Modern masterpieces
By combining contemporary plating skills with the artistry of trompe l'oeil, chef Yeung Wai-kit at the Michelin-starred restaurant, Fu Chun Ju, is helping to paint a new chapter in Cantonese cuisine, Li Yingxue reports.
During the two years he spent developing the menu, Yeung built up a team of chefs from scratch. He now has 23 chefs, whom he chose personally, and each one has at least five years of culinary experience.
"I don't have chefs with only one or two years' experience in the kitchen because I think the job takes time to master and understand, and this simply isn't long enough," he explains.
To highlight his point, he uses the ingredients of fried mushrooms and vegetables as an example. The mushrooms draw in the seasoning faster than vegetables, so if the two ingredients are cooked and seasoned together, the mushrooms will seem much saltier than the vegetables.
"Inexperienced chefs would not realize this, because it takes time to completely understand the nature of every ingredient," Yeung says.
Yeung believes that the future of Chinese cuisine lies in the fusion of all the major cuisines from around China. Besides mixing Huaiyang with Cantonese cuisine, Yeung also plans to experiment more with Sichuan food－and wonders what sparks he could create in the future.
