How did you get interested in cooking? “Watching someone cook on TV was like seeing a lab experiment, mixing things together. I thought it was really cool, especially because it involved fire. My parents split up when I was four years old, so my older sister and I had to help our mum out. “I started cooking when I was eight years old, simple things like steamed fish and braised spare ribs, scrambled eggs. One time I mixed a raw egg with instant noodles, but thankfully I didn’t get seriously sick. “When I was 19 years old, I studied cooking at the VTC [Vocational Training Council]. At the time I could only get into pastry because my English was not good – for some reason you needed English for the Chinese cuisine course yet that was taught in Cantonese, while pastry was all taught in English. I had a hard time but managed to graduate after one year.” Did you enjoy working in pastry? “My internship was at the Nikko Hotel [now New World Millennium Hong Kong], which was one of the best places for pastry at the time. I didn’t have the best grades so I didn’t think I deserved to be there, but I worked long hours. After I graduated I worked at Lucullus and another bakery, Orchid Padaria in Sheung Shui. At each place, the head chefs had an authoritative attitude towards us, but when they saw management, they were timid. I didn’t think this was a good example. “My sister saw the Jockey Club had a trainee programme, where you worked five days a week and they paid for you to study one day a week. On my first day I had to kill and fillet a fish and had no idea how to do it. After a few months we got a new executive chef who was just like the previous ones. I thought I should sell insurance instead.” Why did you stay? “Luckily my mentor, Lo Tak-yan, arrived at the Jockey Club and I saw him deal with everyone firmly. The atmosphere in the kitchen changed right away. One time I cut my finger quite deeply just before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even though I had a doctor’s note and could rest for seven days, I was worried chef Lo would not be happy so I came in to work. “He chastised me for working and told me to stand in the corner and watch what was going on for seven days. So that’s what I did. Afterwards he told me to go down to the basement and wash vegetables – 70kg to 80kg every day. I now wash vegetables very quickly. After a year, when our shifts were over, he let me start to cook, by stir-frying rice and noodles. I was there for six years.” Why did you go to Beijing? “In 2007, chef Lo went to Beijing to open the Jockey Club. There was no position for me, but he got me a job at his friend’s restaurant. The lifestyle there is better than Hong Kong. I was not used to having a two-bedroom, 1,000 sq ft apartment. The staff are more obedient than in Hong Kong. “However, when it came to purchasing food for the restaurant, they are very bureaucratic; you are not allowed to buy food in the wet market, to ensure guests don’t get sick.” What was it like working in Inner Mongolia? “I worked in the Shangri-La Huhhot in 2012. At 29 years old, I was the youngest executive chef. I learned a lot, like how to cook lamb, northern-style noodles and use yogurt in desserts. The hotel had many government functions so we cooked for a lot of banquets, up to 1,200 people. It was hard work.” In Beijing we could get edible flowers, but I didn’t dare use them – [in Hong Kong], I know they are organic Menex Cheung, chef Why did you go back to Beijing? “A year later I opened the Waldorf Astoria Beijing. It was a smaller hotel, with fewer staff, but higher standards. One time, the Chinese restaurant was busy and we had a banquet to cook for, so three of us chefs had to man three woks each to cook all the dishes. It was there I learned to cook Ruyi gastronomy – elaborate dishes that are not prepared any more – presented on fine Limoges tableware by Legle France. “When I was 31 years old, I took on one of the most challenging chef jobs in the capital: the China World Summit Wing, where top business and political leaders meet. On the first day, I was told there were no roast pigs for the banquet that evening. They were testing me. “Thankfully, I knew the pigs were stored with a chef friend of mine, so I made a call and the pigs were soon sent over. The staff were impressed. Because we cooked for so many dignitaries, we always had to have samples of every dish kept aside – in case someone got sick, they could test the food.” What do you want to achieve in Hong Kong? “After 12 years in China, I came back last May, to China Tang. I want to see if I can go for a Michelin star or Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. China Tang wants to do more healthy dishes – after visiting farms here I really like local produce. In Beijing we could get edible flowers, but I didn’t dare use them – here, I know they are organic.”