Cooking
Cooking is the duty families are most often disappointed by, because "can cook" means very little on its own. A helper experienced with Indonesian home cooking is not automatically comfortable with Teochew porridge, confinement food, South Indian vegetarian, or a halal kitchen. The useful question is not whether she can cook but what she has cooked, for whom, and for how long — which is why we ask about your cuisine before shortlisting and encourage you to ask her directly at the interview.
Tell us what your household eats in an ordinary week. Chinese home cooking, Malay, Indian, Peranakan, Western, mostly soups, mostly stir-fry, a lot of steaming. If anyone in the house has dietary requirements — vegetarian, halal, low-salt, diabetic, allergies — that belongs in the brief, not in a conversation after she arrives.
That is not a dealbreaker. Many helpers learn a new cuisine quickly if the household is willing to teach in the first month — a written weekly menu and a few cook-alongs go a long way. It is a dealbreaker only if you need her cooking your food correctly from week one, in which case say so and we will shortlist on that basis.
Cooking usually sits alongside housekeeping, and often child care or elderly care — where the diet may be medically restricted.
“Can cook” means very little on its own. Ask what she cooked, for whom, and for how long.
Questions
Yes, and it is worth being precise about which Chinese cooking — Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and Hakka home cooking are not interchangeable. Tell us the dishes your family eats most and we will shortlist against that.
Yes. Tell us at the brief stage so we shortlist helpers who have worked in a halal household and understand the separation of utensils and preparation.
Some helpers have confinement cooking experience, though a dedicated confinement nanny is a different arrangement. Tell us your due date early — this is a placement worth starting well ahead of time.
Ask specific questions at the video interview: name three dishes she cooked weekly for her last employer, and how she would cook one dish your family eats. Vague answers are informative.
Talk to us
Cuisine, dietary requirements, how many you cook for. We will shortlist helpers with matching kitchen experience.
