Profile | Cooking Chinese food is like practising kung fu – you have to learn it the hard way, says Michelin-star chef in Hong Kong
- Lau Yiu-fai, executive chef of Yan Toh Heen in Hong Kong, reflects on working in Canada and compares kitchen training now to when he was younger
- The 62-year-old tells Bernice Chan how, when he was a young apprentice chef, the stir-fry chefs ‘would dump what you made on the table’ if they didn’t like it
“My mother and paternal grandmother were good cooks. When I was a child, my family had financial difficulties so just being able to eat made us happy. We ate family-style dishes like braised pork. I still like eating it today.
“I’m the second oldest, with two brothers and a younger sister. All four of us could not go to school because we could not afford to pay for tuition and textbooks back then.
“At the age of 14, I thought I should work, and I like to eat so I went into the restaurant business.
“You couldn’t just get a job, you had to know someone. Luckily my mother had connections at the first restaurant I worked at, Tai Sam Yuen [now closed].”
What was it like being an apprentice?
“If you teach young cooks now, they don’t necessarily want to learn. During our time, it wasn’t like that – if you were hard-working, then the master chef would teach you something.
“He wouldn’t necessarily teach all of us apprentices. If we were willing to learn, he let us copy his recipes by hand – no photocopying. That was his sign of affection towards you.
“At the time, I didn’t understand this and let another apprentice copy the recipe. When the master chef found out, he was angry with me because I didn’t respect the fact that he had chosen me to copy the recipe and I just casually gave it to another apprentice to copy.
What was most important to you back then?
“To earn more money. If you worked hard, then you could get poached elsewhere for a few hundred dollars more. The better you were, the faster you moved to another job, so I knew I needed to learn more to earn more money.
“In the late 1970s and ’80s, many restaurants opened in Hong Kong and needed chefs, so some master chefs or number two chefs left to join them, and we followed for a bit more money.”
What was it like working at Fook Lam Moon?
“I learned many things at Fook Lam Moon other than cooking techniques, like how to be a good person, and to be fair to others.
“During this time, the restaurant workers found other ways to make money. We collected abalone shells and sold them to people making jewellery, and we also sold glass bottles. Each month, the restaurants collected the money and then shared it once a year.
“In 1980, I joined the Regent Hong Kong [which changed its name to the InterContinental before reverting back to the Regent last year; Yan Toh Heen opened at the hotel in 1984] in the Chinese banqueting department.
Why did you move to Canada?
“In 1993, I immigrated to Vancouver. As a chef, it was easy to get a job. I worked at Ho Yuen Kee and Grand Honour Restaurant. But keeping in touch with friends and family back in Hong Kong was hard because long-distance calls were so expensive. I wrote letters instead.
“I learned to drive in Vancouver. When I took the driving test, I wore a suit and my instructor asked me if I was going to a banquet afterwards. Luckily, I just passed so maybe the suit helped.
“After about five years I returned to Hong Kong and, in 2000, I came back to Yan Toh Heen and was reunited with many people I have worked with ever since. We work well together.”
Congratulations on Yan Toh Heen’s second Michelin star! How did you find out?
“During an interview with Michelin, they got a call and passed the phone to me and told me the news. Because of the current pandemic situation, we are celebrating in our hearts; after things get better we will celebrate properly. Everyone worked so hard, so they are all happy about it. It’s not an easy achievement.”
How do you come up with new dishes?
“One person alone cannot create a dish. Before, it wasn’t common to use Western ingredients in Chinese cuisine. Now we use Australian Wagyu beef. We got some from the [Regent Hong Kong] hotel’s Western restaurant to experiment with and thought it tasted good. The meat’s texture is tender and we wok-fry it with peppercorns. We also use Japanese pork from Kagoshima, wok-fried with eggplant and garlic.”
How have your guests’ tastes changed over the years?
“They have discerning tastes these days. Some guests claim they want to eat healthy dishes, but they order food that isn’t that healthy. A few years ago, we worked with a dietitian to offer a healthy menu, but guests didn’t really order anything from it.
“Nevertheless, our aim is to give guests relatively healthy dishes because I like to eat healthily, too. Our double-boiled soups are very aromatic, but don’t have any oil. I don’t like to see any oil in them.”
You’re trained in Muay Thai. Tell us about that.
“But, during training, I got hit in my right eye. I saw stars. When I came back to work, my eye was black. I couldn’t lie to the chef about what happened. After that, I didn’t dare sneak out again to practice.
“What I like about boxing is that it’s like life: once you go into the ring, no one can help you – it’s just you and your hands. If you aren’t careful, you will get hit, so you need to practise a lot, which is like cooking and life.
“If you don’t try to improve, then you won’t be able to compete – like with Michelin. Hong Kong has so many restaurants so how do you do better? You have to think of new dishes, but also be consistent. We have been around for a long time and I trust our team to do well.”
