Chef Stephanie Wong on why Hongkongers shop daily and how ‘Asian pride’ helped her realise her dream
- Wong was in her 30s and working in banking, when decided to fulfil her teenage dream of opening a restaurant
- ‘Food was always so key. It is a way to express love [...] you always have a table full of everything.’
Why did you name your bistro Roots? “The meaning was from root vegetables. I’m not a vegetarian, but I enjoy my vegetables, and they are plentiful in Hong Kong. But you never think twice about them. This was my discovery in France [when Wong studied at the Alain Ducasse Cooking School, in Paris], that leeks, carrots, potatoes and onions are so good. The vegetables there were insane. They were so colourful and flavourful. And that trickled down into my cooking philosophy.
“I really believe in the produce and that is important in Cantonese cooking. In Hong Kong, your mum, grandma or domestic helper go to the market every day. It is not like that in the United States or Canada, where you buy groceries once a week.
In Hong Kong, they hand-pick things and the vendors will tell you what’s good from the New Territories today. It’s almost like you’re close to the farm but you’ve never seen a farm in Hong Kong, ironically.”
What was your childhood like? “I was born in Hong Kong, and we moved to Toronto, Canada, in the 80s, when I was four. What I remember from my childhood is mostly in Canada. We moved back to Hong Kong when I was eight. There was zero possibility of getting into a Chinese school; I didn’t know how to speak Chinese. So my parents put me through the international school system.
“As a young kid, I was hyper. If I could focus, I could do well in school, but it was just never interesting. I was OK at school. I was an only child so I would make up games by myself. My parents worked in finance. They worked really hard. During the day, it was my grandma taking care of me in Hong Kong.