Part 1/4
When it comes to collaborations, Danny Yip, the man behind The Chairman, always does it right—and great. Because he takes each and every one of these events seriously. He would visit the cooking venue months ahead. He would take pains to understand his collaborators, the cooking techniques involved, the ingredients available locally, and... More
Part 2/2
Typical of me—got all my meals mixed up and had to forfeit my deposit at Mingles yesterday. Fortunately I managed to gatecrash chef Zor Tan and his colleagues’ gathering today.
The flavours by chef Mingkoo Kang are truly up my alley—deceptively light, but layered and extremely well-balanced. I couldn’t find anything to gripe about—and... More
Chef Edward Chong has been a dear student (徒弟) of mine for several years. One of the challenges we faced together was this—being Malaysian, Edward was trained in Malaysian-Chinese cuisine, yet he was positioned and marketed as a 100%-Cantonese chef. This dissonance was hurting his credibility; so we had to solve it.
We developed a style for... More
Part 2/2
I confess—pork is my all-time favourite meat! Even before I left for Seoul for the A50B Restaurants a few weeks ago, I was hearing the name “Golden Pig”.
So first night in Seoul, I rushed to the restaurant but was turned away. They don’t take reservations; and diners go as early as 10 am to reserve a table. Fortunately my well-connected... More
Part 1/2
I confess—pork is my all-time favourite meat! Even before I left for Seoul for the A50B Restaurants a few weeks ago, I was hearing the name “Golden Pig”.
So first night in Seoul, I rushed to the restaurant but was turned away. They don’t take reservations; and diners go as early as 10 am to reserve a table. Fortunately my well-connected... More
Part 2/2
Two of my students presented an “updated” version of dim sum and snacks yesterday. Call me biased but it was a yummy-licious lunch. The amount of thought and effort put into these morsels was evident; with the layering of flavours coming through delicately. Kudos to their dim sum assistants too. One of them even said to me, “each time... More
Part 1/2
Two of my students presented an “updated” version of dim sum and snacks yesterday. Call me biased but it was a yummy-licious lunch. The amount of thought and effort put into these morsels was evident; with the layering of flavours coming through delicately. Kudos to their dim sum assistants too. One of them even said to me, “each time... More
Today is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year (元宵節). We, Chinese, usually have a bowl of sweet dumpling soup (湯圓或元宵) with family or friends to mark the end of the festive celebrations.
As I was on my own in HK, a friend sweetly seated me at a table-for-one in her packed-to-the-brim restaurant. And so I got to indulge in all my favourite... More
I don’t expect much from friends. But I demand a lot from colleagues and peers when it comes to work—right down to the most minute detail.
Part 1/2
It was mission impossible—taking charge of opening a restaurant with a new and untested concept within 4 months. To make matters worse, recruiting staff during the year-end was nightmarish, as employees would rather wait for their bonus before considering any other options.
But I was lucky and things went smoothly! Plus, I made wonderful... More