Chef Dobee Lam reimagines Hoi An’s free-range chicken salad as a wood-fired roast at Hong Kong’s Sep, blending Vietnamese street soul with live-fire precision
Sep arrived in Hong Kong in 2022, presenting chef Dobee Lam’s vision of Vietnamese cuisine through the lens of Hong Kong’s restless culinary energy. Tucked into the heart of the city, the interior of the restaurant channels the lantern-lit streets of central Vietnam while leaning into local ingredients and live-fire cooking. Lam, whose career spans some of Asia’s top kitchens, helms the wood-fired ovens with a craftsman’s focus, delivering tasting menus that balance bold flavours with technical finesse.
Chef Dobee Lam of Sep, Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
A favourite on the dinner tasting menu is ga quay Hoi An – or roast chicken in English – transforming Hoi An’s iconic free-range chicken salad into a fire-kissed roast that marries memory with meticulous technique. Lam’s starting point is pure nostalgia: trips to Vietnam left him loving the dish’s flavour but frustrated by its “often dry and chewy” chicken. “I recreated this dish to retain the chicken taste from my memory and improve the meat’s texture,” he explains, positioning his ga quay Hoi An as both a homage and an evolution.
“While the original chicken salad is great, the herbs were quite overpowering; chickens are simply boiled,” he observes. His Hong Kong-sourced bird gets roasted skin, dialled-back herbs and live-fire depth to let the poultry shine.
Ga quay Hoi An. Photo: Handout
Local yellow chicken, prized for its “perfect skin”, anchors the dish. It’s wet-brined overnight to let the seasoning seep deep into the meat, then air-dried for 48 hours – a step that concentrates flavour and preps the skin for the perfect crisp. Cooking unfolds in two blistering phases: first, a five-minute blast in a Napoli wood-fired oven at 550-600°C, which puffs and chars the skin while keeping the meat succulent. Then, it’s finished on a wood-fired grill with lychee wood, binchotan and a whisper of mesquite wood, layering smoke without overpowering the bird.
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The plate stays deliberately sparse. Lam carves the chicken to reveal crispy crackling and juicy meat. “It’s a chicken version of suckling pig, served with green papaya salad for freshness and lemongrass lime salt for a kick of flavour,” he adds.
Texture drives the eating experience: the brined meat stays tender, its skin snaps like premium char siu, the papaya salad cuts through with crunch and acid, while citrusy salt amplifies everything. “I believe that good dishes can become classics over time. There’s no need to change them too much; they should be lasting and memorable,” Lam says. True to form, he tweaks relentlessly: “Nothing is perfect, so I continually review this dish to see if there are any opportunities for improvement.”
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At Sep, the ga quay Hoi An distils Vietnamese soul into a Hong Kong moment: roast chicken as memory, craft and quiet ambition.
