the different pieces of the puzzle, make sure you’re on top of deadlines, on top of your clients and managing all of these moving parts. In that way it’s actually very similar.
There are a lot of things that I learned as a lawyer that I still continue to use in my business today. How to negotiate with people, reviewing contracts and something as simple as how to draft a good email.”
“I think for sure that not having a professional background as a chef, gave me some level of doubt, at least initially.
But after doing pop-ups and events, gradually building up to where we are now, I’ve gained the confidence in doing this. Once I got over that hurdle, I put it behind me quickly.
Doing short stints in other kitchens just to get a little bit of experience and see what it’s like to work in a commercial kitchen also helped me gain confidence.
My stints lasted around two weeks each and I did two or three of those.
I’m at no means at the top of my game or anything like that. I’m still learning everyday, so that’s very much the part of the fun and challenge of doing this as well.”
“The big thing for me was management.
To see the different leadership styles of different chefs, to see the way the kitchen is run, how the team works together every service and how to keep things organised in the walk-in or the pantry — all of these were very useful to see in real life.
One of my stints was at Fat Lulu’s, which is run by Chef Sam Chablani. His management style is something that I can learn from. He gives his cooks their personal one-on-one attention, and will take you through the recipe and dish preparation from step A to Z in great detail.
His level of enthusiasm and patience is something that I also want to emulate. He was extremely welcoming to me and I am very grateful to him for that.
There are a lot of things that you can read about online, but there’s nothing like actually seeing it in person and practicing it with your own two hands.”
“It’s important to have passion and have fun in what you’re doing. But at the end of the day, if you don’t work hard and you don’t have discipline, you’re not going to be able to actualise or execute your vision.
You need to have discipline to wake up at 6 a.m. every day, do the same thing and keep going even though you feel like your legs are about to break.
There are definitely times when you’re not even really thinking about the passion but it’s more ‘this is my responsibility and this is my business. I have people to take care of and I just have to make sure that I do it to the best of my ability’.”
“I insist on using eggs from local farms because you can get really good, high quality eggs. I see no reason to get Malaysian eggs and I like the idea of supporting local producers as much as possible.
We use double ‘A’ grade quality eggs from local farms, which is basically the best that you can get.
We also get the meat for our sausage and bacon from a local butchery, which does all the smoking in-house and grinds the meat to the calibration of fat and lean meat that we want. Our bread comes from a local bakery and it’s all-natural.
We put a premium on quality products, even though it’s a little more expensive.
Singapore is still very much in the infancy of the local sustainable movement. I think there are still limitations on how far we can go but we definitely try our best to do as much as we can locally.”
“Salt for sure. I think that’s an obvious one but in general people don’t season their food well. I like good salt and I usually have at least two or three kinds in the kitchen.
I put chili in everything. I’ve all kinds of sambals at home, and a really good soya sauce from a local producer. They make soya sauce right here in Singapore, and it’s amazing because it’s aged for at least a year, so it develops a deeper and more complex flavour. It’s not cheap but it’s really good.”
“I’m a noodle maniac. I eat noodles every day and at the end of the day, when I don’t feel like cooking anything and I just want to go home and relax, it’s instant noodles for sure.”
“Probably not. I just don’t think an egg would look very nice as a tattoo. But I have honestly and seriously contemplated getting a tattoo of a bowl of mee pok.”
“Seeing Crack go to the next level. Taking part in bigger events, beefing up the catering side of our business and finding our next location.
We’re only here (Timber+) till the end of May, and after that it’s finding a new home base for Crack. I think opening our first permanent outlet would be a big milestone so I’m definitely looking forward to that.”
As the awesome people at Crack say, ‘If you like it then you shoulda put an egg on it.’
What’s not to love? Do yourself a favour and visit Crack at Timbre+ for an egg experience that hits the spot, every time. Crackpots welcomed.
About Rezhelp:
We’re an F&B community for people who love what they do. We believe there’s nothing stronger than inspiration in action.
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