Kay-Lene Tan
Head Pastry Chef at Tonka and Coda Restaurants
Head Pastry Chef at Tonka and Coda Restaurants, Kay-Lene Tan creates desserts to tell stories about her past. Kay-Lene is passionate about old and new recipes, flavors from her childhood, and old-school cooking techniques that require precision and delicacy.
Fresh out of pastry school, Kay-Lene trained with Chef Joel Robuchon - named “Chef of the Century” by French restaurant guide Gault Millau. She went on to work with notable chefs such as Chef Jason Atherton and Chef Andres Lara, before being awarded the Hostplus Hospitality Scholarship. The scholarship opened many doorways for Kay-Lene including the opportunity to work with Chef Dominique Crenn and Chef Juan Contreas at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.
With more than 10 years of experience under her belt, Kay-Lene has won a variety of awards including being the first runner up of the San Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year award in the Pacific region in 2015. She then continued her award-streak by winning the Rising Star Award at the FoodService Magazine’s Women in Food Service awards in 2017.
From being a documentary filmmaker to shifting career and becoming a pastry chef, Kay-Lene can tell you that it’s never too late to change career and turn what you love into a job.
