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24 Hours with Dave Cheung

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I almost never have breakfast. It's one of the habits you develop when running a restaurant. I eat when I start work, which is at 11am, usually something simple like rice and vegetables at my restaurant. I don't wake up early because I live close by.

I've been running my restaurant, Dave, on rue de Richelieu, since 1982. We moved here from the 11th arrondissement, where I first opened in 1973. Passers-by don't really notice my restaurant because I have a small sign with my name on it. It doesn't even say Chinese restaurant. I didn't want to name it something typically Chinese such as Hang Fuk Lau. My English name is Dave and my Chinese name is Cheung Tai-wai, so I'd rather give my restaurant a simple name - my own.

Designers, models, Hollywood celebrities and singers have been coming to my restaurant for years. It's not a pretentious place. I try to treat my customers like friends and I keep my restaurant very clean, and I serve Chinese food without the usual heavy sauce and oil of other places. Maybe this is why everyone comes here when they are in Paris. I keep pictures of all of them on my wall; I have several generations of Hollywood stars, designers and models: Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent, Mariah Carey, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell are all regulars. I have a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio. In fact, I've got two side by side: one when he was slim and one when he gained weight. I hope he will find it amusing.

I was born in Hong Kong in 1953 but my parents were originally from Tianjin. We moved to Paris after the riots in 1967. Life was hard for us at first. There were very few Chinese immigrants at the time and my father didn't know what to do to make a living, so he worked in a restaurant. It's where I also learned about the business. I wanted to do something better with my life, be upwardly mobile. When I finished university in 1973 I opened a little Chinese restaurant in the 11th arrondissement in an area called Oberkampf. It was very bohemian. I had borrowed 100,000 francs to start the business. By the end of the 70s I sold it, took the money and founded this place in 1982.

With Dave I wanted to give the place some personal touches. I wanted the ambience to be east meets west, which is what I am. I have always been outgoing and I started to meet people, artists and others from the underground culture. Paris in the 70s and early 80s was very interesting. Slowly people started to discover my place. Helmut Newton, the photographer, was one of my first customers; he was brought here by his wife June and they came to my place for years. I've hung two self-portraits he gave me on the wall. He loved spare ribs. He was a very simple person.

I think my food is pretty good. It's light Chinese cuisine, with Cantonese and northern influences because my family is from the north. We have a good wine list, which westerners appreciate. In 1983 Francis Ford Coppola came in for the first time; he's now one of my regulars. He loves lemon chicken. Kawakubo and Yamamoto, who were just starting out in Paris, also came. These people have stuck with me for many years and they brought new friends to my place.

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