How Ken Chan rose from Hong Kong dropout to three Michelin-star chef in Taiwan
Chan is executive chef at Le Palais, which serves ‘truly outstanding’ cuisine and became island’s first and only restaurant with coveted ranking in Taipei guide
Ken Chan has come a long way since he started out wheeling a trolley in a dim sum restaurant, becoming the first chef in his adopted home of Taiwan to win three Michelin stars.
Hong Kong-born Chan, 53, worked through tough apprenticeships back home before rising through the ranks on Taiwan’s culinary scene over the past three decades to become executive chef at luxury five-star hotel restaurant Le Palais in Taipei.
I don’t see myself as a veteran chef. My mentality is that I am like a child, just learning to walk and I have to constantly learn new things
Serving mainly Cantonese cuisine as well as Sichuan, Fuzhou and Taiwanese dishes, Le Palais became the first and only restaurant in Taiwan to receive three stars when Michelin launched its Taipei guide earlier this year, describing the food as “truly outstanding”.
Chan’s menu is relatively affordable compared with three-star restaurants in the rest of the world, with dishes ranging from steamed prawn dumplings and baked barbecue pork buns, priced from NT$250 (US$8), to an eight-course set including lobster salad, bird’s nest soup, braised abalone with goose foot and steamed tiger grouper at NT$6,980.
Taiwan’s most-recognised chef, Andre Chiang, famously gave up the two Michelin stars attached to his eponymous Restaurant Andre in Singapore, closing it in February to focus on other projects, including his Taipei restaurant RAW.
But Chan says he believes receiving the stars will boost the island’s burgeoning foodie credentials.
“It inspires everybody to aim higher and higher,” he says.
Chan attributes his accolade to “luck”, but it is also testament to perseverance.