Christopher Yeo
Not many restaurateurs get their start as a hairdresser, but interestingly enough, Chris Yeo, Straits and Sino Restaurants’ executive chef and owner, was originally more familiar with chopping hair than shredding coconut. And if he had not given up the shears for making satays, the Bay Area wouldn’t have him to thank for being the first to bring authentic yet modern Singaporean cuisine to their dining landscape; and now with Sino, for infusing the San Jose area with a new concept in Chinese cuisine.
After graduating from Singapore’s Hotel and Catering School and a two-year stint at the world-renowned Mandarin Hotel, Yeo left Singapore for London so he could study hair at Vidal Sassoon. After working as a hair stylist in London for five years, he came to San Francisco and opened Yeo’s Hair Design in 1980 in the Haight Ashbury district.
Yeo, 54, has always been a lover of good food, and long dreamed of bringing the food of his native Singapore to the Bay Area. He says, “I missed sharing the food of my youth. I enjoyed cooking at home, but couldn’t fit all my friends and family and clients into my house—with a restaurant, I could!” In 1987, he opened Straits Café on Geary Street in San Francisco, and then a sleek Palo Alto location in 1998. It was with the opening of the second Straits location that he made the decision to focus on his restaurants full-time, and much to the chagrin of his salon clients, stop cutting hair. In 2003 he opened an even more upscale version of Straits on Santana Row, a noted shopping and dining destination in San Jose, California, and then another in Burlingame, California, one year later. The original San Francisco location was temporarily closed, and re-opened in the new Westfield San Francisco Centre on September 28, 2006.
Visitors to his Straits restaurants are taken with Yeo’s dishes that integrate the bright flavors and cooking styles of Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Nonya (a result of the marriages between Chinese men and Malay women generations ago, and considered the true native style of cooking) cuisines. He also utilizes exotic spices, fresh herbs, and the freshest ingredients he can find, whether it’s for the daily soup or his “poh pia” spring rolls.
In September 2005, Yeo decided to open another restaurant in the Santana Row area, this time Sino Restaurant and Lounge, a spacious and urban-feeling venue that was designed to showcase a new concept in Chinese cuisine. He says, “I wanted to build a Chinese restaurant that was elegant, sophisticated, and accessible to all.” The dramatic space matches the exotic menu of updated “New Experience” Chinese classics like dim sum, Peking duck, and smoked sea bass.
Yeo is known for being as generous as he is energetic—(it’s been said he has the stamina of three people). He is involved in many organizations in the Bay Area, both professional and not-for-profit. He is one of founders of the ACA (Asian Chefs Association), a professional organization designed to unify Asian chefs in the area and hosts various charity events (the ACA made a huge effort when the tsunami tragedy struck).
Yeo has also been involved for a long time with the CYC (formerly Chinatown Youth Center, now Community Youth Center); twice a week, every week, Straits donates lunches to the center, feeding hundreds of kids, in addition to donations for the organization’s annual galas and banquets.
Yeo is also co-author with Joyce Jue of the cookbook, Cooking of Singapore and has served as a guest chef at The Smithsonian Institute, the James Beard House, and the Singaporean embassies to the United States and the United Nations, among others. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Kelly and their two sons, Julian and Andrew.
S T R A I T S
