Tom Aikens appears to have been destined for greatness. Despite being the youngest executive chef to earn a Michelin star, he is affable and humble. Destiny is in your own hands, he believes.

Today, the 40-year-old runs two successful restaurants in England. Tom Aikens Restaurant in Chelsea has earned numerous prestigious critical accolades and Tom’s Kitchen—an informal restaurant serving home-style brasserie cooking—opened in late November 2008. He graced Singapore with his talents for the first time with a guest chef menu at Raffles Hotel late this year. Influenced by his mother’s cooking, his father’s travels to France and his appreciation for home-grown vegetables, his affection for cuisine began at an early age. At just13 years old, he would create a three-course dinner for his family. Joined by his love for the arts, Aikens feels that cooking is one of the only true things where one can be creative and inventive—the only art that truly engages the entire sensory experience. By the age of 16, he left school to pursue his dreams in the culinary world.

What is your favourite creation to date?

I use quite a lot of pork. One of my favourite dishes is braised pork cheek with langoustine and ginger. It’s quite an oriental style dish and I played around with that for the last three to four years, but the basis of it is the shellfish with the earthiness of the pork. The cheeks are braised very slowly in fresh ginger and aromatic spices: cinnamon, juniper, anise, cumin, coriander… I like spicy food, so there’s usually one dish that’s spicier and a bit different from the rest of the menu.

Did you expect this climb to the (Michelin) stars?

If you have a goal and you’re ambitious and driven, then you’ll get there. Back in catering college when I was 16, I said to myself: “I’ll give you 10 years to get stars.” And at 26 I did get the Michelin stars. If you’re determined and stubborn enough, you can accomplish your dreams.

How did you go about making these dreams a reality?

At 16, I already knew what I was going to do and I did mentally map out how I was going to get there—I kept myself one step ahead of where I wanted to be. I was always improving myself and chasing the next big thing. I was always looking forward and with whom I wanted to work with next. I had always planned, but there’s always a little luck needed on the way though.

What do you think of this generation of chefs and the celebrity around your industry?

The media attention means people are more inclined to cook for themselves and are more interested in food in general. But there is also a lack of ambition among the young, compared to my generation of cooks. Part of the problem is from the celebrity culture, where these kids think, “Oh, I’d like a bit of that—fame, fortune, nice cars, the spotlight,” but they don’t want to put in the hard work. They want to go directly from A to C without doing B.

Are there any culinary trends you don’t identify with?

I don’t follow any food trends because like fashion, trends come and go. London went through a “fusion” stage, but it didn’t last for very long. We used to call that “fusionconfusion,” since it didn’t have any particular purpose. It was just the trendy thing to do at that time.

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