Travellers from mainland China only want to eat their food, no matter where they go, Hong Kong chef says
- They may have travelled around the world, but mainland Chinese diners only want to eat food they are familiar with, says chef Tsang Chiu-king
- The culinary director of Ming Court Wanchai travelled the world working for a hotel group, but found there’s no place like home – and Cantonese cuisine
What was your childhood like? “I have seven brothers and sisters. At that time it was normal – today you don’t see that. When my father retired, I asked him why, when we were young, he didn’t chat with us. My father sold pork in the wet market, working 365 days a year for 12 hours each day.
“After work he came home, took a shower, ate dinner, listened to the radio, then went to bed. It was already 10pm. The next day he woke up at 5am. He didn’t have enough energy to breathe, so when would he have the time to play with us?
“I was already a father and felt sad to hear this. I tell people my father had the hardest life, fleeing China’s turmoil, Hong Kong was not developed, raising us kids. He just listened to the radio. He never had a holiday, he didn’t have the money or the time. He died before he was 70. He never stopped working.”
How did you get interested in cooking? “My mother got me a job on weekends when I was 12 or 13 years old as a substitute at the restaurant my older brother [the late Mango Tsang Chiu-lit] worked at. Chefs didn’t have holidays; if you needed to take time off, you had to find someone to substitute. I gradually enjoyed working in the kitchen. I was interested in cooking because I like eating.”
How did you end up working in Switzerland? “In the late 1980s, I worked in a big restaurant in Hung Hom that had over 100 seats. I was there for eight years. The head chef had a friend in Switzerland who knew a Swiss man who owned a ski resort and his wife was Thai.