Michelin-star Hong Kong chef’s secrets: be flexible and make the most of what is fresh
Chef and owner of VEA restaurant, Vicky Cheng loves premium produce cooking at home for his family, but admits that Korean spicy instant noodles are his guilty pleasure
In 2011, 25-year-old Vicky Cheng arrived in Hong Kong with no job and no plans. With the excuse of renewing his Hong Kong ID card, the young chef – who grew up in Canada and had trained at Toronto’s Auberge du Pommier restaurant and under Daniel Boulud at his eponymous New York eatery – had returned to his city of birth. He was quickly snatched up by the Liberty group, where he helmed three restaurants.
Always buy what’s fresh. Be flexible [...] You need to change your game plan based on what the freshest ingredient is, and what’s seasonal
Working hours are long for the chef and restaurant owner, but Cheng insists on cooking at home as often as possible.
“In the morning, I cook for my wife and daughter,” he says. “I also cook at home every night after service, usually around 1am. I try not to smoke up my house at nighttime, so I don’t do much pan-frying. I find myself making a lot of seafood. With something fresh, you can just steam it or boil it, and pair it with a sauce.”
Cheng visits wet markets every morning to seek inspiration, and to pick up ingredients for his restaurant and home.
“Always buy what’s fresh. Be flexible,” the chef advises. “It makes no sense if you want to make a dish with a fatty fish, but that particular fish is not fresh today and you go for it anyway, while next to it is a leaner fish that’s 10 times fresher. You need to change your game plan based on what the freshest ingredient is, and what’s seasonal.