IMAGINE the London Master Chefs Association talking about David Brown.
''Nice chap,'' they would say. ''Wonder what became of him?'' ''Took off to the Orient, I hear. Decent chef he was; won some awards, then vanished to a remote island.'' Wonder no longer. For their information, David Brown is alive and thriving in his kitchen kingdom on Peng Chau island.
The master chef, who's had a successful career on three continents, is happily married, happily employed, and has the kind of work which most chefs would only dream about.
''I cook the way I want to cook,'' Brown said, carefully pouring out a soupcon of marjoram into his Italian tomato soup. ''I don't see any competition on Peng Chau for my kind of food.'' With a fraction of the usual Hongkong expenses he can experiment with Spanish tapas without worrying about the Yuppie crowd complaining.
Brown makes certain that what you order one day will never be the same the next day.
You don't like the mussels stuffed with beef? ''All right, I'll change it next time,'' he said. ''Instead of bechamel sauce, I'll put in sauce provencale. That should suit you.'' Until this month Brown hardly had a menu at all. The little board outside the restaurant used to list the dishes - always some Spanish specials (Brown won an award from Hongkong's Spanish Consulate for his food), chicken , steaks, lamb chops, his choice of pizzas - easily the most delicious on any island - and a cheesecake to die for.
Now Brown has succumbed to popular demand and actually has a menu. Canneloni and lasagne, grilled garoupa, mushrooms with Chablis sauce, peach melba . . . not exactly the kind of food you usually find on this dot of an island, so tiny you can encircle it in a few hours.
