Chef Chung Kin-leung

I grew up in Guangzhou. I came to Hong Kong when I was 20. It’s hard to explain why I came to Hong Kong. I was following the trend—many others were moving to Hong Kong. I worked as a chef in catering. There were only a few big Chinese restaurants, and rich people mostly relied on catering, especially for dinners with important people. I went to the homes of most [of the city’s] wealthy people. I was just an apprentice then. It took a year before I was allowed to sharpen knives; another year of sharpening knives before I could chop with the knives. After working in catering for about 20 years, I quit. I saw that the government was looking for a chef and applied. I wanted to see if I had what it took. I had to do a written examination first. There were questions on how long it takes to steam a fish or soak shark’s fin. Then I had to pass a practical test where I prepared several dishes for government officers. I was assigned to serve Donald Tsang at the Financial Secretary’s residence. He was usually out during lunch, so my main task was to cook dinner for him and his family. I had to be on call 24 hours a day. If Mr. Tsang was sick and wanted to have congee in the middle of the night, I would wake up and make that for him. Mr. Tsang likes fish the most. He eats all kinds of fish—but it must be fresh. He especially loves steamed fish with preserved vegetables. When it was someone’s birthday, the entire staff working at the Financial Secretary’s residence would sit together with Tsang and his family and have a meal together. Those are my happiest memories working for the government. I served China’s leaders, like Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping and more, at Government House. If they liked my cooking, I wouldn’t know, because I was down there in the kitchen. Donald Tsang, however, always complimented me on my cooking. The bird’s nest with minced chicken soup [on the menu at Lai Bun Fu] was created by Selina Tsang Pou Siu-mei, wife of Donald Tsang. Mr. Tsang is very friendly and down-to-earth. He taught me manners and many life lessons. I’m a kitchen guy. I do not know much about manners and he showed me how to be gentler. At Government House, we would always be reading the news. Around the time of the annual policy address, we would prepare soup. Mr. Tsang would always be in a rush, and we wanted to help him with his work. People can say what they want about Mr. Tsang, but to me, he was and will always be a great boss. The entire staff of the Government House would agree. You can ask anyone there, and I guarantee you that would be the answer. After Donald Tsang, I served CY Leung for a year. I don’t know his food preferences that well. I quit last January because I wanted to see the world. I didn’t want to stay at Government House until I retired. I went back to private catering for a while, and I met Vivian Shek [co-owner of Lai Bun Fu]. She offered to open a restaurant together. I considered the proposal for a long time. I am quite old and I was worried if I could do it. I have been out of the market for a long time. Can I still cook for the commercial market? What do I think about Western chefs? It’s not my place to comment. I will cook the best food I can, and the people can decide what trends they like. Some signature dishes of mine, like chicken testicles, are no longer popular. Some of my signature dishes are also considered too fatty. It used to be the fattier, the better. We have also replaced shark’s fin with vegetarian shark’s fin and added abalone at Lai Bun Fu. That’s an important change for me. You can never perfect a dish as a chef. Even if you did very well one time, you can’t think of yourself as a great chef the rest of your life. Everyone’s taste is different, and there is always room for improvement. When a dish does not work out as I expected, I work harder next time. You have to think and work on what you did not do well. I make sure to cook for my family. My daughters always demand that I cook. They rarely go out for dinner. At Lai Bun Fu, we’re serving rice made from the best grains in Heilongjiang. They only sell to important families, but I had a long working relationship with [the distributor] and he said “OK.” It tastes so good. It’s best served plain. Can I go now? Today has been the busiest day so far and I still need to go to the market. Get a taste of Chung’s cooking at Lai Bun Fu: 5/F, 18 On Lan St., Central, 2564-3868.