Lau Kin-wai
Prominent food writer and restaurateur Lau Kin-wai is a pioneer of the private kitchen, with his first venture, Yellow Door Kitchen, open for business years before it became the “it” thing to do. He tells Kylie Lee how he gave up politics for literature, and how he transformed himself from an art critic into a food critic over the years.
I was born in Zhongshan, China in 1950. But because of the war, I had to leave my hometown and move to Macau, then later settle down here in Hong Kong. My primary education was done in eight different primary schools. When I graduated, I was already 16. I didn’t go to secondary school at all. My grades were too poor to get me into a school. The only subject I could always get good grades in was Chinese. I’m just talented in writing.
I was rebellious back then. The first thing I did after my primary school graduation ceremony was tear the certificate apart. I got into the Chinese University of Hong Kong [aged 29].
I’d participated in a lot of social movements in the 70s, such as the “Protect the Diaoyu [island]” movement, and petitioned for the welfare of the visually impaired. But then I realized I wasn’t made for politics. Literature seems to be more genuine and thought-provoking.
My first job after graduation was teaching at Kowloon True Light Middle School. It was then that I started writing art criticism for the Hong Kong Economic Journal. I’d gained some recognition after a year of writing and was awarded a scholarship from the Asia Cultural Council. I was lucky to be able to go to New York and attend their arts events. It was a total culture shock.
I found it difficult to continue writing about the arts because there was no stable income. That’s when I switched from being an art critic to a food columnist. I changed from my pen name, Lau Seung-yeung, to my real name, which was quite a successful change of image.
In 2002, I started writing for Eat and Travel Weekly—a column on politics, food, sex, everything. Every weekend I would go to pubs, treat people to drinks and ask them to provide me with their personal stories. It’s been over 10 years, and so far I’ve accumulated more than 500 stories. I think I will stop writing when there are 1,001 stories.
Over the years, I’ve gained quite a huge group of followers and fans. Usually the ladies follow my columns, while the guys like coming [to my restaurants] for the food. A reader wrote to me, saying she started reading my column in secondary school, and she still followed me when she went to university, got married and had children.