Alumni Video Series: Meet
Jaskaran Singh

A short stint on MasterChef India at the age of 16 was enough to fuel the fire for cuisine enthusiast Jaskaran Singh. So, after graduating from school and working in a few kitchens across India, he decided to move to Australia and pursue his dream at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney.

Jaskaran – also known on the culinary scene as “Chef Jazz Singh” – grew up in Delhi which was a bustling hive of gastronomic activity.

He was surrounded by colourful, exotic produce and his mother’s effortless cooking skills, and it was this that instilled in him a passion for fine food.

“Seeing my mother make amazing pickles on our terrace, cutting limes and lemons and being exposed to aromatic spices; all these memories of my childhood were knitted with food,” he recalls.

At the ripe age of 16, he found himself applying for a spot on MasterChef India, and the judges immediately saw something special in him.

But, the demand of school studies meant he had to quit the show after having made it all the way to top 20.

“Sadly I had to quit because I had exams, but the judges were very supportive of my decision,” he says.

“They wanted me to finish school first, and then pursue a career in the culinary world, and it was this incredible experience that opened so many doors for me.”

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Le Cordon Bleu Sydney is like a temple of culinary arts and I feel it was the best place for me to polish my craft.

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After graduating from high school, Jazz started working in professional kitchens, but lacked any formal culinary training.

“This is where Le Cordon Bleu came in,” he says. “I knew that in order to truly succeed, I had to take the plunge, so I enrolled at the Sydney campus and the rest is history.”

He describes his time at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney as positive, transformative and stimulating.

“It was an amazing experience,” he says. “Le Cordon Bleu Sydney is like a temple of culinary arts and I feel it was the best place for me to polish my craft.”

In 2019 Jazz graduated from an Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Management (Cuisine) and landed a position working under renowned Sydney chef Opel Khan at his French-inspired restaurant Métisse in Potts Point.

With the recent opening of chef Opel’s latest avant-garde restaurant, Khanaa, Jazz now devotes his time working across both fine dining venues, as well as fulfilling his new role of corporate head chef for the entire Opel Khan Group, comprising four venues - Métisse, Khanaa, Acqua e Farina and Pizza Boccone.

“This is the beauty of hospitality. Things change and you never feel like work is stagnant. New opportunities arise all the time and it’s how we keep learning, growing and improving.”

The advice he gives to young, aspiring chefs is simple: “Believe in yourself and take a leap of faith because if you won’t take it, nobody else will.”

Explore Le Cordon Bleu Australia's Advanced Diploma of Hospitality Management (Cuisine)