He initially expected to follow her into the family business and eventually take over but found that his imagination exceeded those bounds and wanted to learn the food of other cuisines.

Instead, he spent the next fifteen years living there having gained a position at the three Michelin star restaurant Le Jardin des Sens run by Jacques and Laurent Pourcel despite Chiang not speaking any French at the time.

[3] After his time in France, Chiang took a position at the Maia Luxury Resort in the Seychelles, a move that he later credited with allowing him to discover his own style of cooking, a pursuit he felt had gotten lost during his work in French restaurants.

It was during this time that he developed his "Octo-philosophy" of preparing dishes, which he describes as the eight elements of "pure, salt, artisan, south, texture, unique, memory and terroir".

[5] During his time at his restaurant Jaan par André, Chiang was named the Rising Chef of the Year for 2009 at the World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence.