It
was elite credentials by any standard – to be among the first batch of chefs
awarded the country’s highest culinary honor, the National Grade of China; and
to be recognized as one of China’s 8 most illustrious chefs. But these were not
Chef Wu’s, they were his dad’s.
Chef
Wu Rui Kang knew he had a tough act to follow. And so he became the first and
only Michelin-starred chef of Hangzhou cuisine in the world.
In
fact Chef Wu’s sterling career was hardly heralded. After graduation from
university he held a senior post in the Chinese civil service, from which he
left to start a small restaurant in Hangzhou. As business grew, he decided to
shift his base to Hong Kong, where his father was working at that time as
executive chef for a renowned Hangzhou-style restaurant. Chef Wu opened the Hong Zhou Restaurant in
2006.
While
the Chef is, as we have seen, highly esteemed by food circles in Hong Kong, his
is an audience that is ardent, initiated, and “focused”. Hangzhou cuisine,
while increasingly revered in China, is still received with ambivalence in Hong
Kong where Cantonese and Shanghai food reign supreme. But the Chef is patient
and resolute.
Tweaking
his flavors to suit the local palate is something he has stood against from the
start, while the use of air-flown ingredients all the way from Hangzhou is a
practice he has always insisted on. Such rigorous measures -- and not
half-efforts and compromises -- are what he believes authenticity and
reputations are built upon, and what he believes will ultimately win him a
large audience for his beloved cuisine. Now he has the star to prove it.
But
what makes a great chef? Chef Wu proposes a combination of assets: kitchen
ethics, intelligence, and innate gifts. Kitchen ethics implies respect and
humility, especially before teacher or master, he says, and the willingness to
give your best in everything from cooking to personal hygiene. In short:
attitude.
Intelligence
is the drive for technical mastery. Chef Wu lists essential areas such as
kitchen skills, cost control, and financial/business acumen. Finally, innate
talent and passion is a factor. But, stressed the Chef, it must be coupled with
a lot of hard work.
Only
then will innate gifts make a difference, and raise the aspiring chef above all
the others to greatness.
Hong
Zhou Restaurant
1/F
Chinachem Johnston Plaza
178-186
Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel:
+852 2591 1898
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