SINGAPORE — When Haikal Johari, 40, executive chef of Spanish restaurant Alma by Juan Amador at Goodwood Park Hotel, was asked to go on stage for a media photoshoot during the Michelin Guide Singapore 2017 Star Event on Thursday (June 30), he was reluctant.

The steps to the stage were an obstacle for the wheelchair user. But his fellow chefs would not take no for an answer.

“They carried my whole wheelchair up and I was like, ‘Woah, it’s even faster than the hotel’s wheelchair lift!’, he quipped.

The light-hearted encounter was captured by photographers, and it was also a happy one as it gathered all fellow chefs who are “doing good for the food scene” in one place.

Alma, along with 29 other restaurants received a one-star rating at this year’s Michelin Guide Singapore.

A total of 38 restaurants and eateries made it to the coveted list this year, up from 29 in last year’s inaugural edition.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

Haikal has come a long way since the life-changing motorbike accident he was in while on the way to Pattaya, Thailand, in October 2015.

The accident had left the active chef, who was based in Bangkok for 13 years and had worked for Water Library’s group of restaurants, paralysed from the neck down.

Doctors gave him devastating news. He was told he only had about a three per cent chance of moving his body.

“The biggest challenge was coming to terms that I was not the same person as before. Before I used to multi-task five to six restaurants at one time... and suddenly, I have to get used to a new life. It was an eye-opening experience for me,” he said.

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In June last year, he was asked by Water Library’s owner to join Alma, which was part of the group, after its previous executive chef left.

The decision to join the restaurant allowed him to shift his focus toward running a restaurant and distract him from negative thoughts about his disability.

STEP-BY-STEP

The past year has been especially significant for the chef who has made significant strides. His “health, recovery and Alma in a sense, it’s going almost together in the same path”.

“It was a great feeling (winning the one-star again), much better than last year. The accolades (last year) belonged to the chef before me — he left at the end of June. When I took over, I just keep up to the standards he left and did better. This year is totally the team that I have... and this year, it feels like it’s my first Michelin star,” he explained.

There is another cause for celebration: Haikal, who works with four therapists, reckons that he has regained “60 to 65 per cent” of his mobility one-and-a-half years since the accident, something that his doctors have described as nothing short of a miracle.

Right now, he can grab items with his right hand, and his left has gained almost normal strength. While he previously could not tell hot from cold with his lower limbs and could only feel “a bit of irritation”, he can now differentiate between the two and described his limbs as having “more strength”.

“A little improvement that I can do, it’s a big achievement (to me). I always set last year as a benchmark,” he added.