Peter Teo, 39, was Executive Sous Chef at Singapore’s three Michelin star French restaurant Les Amis and Executive Chef of Les Amis Group’s prestigious restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore.

However, his early years were not spent in a world-class culinary school but running with gangs, dealing drugs and spending time in prison.

At the age of 21, Peter found himself behind bars for a second time. There, he was already planning to expand his business as a drug dealer after serving his sentence.

But a divine encounter with God in prison completely transformed him overnight.

A word of knowledge and a supernatural experience in his jail cell set in him a lifelong determination never to return to drugs.

Today, after a 14-year career in some of Asia’s best kitchens, Peter is the Executive Chef of Breakthrough Cafe, a new restaurant in Changi Village run by a team of ex-offenders that he is training.

School drop-out turned drug dealer

Peter was born into a Christian family, but did not grow up having a relationship with God.

“I never really believed in Him,” he admitted. “To me, God should be someone who helps you when you need.”

When he experienced bullying in secondary school, he discovered that if he joined a gang, he was accepted and protected.

Peter (right) at age 16 hanging out with a friend. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

“Most of my friends were involved in gangs,” he recalled. “I thought it was fun.” He began hanging out with these friends, picking up smoking and, eventually, drugs.

By the age of 15, Peter was taking hard drugs. He also decided to drop out of school. 

As he was only in Secondary three, he was told by his school principal that he could not quit without parental consent. “I made my mother come down and tell the principal I was not continuing,” he remembered. 

His mother begged him to stop taking drugs.

“I was very rebellious,” he admitted. “It was difficult for my parents to control me.”

The first time Peter was arrested, he was 17. “I took Ecstasy,” he said. He was sentenced to one year.

Being in prison the first time affected him. “I felt intimidated,” he said. “Initially, I wanted to change.”

Peter was released on home detention after six months, and had to wear an electronic tag. He worked as a cleaner for a few months. But once the tag was removed, he returned to his old life.

“I was quite a popular drug dealer,” he said with a grim smile. “I had a lot of customers.”

His “success” led him to desiring to grow his drug distribution network because it brought him money. 

The second time Peter was arrested for drugs, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time — or so it seemed.

“I was 21, and I was arrested for consuming and for assaulting police officers,” he said, adding that he was in National Service at the time. “I was out on bail but was in camp and a fellow campmate broke into the medical centre and stole drugs.”

The camp was raided by the military police. “The theft was not done by me, but those who had a record, like me, were rounded up first.”

His urine test registered positive for drugs, and Peter was sent to the detention barracks, then to Queenstown Remand Prison.

Peter (right) at age 17 just before he was arrested for the first time. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

His biggest worry at that point was that he would be charged a third time after completing his second sentence. He waited for news but none came. 

The mysterious man

While at Queenstown Remand Prison, Peter attended the prison chapel sessions.

“I liked to go because there was aircon in the chapel and sometimes they gave us chocolates,” he said with a laugh.

During one session, the minister that day, Pastor Jeffrey Lye, approached Peter. “He didn’t know me, but he came and comforted me,” remembered Peter.

Pastor Jeffrey was a pastor at Queenstown Baptist Church who was serving in the prison ministry.

He recounted to Salt&Light: “Peter usually stood at chapel with his arms folded. My first thought of him was he was an aloof, short-tempered person.

“On this Sunday just before service started, I was walking towards the hall when someone in a white T-shirt and blue shorts, whom I assumed was another inmate, came to me and told me that Peter was very worried about the next day’s trial. He asked me to pray for Peter.”

Pastor Jeffrey looked for Peter and prayed for him over his trial.

“I was surprised that Pastor Jeffrey knew what was going on in my life — I didn’t tell anyone. After he prayed I felt very peaceful,” said Peter.

The next day when he went to trial, Peter received good news: He was given a light sentence.

It was only later, when Pastor Jeffrey could not find the man in the T-shirt and shorts, that he remembered that inmates were not allowed to walk the hallways by themselves. At that moment, Pastor Jeffrey realised that the man he had encountered could have been an angel.

Said Peter: “One night in the cell, I just sat down and told God, ‘If You are real, I want to change. But I need Your help.’”

Pastor Jeffrey Lye (left) with Peter (right) and Derrick Ee (middle). Both Peter and Derrick received salvation in the same prison cell. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

It was a simple prayer. But something happened.

“In the cell there were four of us, and all of us experienced God,” Peter recalled. “Suddenly we felt very peaceful and loved. We felt that kind of love that I couldn’t explain.

“We were crying, praying. At that moment, all four of us gave our hearts to Jesus.”

Peter was surprised to encounter the God of his youth in such a powerful way. 

“I told Him, ‘When I was young, I could not even see You. When I had problems and asked for help, nothing happened.’

“But that night, God softened all our hearts. It was supernatural.”

Before meeting the Lord, Peter’s plan after his release was to go back to dealing drugs and, in fact, to grow his “business”. 

“I had no future,” he said, pointing out that he did not have ‘N’ or ‘O’ levels. He thought he had no choice but to continue in the one thing that he was “good at”.

But that encounter with God in the cell changed everything.

“It gave me a new direction,” he said. “At that time I was working in the prison kitchen, and I knew that was the direction I would go.”

When he first stepped into the prison kitchen, “I couldn’t tell garlic from onion.”

He learned quickly in a tough environment. “It was not easy cooking for 2,000, 3,000 people,” he said. “But the inmates gave good feedback so I could improve.”

Peter was released from prison in 2008. Pastor Jeffrey picked him up and took him for a meal, and encouraged him to attend Queenstown Baptist Church.

The Breakthrough

When he learned that he would be granted early release like the last time, Peter called his father.

“My father has known Simon Neo and Freddy Wee (the Founder and Deputy Director of Breakthrough Missions) for a long time,” he said. “When I was a kid, sometimes I would go to Breakthrough Missions.”

Breakthrough Missions is an evangelical drug rehabilitation centre that offers an 18- to 36-month Christian programme to help former inmates develop spiritual, work and life disciplines to heal and recover holistically. Among the many services carried out by its residents are Bible-binding and house-moving.

“Breakthrough Missions had very strict rules,” said Peter. “That was important to me. I was very committed to changing my life.”

His father linked him with the staff of Breakthrough Missions and Peter spent six months staying and working there.

When he had completed his six months at the halfway house, Peter did not know if he should work or resume studying.

“A fellow inmate encouraged me to go to SHATEC,” he said. SHATEC is Singapore’s leading institute for hotel and tourism studies that offers a diploma course in culinary arts.

Peter (centre) with Les Amis Director of Culinary Sebastien Lepinoy and team when they were awarded their second Michelin star. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

The minimum qualification to enter SHATEC was ’N’ levels, which Peter did not have. “But I took the WSQ test and got a good result.”

He was granted an interview, but was ultimately rejected due to his record.

Undeterred, he applied a second time, and this time he was interviewed by SHATEC’s operations manager. 

“He was German, and he threw me a lot of tough questions. But he was willing to give me a chance,” said Peter.

It turned out that the operations manager himself had had a similar past, and just as he had been given the opportunity to turn his life around, he wanted to open the door for Peter.

An inspired Peter said: “I wanted to do my very best in everything.” His determination paid off: He was top of his cohort.

However, when it came to applying for an attachment, his past became a barrier.

“I was the first to send out applications and go for interviews. But one by one I was rejected because of my record.

“From the first, I became the last one in my cohort to get an attachment.”

This was a blow to Peter, who desperately wanted this to be his turning point.

“I was very disappointed,” he admitted. “But I prayed and waited.”

“I didn’t know what Les Amis was”

Peter’s lecturer at SHATEC told him of a scholarship and suggested he apply. 

The application for the Les Amis Scholarship 2010 culminated in a final interview that would decide if Peter would be interning at the high-end restaurant.

Peter found himself the last one in line, watching other candidates go in and come out.

“I knew I was the one with the lowest GPA. I was the only one with a record. I was very sian (discouraged),” he admitted.

“I watched the others come out, looking happy after their interviews, and I felt there was no hope.

“But I kept praying and asking God for help.”

To his amazement, Peter got the job.

“During the interview the human resource manager asked me about my criminal record, and I answered honestly,” he said.

To this day, Peter cannot explain how he landed the prized attachment.

“When I started I still didn’t know what Les Amis was, until people told me it’s one of Singapore’s top restaurants,” he said. 

Peter (extreme right) with former President Tony Tan and Les Amis staff in 2015. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

Peter poured himself into his work. 

“As a junior, I was very hungry to learn,” he recalled. “I came early every day. Whatever job people didn’t want to do, I would volunteer to do — cleaning, taking out the rubbish. 

“I knew I wanted to do this long term, so I gave it my all.”

Slowly but steadily climbing up the ranks, Peter was made Executive Sous Chef after six years (including a short break when he joined Halia Restaurant as its Sous Chef before rejoining Les Amis in 2015).

As the second-in-command under Sebastien Lepinoy, the Director of Culinary at Les Amis, Peter was part of the team that clinched the restaurant’s prestigious second Michelin star.

His own star kept rising: In 2018, the Les Amis Group sent him to its restaurants in Hong Kong for three years, where he was appointed Executive Chef at Bistro du Vin Hong Kong and Bâtard.

He returned to Singapore at the end of 2020, and was made Chef de Cuisine of the now-defunct La Strada, followed by Bistro du Vin (Singapore) in 2021 and Élan in 2022.

“It’s a tough journey, but I know God is with me”

While his career went from strength to strength, Peter’s personal and spiritual journey was more complicated.

When he started working long hours, he found it harder and harder to stay in church.

Peter (extreme right) was coach to Singaporean Koh Han Jie, who won the prestigious 2017 Young Talents Escoffier Asia award in Hong Kong. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

While he was determined not to return to drugs, he developed a taste for gambling instead.

“I borrowed a lot of money from banks to gamble,” he said. “At first I won, but within a month I had lost everything. I was $90,000 in debt.”

By his mid-30s Peter was a father of three boys. One day, bitterly disappointed with himself for gambling, he contemplated suicide.

“I hugged my two older children while they were sleeping and I cried,” he remembered. “I could not accept what I had done.”

He went to the top floor of the building to take his own life but lost his nerve.

A few days later, he spotted a church, Victory Family Centre, near his home. “I went to the office to ask someone to pray for me, and this pastor prayed for me.”

He started attending services there, which brought him relief and strength as he battled stress on many fronts, from work pressures to clearing his debts.

“A lot of people prayed for me during those years,” he shared. “Thank God I was able to get another job (Halia) at the time, which paid me twice what I was getting.”

Finally after eight years, Peter was free from his gambling debt.

“It was a very tough journey, but I knew God was with me,” he told Salt&Light.

Peter with his three sons during Chinese New Year 2024. Photo courtesy of Peter Teo.

Throughout his life, Peter’s parents continually prayed for him. Today, his 65-year-old mother helps to care for his children while he works.

“It’s very important for parents to know who their kids hang out with,” he said, reflecting on his growing up years.

“I was able to move away from my previous life by cutting contact with all my old friends. It was tough. These were the people I grew up with.”

Some of them continue to go in and out of prison as they were unable to break the cycle, he noted with sadness.

He has shared his past with his sons. “I told them, ‘I don’t want you all to follow in my footsteps.’”

Sharing hope with his “brothers”

It had never been Peter’s intention to leave the Les Amis Group, and he had never thought of joining a non-profit organisation.

But he kept thinking about the breaks he was given in his life.

Peter finally parted ways with the group in November 2023 and joined Breakthrough Missions to launch and run a new French restaurant, Breakthrough Café.

As Head of Culinary, he leads a team of around 12 who are former inmates, training them in the basics of French cuisine and how to be organised. He also imparts leadership skills.

“When I first started, it wasn’t easy,” he said. “F&B is very competitive. Day in, day out, you must be on top of your game.”

He hopes to give his team a leg up and make their transition to working life smoother than his had been.

The French-themed menu at Breakthrough Café offers classics like pan-seared foie gras, French style roast chicken, lamb stew and bouillabaisse.

“These are dishes I did in Hong Kong and Singapore which have received good feedback,” he explained, adding, “There will also be my own version of chicken rice.”

Chef Peter Teo trains ex-offenders in French cooking at Breakthrough Cafe. Photo by Theresa Tan.

Throughout the many difficult years, he has remained close to Pastor Jeffrey, even when he worked in Hong Kong.

Observed Pastor Jeffrey: “Over these 15 years I have known Peter, he has been very determined to live a meaningful life.”

“His move to Breakthrough is really a turning point,” said the pastor, who now serves with Shelter Baptist Church. “I see that he wants to serve God, and that God is really working in his life.”

Peter also makes himself accountable to Brother Simon Neo who founded Breakthrough Missions.

His hope is to pass down his skills to the staff and the “brothers” who come to the new café to be trained. 

“Whatever experience and knowledge I have gained, I will share, as long as they are willing to learn.”

The “brothers” that work at Breakthrough Café wear electronic tags as they serve their remaining time at the halfway house and café.

Peter wants to give them the choice to learn new skills, to have “something to look forward to”.

His life has not been easy but Peter lives with purpose. His hope is in the Lord.

“I have kept my faith because of that encounter with God in the cell,” he said. “I know this is a real God.”