CookSmart (12th Issue) Page36

Celebrity Pick

Tony CHENG

From Deals to Meals

Tony CHENG, a banker-turned chef, tried his hand at cooking for the first time when he was studying in the UK. He became so fascinated with cooking that he decided to enrol in a culinary programme. His dream of becoming a professional chef drove him to quit his career in banking in 2009. Tony after that teamed up with a locally-based Austrian chef to set up an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong, which got a one-star rating in Michelin Guide Hong Kong Macau 2010 in less than a year.

“I made my first ever meal when I was 14. It was a cold winter night. I bought all the stuff and cooked a roast chicken in my dorm’s pantry. I was so glad that my friends enjoyed my cooking. Thereafter, cooking had become my favourite pastime on weekends. I later attended a nine-month course at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London.”

Learning the Basics

“Most of the course mates were experienced chefs, who thought that I was not serious about cooking. They poked fun at me by say, moving a hot-frying pan towards me or taking away my sauce, but I insisted to finish the course. I believe that the school, with its comprehensive training, has improved my culinary skills and boosted my confidence to become a professional chef.”

“Thanks to my mentor and business partner, I was able to have an opportunity to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome. It is a small place with just perhaps 40 seats but there were only 3 persons running the whole restaurant. We did everything from chopping to cooking and from washing dishes to cleaning the floor. I learnt so much about how to run a successful restaurant.”