#ChineseFoodiesofIG: Gabe Chan

Gabe Chan of Ho Lee Fook

This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I’m doing with my favourite Chinese foodies that I follow on Instagram. Come and follow the #ChineseFoodiesofIG hashtag on Instagram and leave a comment showing your support for these talented folk!

Where are you from? Where are you really from?

I currently work in Hong Kong. I grew up in Markham, a suburb of Toronto. My parents are from Hong Kong and my grandparents are from Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou.

What does home taste like?

Home tastes like my Popo’s Beijing style zhajiang noodles (炸酱面), Cantonese BBQ rice (燒味飯), Xiao long bao (小籠包) and the Shanghainese snow vegetable or salted mustard greens (雪菜)..

Rice or noodles?

I’ll be that guy and say both. Slurping noodles that have that nice bounce and chew is amazing but any sauce on white rice brings pure joy to me.

Share a food memory:

The first time I nailed roast goose by myself at work was pretty special. The even colour, rendering and crispy skin were all on point. I felt like I was really starting to understand how the different importances of blanching the skin, drying and the heat control of the BBQ oven come together.

Who's your Chinese food legend?

Being a millennial CBC (Canadian Born Chinese) I am not so familiar with the old guard of HK/Guangdong province chefs, so for me it’s the chefs of current HK restaurants like The Chairman (大班樓), Kin’s Kitchen (留家廚房) and my chef Jowett Yu who manage to execute “modern” Chinese cuisine by understanding seasonality, time and place and respecting the traditions. For me this is what “elevated” modern Chinese food is meant to be.

What’s a Chinese recipe everyone should learn?

Siu Yuk! It was always my childhood treat — the crunchy skin contrasted with the layers of fat and meat with a bit of hot mustard. Lately have I’ve been working on perfecting the method at work and it is actually not that difficult to make a decent one at home if you have an oven with a broiler. There are loads of great recipes online and I have recommended the one from The Woks Of Life multiple times.

Know any good Chinese restaurants?

Swatow (汕頭小食家) is my go-to spot back in Toronto. In Hong Kong my holy trinity of Cantonese restaurants to eat at are The Chairman (大班樓) for the steamed flower crab, Lung King Heen (龍景軒) for dim sum and Seventh Son (家全七福酒家) for their BBQ suckling pig. Shout out also to Tin Cheung Dai Pai Dong (天祥大排檔) in Sham Shui Po. I honestly believe you haven’t experienced Hong Kong unless you’ve gone and ordered a bucket of longneck Blue Girl beers and all the classic Hong Kong wok dishes.

Dream dinner party guests:

My friends back home in Canada. I haven’t been home in almost 2 years and probably won’t be going back until the pandemic is over so I eagerly await the day I can share a meal or even cook to show them what I’ve learnt over here.

What would you like to tell the world about Chinese food?

Chinese food is one of the oldest, most complex and diverse cuisines on earth. China is a country which has seas, rivers, jungles, grasslands, mountains, valleys, tundras and even polar deserts. There are over 50 regional, royal and religious cuisines spread through 34 provinces with over 30 different cooking techniques. There are even micro regional cuisines specific to neighborhood. Hong Kong specific, there are beef and potatoes in Sham Shui Po, Chiu Chau in Sai Wan, Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun, Fujian in North Point and more - Chef @thejowski quote. Especially with the Chinese diaspora it is impressive to see the influence on the rest of Asia and the world. My heart goes out to all the Chinese restaurants who are struggling during these times and with the racial violence that has occurred and will continue to occur (let’s be honest). Chinese food existed before us and will exist long after us even with the pandemic. Chinese food forever.