KOWLOON Shangri-la chef Marco Rudin found five minutes of unexpected fame yesterday as an understudy to the star of The Lover , Tony Leung Kar-fai.
The actor cancelled his appearance at the Children's Month 1993 Healthy Eating Cooking Contest due to illness and Rudin stepped in to whip up recipes for smoked fish pate and muesli submitted by Governor Mr Chris Patten's daughter Alice.
Leung was not the only missing guest. Pop star Kenny Bee's rumoured appearance proved unfounded and a spokesman for organisers The Hongkong Council of Early Childhood Education and Services said Alice had been invited as a judge, but her mother, Mrs Lavender Patten, said last-minute teenage tantrums kept Alice away.
It fell to Mrs Patten to taste the concoctions, which she described as ''ho ho sik '' (tasty), and to pop stars Hacken Lee and Karen Mok to add celebrity status. Mok sang karaoke favourite Stand By Me, and Lee, Marry Me.
But it didn't last for long. Mid-ceremony Mrs Patten was told the singers were in a hurry to leave and a quick photo shoot was set up.
Children, many of whom were dressed as vegetables to promote healthy eating, were not fazed by the unexpected changes. Baked potato with chilli won the thumbs up from Nicholas Barton and Prudence Choy, both 11, while nine-year-old Cedric Tsang and eight-year-old Justin Choy turned up their noses at a vegetable soup comprising carrots, beans, peas, bean curd and mushrooms. It seems children still hate vegetables.
