Culinary Artisans in Macau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first reason that I was attracted to the culinary industry is the fact that I like eating. I really appreciate the enjoyment of food. Different foods give me different ideas.  And you have to understand that a person who likes to eat usually likes to cook too. 

 

As a professional chef, the most rewarding moment is when I see my dishes satisfying  patrons from all over the world – the way they smile when they leave the restaurant and the high level of satisfaction they feel.  If I can earn their praise and make them think of me every time they want to try this dish again, that is very rewarding. 

 

In my 45-year career as a chef, everyday  is full of challenges since we have to overcome a lot of issues. It is a “must” for us to serve impressive dishes to every patron. We have to source ingredients from all over the world and develop new dishes  and improve existing dishes, all while maintaining Chinese culinary traditions.

 

When I am at home, I enjoy cooking as well. I am a professional chef and I should be able to provide my family with high quality food and use the opportunity to gain inspiration for new dishes. 

 

In my opinion, Macau still lags behind a little bit in terms of the quality of cuisine it can offer. Macau is, after all, a small city. However, we have seen a lot of global investors who have invited some renowned chefs from all over the world to help raise the  food quality of Macau. For example, we have Robuchon au Dôme and Don Alfonso 1890 at our property that are really famous. In the future, if Macau can continue to invite renowned chefs to the city to exchange their techniques, it can help create a new image for culinary experiences in Macau.

 

Looking ahead, I can see that we are going to invest in new technology and tools to improve food safety and maintain the freshness of produce. But the traditional knowledge is not going to change. What will happen is a merging of the old with the new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was young, I used to go to a particular restaurant to celebrate family birthdays and the chef invited me to see the kitchen. I was totally impressed by the gastronomy every time we visited and I realized that food is essential to happiness. Becoming a professional chef was my ultimate goal; I said that to my parents and I never changed my mind.

 

My favourite ingredient is definitely black truffle – in French we call it the black diamond. The black truffle is one of the best ingredients to cook with owing to its distinct and poignant aroma. My favourite signature dish with black truffle is a black truffle tart; it’s a very classic, famous, signature dish of Mr Robuchon. He makes a very, very thin and light and crispy pastry. On the top we put some onion cooked with bacon and then arrange it with a beautiful piece of truffle – it is very simple, but with an amazing flavour. He makes these dishes for the truffle, not with truffle. 

 

When I worked in Hong Kong, everyone else in the kitchen was from Hong Kong, whereas in Macau the kitchen is more diversified.  We all speak English to each other, and its more international. It’s good to open the minds of everybody. 

 

I love life, I am happy in my life and I enjoy every moment of it, so for me it is very important that everyone comes to work wearing a smile, not for me, but for the restaurant and for the guests. If you are not happy to make the dishes, I am sure the dishes will not be good. 

 

The spirit of Mr Robuchon is to respect everything. The original flavour is the most important thing. Fusion kitchens are very interesting, but it’s not my style. 

 

Tomatoes are my favourite ingredient for summer dishes. I also love strawberries and with Mr Robuchon we are making a very special gazpacho of strawberry. A real gazpacho like in Spain, using tomato, cucumber, bread, garlic – at the end we mix in some strawberry sauce and you have the flavour of tomato gazpacho with strawberry. It’s amazing! 

 

 

 

—————————————————————-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the reasons I entered the culinary industry was because of my family. My father and my uncle were both in the industry, so I already knew a thing or two about it even when I was a child.

 

Being a chef, in my opinion, is to create great and inspiring delicacies, as well as perfectly utilizing the ingredients.  The result is an indulgence in exquisiteness and fusion of delicacy and artistry.

 

When I first began my career, it was really tough. However, the longer I am in this industry, the more I grow to love it. I enjoy the challenge and the improvements I achieve. This is the reason I want to be a chef for the rest of my life.

 

It has been a great honour for me to become respected and recognized nationally, as well as being granted the title of National Culinary Master and being qualified as a national adjudicator.  I was also the first Mainland Chinese chef to receive the Rôtisseur award from the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs in 1991.

 

For me, the most challenging things are first, to understand the trends of the market, improve outdated operational concepts and principles, and develop management strategies in order to cater to the development of the market.  The other challenge is to constantly learn and innovate, to always satisfy the customer with new creations.

 

Among all the ingredients, one of my favourites is fresh red chili. Although it looks ordinary, you can find traces of it in many dishes and its flavour can change magically for different culinary styles. For example, red chili and broad beans can pair together and create doubanjiang, which is a core ingredient for a number of dishes. Or pickled chili made with red chili can give you fish flavoured pork slices. There is also chopped chili, red sauce and dried chili.

 

Our special summer appetizer is mustard Chinese cabbage, a well-known summer dish that is easy to make with basic ingredients.  This traditional Beijing cuisine gives the refreshing taste of cabbage and the spiciness of mustard, and is guaranteed to cast out the summer heat and the greasiness of other foods from your body.

 

 

 

 

 

—————————————————————-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was young, I would always watch my grandmother cooking for the whole family. She was very organized and I thought it was a great thing and started to be interested in cooking. When I was 14, I started to do some part-time work in restaurants, and I have been working full-time since I was 17.

 

Being a chef in Macau, one of the biggest challenges is understanding the different tastes of your guests from different regions. Compared with Hong Kong people, Macau guests prefer a more traditional Cantonese taste. We also have guests from different areas of mainland China and other countries so we need to try to understand their preferences. If you know their little habits and prepare accordingly, they’ll be very happy. 

 

My favourite ingredient is natural wild fish. It’s a great ingredient even if you cook it in the simplest way like steaming it. As for summer ingredients, I like to use white gourd as it helps to relieve the summer heat and to clear dampness. 

 

Over the past years, Macau has become the standard for those in other regions aiming to develop their gaming industries. Our competitors even send their managers here to Macau to study.

 

For those who want to have a career in this industry, first you need to understand the market, be aware of your customers, your competitors, and also your suppliers. Do the things that you’re confident with, and then try other things. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I became a chef to make people happy through food.  It’s a stressful job but it’s a good stress; to be busy, to have some challenges and targets each day.  When I was 12, I used to cook for myself because I didn’t like the food at the school canteen. It was a disaster, so I used to go to the market with my mum for all the ingredients, and every day I made a different menu for myself.  

 

Then I used to pass by a three-Michelin star restaurant in my town and my mother told me if I wanted to eat there I needed lots of money so I should study hard at school.  I studied hard at cooking school so I could go there, but to work, not to eat.

 

Getting two Michelin stars has certainly been the highlight of my career, especially here with my own restaurant under my own name.

 

I really love black truffles as there is so much that you can do with them, they are very versatile. When it’s summer here, it’s winter in Australia so we will use winter truffles from Australia in our summer menu. It’s very flavorful so we have to be very creative to use a winter product for a summer dish.  And my favourite summer ingredient is tomatoes from France, Italy and Spain.

 

I’ve been in Macau for six years, and the food scene is becoming more mature and recognized. You can really see the changes. Macau is becoming a destination for people to come just to eat.  People are getting more excited to come here to eat for two or three days. It’s becoming a food destination so that is exciting. The majority of our guests are probably local Macau and Hong Kong guests, and we have a big list of regular guests.  And more and more Taiwanese people too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have loved cooking since my childhood, particularly sushi as it is very special for Japanese. 

 

The most rewarding thing is when my guests are satisfied, and of course I’m very proud that Shinji by Kanesaka received a Michelin star. 

 

The most challenging thing about being a sushi chef in Macau is that all of our fish and ingredients are imported fresh from Japan. We have to place the order with the fish vendor in Japan one week in advance to prepare all the documents for import, so it takes a lot of planning and effort to get the fresh fish exactly when we need it.  

 

My favourite fish is tuna. It is a very authentic ingredient for Edo-mae sushi and all the customers love it.  Each part of the tuna has a special taste, and in winter it is rich in fat and in spring rich in iron. In summer my favourite ingredients are abalone which we steam, and flounder for sashimi and sushi. 

 

Our guests here in Macau are starting to seek more and more authentic Japanese tastes and when it comes to feedback they are more direct than Japanese customers. Guests in Japan would not tell you even if they don’t like the dish. 

 

 

 

 

 

—————————————————————-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My decision to join this industry was purely based on passion; cooking has been a true passion for me since I was a kid, and that passion came from my experiences, from my roots, from my love for food. 

 

But it is also a risk; to work in a kitchen is not easy. You have very strange hours, you work when others are off and are on holiday. You don’t have a lot of time for your private life or personal interactions. It’s a very full-time passion, let’s put it that way.  

 

When I started this job, especially in Europe, there wasn’t this level of media interest around the profession. It was still considered something really tough and not for everyone; not as attractive as it is today with all the media and cooking shows. 

 

One of the most important career moments for me was getting a Michelin star for the restaurant last year. As Chef de Cuisine we already had a star with the other restaurant in Hong Kong, but here in Macau I am in a higher position than I was, so I feel this achievement even more for my work and my team. We built a whole team here and we went through a very challenging time at the beginning with the opening. And we got the star after having been open for just a few months, so it was really a good achievement and we are working hard to maintain the star and aiming a little higher for the next few years.

 

This may sound really obvious, but I love tomatoes and there is always something with tomato on my menu, or tomato based. I’m from southern Italy. I used to eat tomatoes on the balcony when I was a kid, and I still do in the kitchen when I have time. Sometimes my dinner is just plain, good tomatoes, without oil or salt or anything, I just eat it like fruit. I also think it has to do with my roots, tradition, background – it reminds me of when I was a kid, so I’m very attached to this ingredient. 

 

Ten years ago there were maybe two or three restaurants in Macau making a certain quality of food. Now there are many more, so if we grow we can get more clients coming over here. The more quality food we have here, the more people will be attracted to come here.  This really could become a gourmet destination.

 

 

 

 

 

—————————————————————-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father was a chef and cooked at home with my mother, so as a child I learned from them, and I had an interest in cooking. After college I studied hotel management and after three years I joined a hotel and got good training.

 

Today cooking is a very popular occupation, but before people didn’t see the job as something very professional. They wanted to become doctors or engineers. Now that has changed and even wealthy families send their children to study to become chefs as it is seen as a professional career all over the world.  

 

Rewarding moments in this job come from guest satisfaction. When they comment on the food, that is very important. When guests call me to compliment the food or ask how to make it, that is very satisfying. 

 

One of the biggest challenges for Indian food is that guests have a lot of special requirements: some are vegetarian, some are Jain, some are Halal, they don’t eat pork and only Halal meat. Jain food means no garlic, no onion, no carrots – no root vegetables, nothing grown underground. 

 

And there are different types of Jainism, some people can eat onion, but others can’t eat garlic. In Indian food we use a lot of onion, ginger, tomato and garlic, these are the basic vegetable ingredients.  Without them it is very difficult to create flavour.   So we need to control the menus and that can be very challenging. Indian cuisine has a lot of restrictions. 

 

I don’t have any particular favourite ingredients, but I do like to create my own recipes. I have created a lot of dishes at Golden Peacock. Our guests here are not only Indian; most of our guests are Chinese, with a lot of local Macau people and lots of foreigners. I like to introduce them to something different from what they can find at other Indian restaurants. 

 

One of our desserts, Ghevar with spiced cherry, is very sweet. Indian people like very sweet things, but Chinese don’t, so we added the spiced cherries on top. Stewed cherries become very sour so we add that combination and now it is one of our signature dishes. 

 

I like to work with young chefs. They have a lot of creativity and are very energetic and don’t reject new ideas. My team are all around 35 years old and I like the idea of more young chefs coming to Macau. 

 

 

 

 

 

—————————————————————-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main reason I became a chef is my love of food. I was born in Macau and later moved to Hong Kong. I started my apprenticeship there and worked for a renowned food and beverage group for a long time, learning and seeing a lot.

 

I came back to Macau in 2001 when the city was on the eve of taking off and I began working at Macau Tower. It was considered the most prestigious convention facility at that time, and it gave me the chance to participate some important banquets including a gala for the then-Chinese President Hu Jintao. I was responsible for leading my culinary team to build the whole thing from zero. We put a lot of effort into it and I was delighted with the results. Another highlight in my career was preparing a gala dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014.

 

The current stage of the culinary industry in Macau has shifted to a focus on more traditional and original menus and tastes. We have to find high quality ingredients that really taste the way they should. For example, I travelled to Yunnan province to look for in-season mushrooms and brought back a ham from Xuanwei city that was very popular. 

 

The best ingredient in Macau is the seafood. When I am at home with my wife, we sometimes make some simple seafood dishes and pair them with some white wine. Some simple ways to eat seafood include serving it cold, like Chiu Chow fish rice and cold shrimp, or using fresh fish to pan-fry or stew.

 

There are many challenges a chef in Macau encounters. It feels like you are on duty 24-hours a day and it is not uncommon to receive work-related phone calls at any time. That’s why we need a break from time to time, to travel with other chefs and try the delicacies of different places. I travelled to Australia last year to take part in a charity gala, where I met with other chefs and learnt about new foods and cooking methods. The more we eat and we see, the more inspiration we get for the new dishes we create when we come back.

 

As a head chef, the major challenge I face now is to lead my team and to cultivate the younger generation of chefs. This includes teaching them how to set up new kitchens, handle banquets, design menus, and the importance of hygiene.