Our story
I grew up in Singapore, a country where food and drink are taken seriously, from $5 chicken rice, to $25 craft cocktails, to mum's cooking at home. Being surrounded by this culinary culture, flavour has always come naturally to me.
My thesis during my biochemical engineering degree was in fermentation and bioreactor optimisation, which meant plenty of time running trials in a local brewery and visiting whisky distilleries in Scotland! After that, I spent several years in the energy space before Oxford and moving into consulting. On the side, I've been running a cocktail instagram for the past 4 years.
Cape & Strait came from combining that engineering background with a genuine passion for mixology, and a fair amount of nostalgia for home.
I grew up in Johannesburg, in a culture and a home where hospitality was simply the norm. That instinct has followed me everywhere since.
I've had a long career in FMCG and F&B strategy consulting before Oxford. This has allowed me to build a knack for knowing whether an idea is commercially robust or just a pub dream!
My Johannesburg upbringing and Indian heritage connected directly to the same story that shaped Iresh's upbringing and Singapore's food culture. That's what makes Cape & Strait's story feel like ours to tell.