Hong Kong assistant to visiting chefs gets to present own menu in Test Kitchen pop-up
- Devon Hou has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants Amber and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, and has ambitions to open her own restaurant
- She normally helps out the up-and-coming overseas chefs invited to Test Kitchen to present pop-up menus, but this time she’s featuring her own dishes
Test Kitchen in Western district is known for bringing up-and-coming chefs from around the world to Hong Kong to showcase their dishes to adventurous diners. Helping the visiting chefs prepare for four-day pop-up dining events including sourcing ingredients and cooking dishes is Test Kitchen head chef Devon Hou Wai-yin.
This month, Hou will finally get a chance to show off her culinary style when she takes over Test Kitchen to present her own menu.
Her pedigree is impressive. Hou, 32, who began honing her palate at home thanks to the excellent cooking skills of her mother and maternal grandmother, has worked in Hong Kong at the two-Michelin-star Amber restaurant and one-Michelin-star Tate Dining Room and Bar.
“My mom knew I’m a picky eater and always tried to cook different dishes for me using different ingredients, so I liked to eat,” Hou says.
By the time she was in secondary school, Hou was cooking homestyle dishes like braised aubergine with minced pork and scrambled eggs with tomato. She really got into cooking on a home economics course, where the instructor taught Hou that cooking can be fun.