Chef Tam Kwok Fung on preserving the taste and soul of Cantonese food
- The executive chef of Wing Lei Palace, at the Wynn Palace in Macau, talks about selecting the finest ingredients and sauces
- He says chefs need to be sensitive to the needs and wants of guests to ensure everyone enjoys the restaurant experience
What does preserving tradition mean to you? “Cantonese cuisine is now integrated into the international fine-dining scene. The authenticity of this cuisine is in preserving the taste and soul of each dish. In my restaurant, I wouldn’t want any non-Chinese guests to feel like our dishes are cooked the way food is prepared back in their country. I want them to know they are eating authentic Chinese food. I will make sure the look of my dishes is grand.”
How has globalisation affected your cooking? “If a Cantonese chef was cooking stir-fried beef with oyster sauce 30 years ago, local cattle and water buffalo were the two most common types of beef on the market. Brazilian and Argentinian beef were also [available]. Twenty years ago, American and Australian beef came into the picture, but chefs were still passive in making choices because what we could cook depended on the ingredients available, and there weren’t many.
“Starting from 10 years ago, with globalisation and advances in technology, if you write ‘I want beef’ on social media, a hundred or more suppliers will come to you from all around the world. All of a sudden, the choices are endless.”
How do you choose the ingredients that go into your dishes? “I don’t need to use imported ingredients to make myself proud of a dish but, as a chef with an open mind, I want to learn about new ingredients and try them out. I analyse every new ingredient I come across and figure out what its characteristics are. I see if those characteristics fit traditional Cantonese cooking methods. Other than staying true to the traditional recipe, improving a dish in terms of taste or colour is taken into consideration.”
What seasonings do you use? “From oyster sauce to soy sauce, I always see if we can improve a dish by using the best. For Western food, one may only need pepper and salt, but for Chinese cuisine, we put thought into choosing our sauces. The soy sauce we use is organic, with no preservatives. The hua diao wine we use to steam garoupa is aged for at least 20 years and guests can taste the difference.”