Abang Brian

Award Winning Celebrity Chef at Escoffier Schools

There are people who find their calling early, and then there are those who find it in the middle of heartbreak and build something extraordinary from the rubble. When the man the world would come to know as Abang Brian discovered his father had been diagnosed with cancer, his world shifted entirely, and he made the brave, terrifying decision to walk away from a stable career and follow the one thing that had always made sense to him: food. From auditor to man in an apron, Brian Chen grew into a celebrated chef, educator, and serial entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience across food, media, and education, training at Le Cordon Bleu, competing on MasterChef Malaysia, and going on to author seven cookbooks, including titles honoured at the Gourmand International Cookbook Awards. Today, he teaches at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Washington, DC, while completing his PhD and hosting a podcast dedicated to preserving Asian food culture and heritage. His story is proof that the most nourishing thing a person can do is bet on themselves and this episode, he's serving every lesson raw and unfiltered.