Chef Samuel Lee Sum on being a Hongkonger in Paris, passing a test ‘worse than Top Chef or MasterChef’, and where to eat in the French capital

Samuel Lee Sum, executive chef at Shang Palace in the Shangri-La hotel in Paris, is the only Hongkonger in charge of a Michelin-star restaurant in the city

He talks about growing up in Hong Kong, what it was like to move to Paris without knowing any French and how, in his kitchen, he treats his cooks ‘like uncles’

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Samuel Lee Sum, executive chef at Shang Palace in the Shangri-La Paris hotel, is the only Hongkonger in charge of a Michelin-star restaurant in the French capital. Photo: John Brunton

John Brunton

Published: 1:15pm, 25 Jun 2022Updated: 3:37pm, 25 Jun 2022

The Shang Palace restaurant is what the French like to refer to as a temple to gastronomy. Dedicated to exquisite Cantonese cuisine, it is located in the Shangri-La’s Parisian hotel, an opulent palace opposite the Eiffel Tower that was once owned by the descendants of Napoléon Bonaparte.

Samuel Lee Sum, the young executive chef at the Shang Palace, is the only Hongkonger in charge of a restaurant possessing a precious Michelin star in Paris, arguably the gourmet capital of a country whose cuisine is recognised by Unesco as one of the world’s intangible cultural treasures.

At the end of a meal in Paris, it is traditional for the head chef to come out and pass from table to table, chatting to diners – an intimidating experience for the shy cuisinier who is happier staying hidden away in his kitchen. But Lee oozes confidence as he takes the plaudits, making easy conversation with the cosmopolitan movers and shakers in the room.

He has come a long way from Yuen Long, in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

Shang Palace restaurant is in the Shangri-La Paris hotel. Photo: John Brunton

After the dining room empties, the kitchen is sparkling clean again and his brigade of cooks – all Chinese – have gone home, Lee sits down at a table with a cup of steaming Puer tea. “I was not nervous coming to France, even though I was only 32 and had never set foot in Europe,” he says. “It was just a new challenge, and I am someone who always needs a new challenge.

“Throughout my life I have always wanted to set ambitions. I did not decide to become a chef until I left school at 18, but when that decision was made, I fixed a personal goal that I would become an executive Chinese chef by the age of 30. And if I did not achieve this by that age then I would abandon the world of cooking and find a different job. Fortunately, I made executive Chinese chef at the age of 26 and have not looked back since.”