How The Fifty Six’s Head Chef, Gerald Ong, Found His Culinary Identity
New kid on the block
By Natalie McGowan | 4th March 2025Singapore native Gerald Ong’s culinary journey began with an apprenticeship at the Flower Dome in Singapore’s iconic Gardens By The Bay, where he honed his skills in modern French cooking techniques. But it wasn’t a perfectly-flambéed Duck à l’Orange that shaped his path – it was a humble box of beetroots left on the kitchen bench. “They were perfect in every sense,” he recalls. The box, labelled ‘Product of Australia,’ cemented his future. “I knew where I had to go next to have access to great produce.”
Growing up in Singapore, where, in his words, “Singaporeans are the most food-motivated people on the planet,” his open-minded approach to food and love of cooking was born. “It’s a cultural melting pot of flavours, spices, and aromas,” he says. Relocating to Sydney, Gerald put his training to work and gained experience at two well-known establishments: Automata, where he learned to embrace seasonality and innovation; and Porteño, where he learned the beauty of “honest” cooking and the pure joys of eating.
It was further south, however, in Canberra, where he found his calling. At Chairman and Yip – the sister restaurant to Hong Kong’s Michelin-starred The Chairman – Gerald’s perspective on food shifted. “That job changed my life,” he says. “Under the mentorship of the wok master and alongside kitchen teams from both Australia and Hong Kong, I fell in love with Cantonese cuisine. That’s where I found my identity as a chef.”
Since then, he has made a name for himself with his cult pop-up restaurant, Project Enoki, and by spearheading the Chinese side of Canberra’s Tiger Lane precinct. Now, as Head Chef of The Fifty Six – the Cantonese restaurant perched atop the heritage-listed Naldham House – Gerald is bringing his expertise and vision to Brisbane.
For Gerald, the process of curating The Fifty Six’s menu was “quite simple.” Using the three fundamental pillars of Cantonese cuisine to guide him – freshness, balance, and elegance –his love of quality Australian produce remains unwavering. In the kitchen, a framed photo of B.B. King serves as a daily reminder: “Less is more. Make every note count.”
Balancing the fine line between tradition and innovation is key to Gerald’s philosophy. “We respect the cuisine and culture that came before us and it’s central to the name. The Fifty Six is a nod to the first migration of Chinese to Queensland,” he explains. For him, honouring the past doesn’t mean being bound by it. “I’d like to see us as part of the rich tapestry of this great food city, and that we are a natural evolution of tradition for the here and now.”
