“Say that again?” I queried. It was hard to believe.
“No water. No peeing,” came the response from Jaakko Sorsa, the chef of FINDS. I already made him repeat it twice, and he once again confirmed that a certain Hong Kong restaurant notorious for its strict training regularly locks the doors of the kitchen during service hours so that no cook could leave to get water or take a restroom break. This translates to more than six hours (from 5pm to near midnight) daily of bladder-bursting and dry-mouthed torture while scuffling through intense manual labor.
It’s these types of kitchen-hazing stories that chefs love to volley around at the dinner table. And tonight, at the first Disciples Escoffier meal in Hong Kong, 99 percent of the guests were chefs. The one percent remainder was yours truly.
The group, named after French chef Auguste Escoffier (who, amongst many things, invented the “kitchen brigade system”), is loosely defined as a gathering of chefs and gourmands who regularly meet over particularly foodie events. But it’s hard not to sense a slight secrecy and Da Vinci Code-esque air about the Disciples Escoffier. Maybe it’s the biblical connotations behind the word “disciples.” Maybe it’s because I vaguely remember Jaakko, the Hong Kong chapter’s President, once telling me about getting special perks thanks to a mere whisper of the name. Or perhaps it was because the Maitre d’ at Café Deco nodded before I completed the first syllable and rushed me at a breakneck pace to a private table upstairs.
This particular get-together was to witness the inauguration of Professor Georges Halpern and chef Tjaco van Eijken of Spoon into the “brotherhood.” As was tradition, the handover of their ribbons (yes, ribbons) was delivered in French, and then they each were each knighted (yes, knighted) with a large wooden spoon. Against the hazy backdrop of the glittering Hong Kong skyline, the rituals felt a bit cultish... and kinda awesome.
For outsiders, chefs always appear to be an exclusive bunch, a big boy’s club of sorts. And I guess that’s the natural result of having to work hours that lead you to live a reverse life—they slave away while others are socializing. Fortunately, once in a while these seemingly parallel worlds collide, and we get a small glimpse into the chefs’ off-hour moments.