DEAILLE TAM
in the kitchen soon led to making snacks for study group and baking birthday cakes for classmates. “I found a lot of happiness when I got to share foods that I made from scratch,” Tam says. “It was the ‘from scratch part’ that was the most rewarding and satisfying – building something from just basic ingredients and making it into something pretty and edible.” Soon, she was taking pastry classes and realized that her passion for cooking outstripped her interest in engineering. At first, this newfound path was met with resistance by her family, who worried about how demanding the industry could be, especially for a woman. Determined, Tam enrolled in a year of culinary school. “I guess I was a bit rebellious,” she says. Older than most other students
at 26, she wanted to learn as much as possible and work her way up as quickly as possible. Tam condensed the one-year program into eight months. This period confirmed that her heart was set on a career in the kitchen. With a drive and tenacity that persists, she finished the two-year program in 18 months. Culinary school wasn’t only where
Tam found her life’s purpose, it’s also where she found her partner in life and work. “She sat at the front, I sat at the back,” says her fiancé and restaurant co- owner Simon Wong, who met her in class their first year at George Brown. Like Tam, Wong was born in Hong Kong but moved to Canada at age four and made his way to the culinary arts via medicine. “We were two of the few students in class who were a little bit older and had a different background before pursuing culinary school. I think we found similarities in each other,” Tam says. “We started this journey together, right from the beginning,” she continues. “We’ve always had each other to listen to and conquer a lot of the struggles that we had in the beginning.”
Taking the leap In 2014, Tam and Wong moved to Hong Kong. “The trigger was Alvin,” she says,
referring to celebrity chef Alvin Leung of two-Michelin-star restaurant Bo Innovation. Also an engineer by training, he had been the guest chef at a charity event in Toronto where her school sent her to assist.
The experience was eye-opening. “I never knew you could manipulate food in this way instead of just heating it in the pan or cooking it in oven or steaming it. There’s so much more to it,” she says, describing how Leung, whose signature dish is a molecular soup dumpling, fused Asian elements with Western techniques. It was her first encounter with Michelin- level cooking and watching Leung work and speak about food was revelatory. “He sparked that interest in us. We thought we need to leave Canada if we really want to continue to move up the ladder. “We never thought that we would become Michelin chefs at that point but we knew we wanted to work alongside people who have that level of excellence,” says Tam. “We wanted to be around people of that higher caliber of skill sets and knowledge.” Based in Canada,
“We’ve always had each other to listen to and conquer a lot of the struggles that we had in the beginning”
a country with no Michelin’s presence, they needed to look abroad. With their sights set on Alvin Leung
and Bo Innovation, Tam and Wong headed to Hong Kong. “That was the turning point for us,” Tam says. The next two years were high pressure but transformational as Tam and Wong adjusted to the Michelin kitchen environment and the buzzing Asian city’s fast-paced lifestyle. In Leung, they found more than a “yes, chef”
relationship. “It’s easier to replicate than it is to create,” says Wong. “Alvin taught us indirectly how to create things – what his philosophy of food was, which allowed us to develop our own style.” The next watershed moment came
in 2016 when Leung was opening a new restaurant in Shanghai. “We saw an opportunity to step out on our own and start actualizing our ideas onto the plate,” says Tam. Sous chefs at the time, the pair leapt at the chance and convinced Leung to let them lead Bo Shanghai. The newly minted executive chefs landed in Shanghai with only two mandates: make food unique to China and attain a Michelin star. Still green in the world of high-level fine dining, it was a period of little rest and lots of caffeine as they delved into restaurant’s focus on the eight major culinary traditions in China crossed with Western cuisines and techniques. “We didn’t really have enough experience to say what is Michelin-level food. We did a lot of experimenting and testing, researching themes of food that were a match for the restaurant,” says Tam. “We didn’t know how much we had to do to achieve that level. All we knew was as much as we can, as far as we can, just push ourselves to the maximum.” When September 2017 rolled around,
the city’s second Michelin Guide was released. They received one star. “We knew all our sweat and tears had a reward,” says Tam. “It also gave us a bit of confidence that we were able to do it.” This also made Tam the first Michelin- starred female chef in mainland China. Bo Shanghai was a success, but in
early 2019, it shuttered suddenly due to investor and management issues with the bistro that they shared the space with. They had to ask themselves: what next?
Eating with locals Opening their own place wasn’t always a given – or even the dream. “Up until the end of 2019 we still told ourselves, we are not going to open our own restaurant,” says Tam. After Bo Shanghai’s abrupt
43
WORLDWIDE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
