Singaporean chef Tariq Helou of upscale restaurant Fleurette dies at 29
He was a well-loved young talent who broke into the dining scene when he started his Division Supper Club during the pandemic.
Chef Tariq Helou of upscale restaurant Fleurette died unexpectedly on Apr 25. (Photo: Fleurette)
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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??”
Tariq’s dishes spoke volumes, conveying his training at respected restaurants worldwide (two-Michelin-starred Domaine de Chateauvieux in Geneva; one-star Restaurant Louis in Paris, among others) and his uniquely Singaporean background. He liked to say that he was “half Lebanese, a quarter Japanese, one quarter Chinese, but 100 per cent Singaporean”.
Tariq was an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner with an imposing build for it. But he was the quintessential gentle giant — soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, with a sweet, endearing nature.
Grounded and shy, he brimmed with ambition but was not the sort to tell a tale just to feed the narrative of him as a chef. For all of us who knew him, he was… Tariq: Talented, bright, dedicated, and full of promise. He was the star.
Tariq leaves behind his parents, a younger brother, and two sisters.
