Day Day Cook founder Norma Chu talks digital success in China, Cantonese cuisine and her midnight cravings

After Norma Chu bites into the xiao long bao and then the steamed assorted seafood dumpling with Champagne sauce, she is quietly contemplative for a moment, then remarks, “This is really good.”

The xiao long bao is a favourite at newly opened The Chin’s on Stanley Street in Central, and the dumpling is a signature dish with a modern fusion twist.

The Chin’s boasts a beautiful interior décor featuring minimal lines complemented by multiple shades of turquoise and blue and wooden accents. The effect is modern, sleek and refined.

The menu, created by chef Ringo Chow, previously of China Tang, features dishes that are traditional Cantonese supplemented by regional dishes, but with modern twists - such as dumplings which have been injected with Champagne before they are steamed, to enhance the seafood flavour and fragrance.

The décor suits Chu, founder of online recipe hub Day Day Cook, who found success by taking traditional recipes online.

Day Day Cook is best known for its bite-sized bilingual cooking-made-easy videos, which won legions of fans in Hong Kong and China via its Facebook page, YouTube channel, website and app. According to Chu, Day Day Cook regularly hits 200 million to 250 million views per month in China, and its app has been downloaded around 1.6 million times.

Our next dishes are pan-fried bun with truffle and assorted mushrooms and the marinated pigeon with Huadiao wine. The buns come decorated with a pattern of chocolate shaped to resemble a mushroom cap. But it is the pigeon - marinated using 25-year-old Huadiao wine and rose wine, and fermented in yeast the chef himself has made - that captivates Chu.

“You can taste the wine but it’s much sweeter than usual,” she says. “I want to give this a try [at home] because it tastes almost completely different.”