Miami Chef Timon Balloo Says His Heritage Influences His Cooking Style

Balloo, who has been in the business for about 20 years, is a partner and executive chef at SUGARCANE Raw Bar Grill, located at 3252 NE 1st Ave.

Miami chef Timon Balloo says his philosophy for cooking is to keep it simple and focus on the food.

Balloo, who has been in the business for about 20 years, is a partner and executive chef at SUGARCANE Raw Bar Grill, located at 3252 NE 1st Ave.

Balloo, who started his career at a restaurant in Davie, has worked in New York, Belgium and at other Miami restaurants before coming to work at SUGARCANE in 2010.

At the South American-inspired restaurant, Balloo's favorite dishes are the crudos at the raw bar, which allows him to work with fresh fish.

"It really represents my philosophy of food," he said.

Balloo's food philosophy is keep it simple and focus on the ingredients.

His Chinese heritage influences much of his cooking, he said.

Growing up, Balloo learned techniques for marinating meats overnight to get them "loaded and packed with flavor."

He still uses some of these techniques today, and even marinates some meats for 48 hours.

"The flavor really gets into the food," Balloo said.

He will appear on the TODAY show on Thursday to show viewers how to make a one pot meal.

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