five minutes with
Mid-levels May Chow magazine
Publisher
Tom Hilditch tom@fastmedia.com.hk
Editorial
Editor-in-Chief Shreena Patel shreena@fastmedia.com.hk Editor Callum Wiggins callum@fastmedia.com.hk Contributing Editor Annie Wong annie@fastmedia.com.hk Carolynne Dear carolynne@fastmedia.com.hk Senior Staff Writer Eric Ho eric@fastmedia.com.hk
Design
Design Manager Cindy Suen cindy@fastmedia.com.hk Graphic Designer Anna Schulteisz anna@fastmedia.com.hk
Thanks to
Adam White Adele Brunner Amanda Sheppard Andrea Lo Douglas Young Kate Davies Natalie Lee Robyn Or Rory Mackay
Published by
Fast Media Floor LG1, 222 Queens Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Voted Asia’s Best Female Chef 2017, Robyn Or talks to the mastermind behind Little Bao. I was born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada. I started in the kitchen when I was at kindergarten, helping my mother cut vegetables and wash dishes. My family is big. Each day my mother used to cook for more than 20 family members. She was good at cooking Shanghainese cuisine with Canadian ingredients. I loved being in the kitchen watching my mum mix and match ingredients as she was cooking. I went to boarding school in Connecticut, USA. My advisor discouraged me from studying a culinary course. Instead, I pursued a hotel management degree at Boston University. The seven years I spent in the US liberated the way I think, live and how I see myself. In 2008, I came back to Hong Kong and started my culinary journey. I have worked for Yardbird, TBLS and Bo Innovation. I don’t think there are differences between men and women in the kitchen. I just believe there are good human attributes and there are bad ones.
I always wanted to get into the hot kitchen but I always got sent to the pastry or cold section. I was too young and didn’t know how to demand for what I wanted. Sometimes my peers wanted to make my life easier and gave me the easiest task because I was a girl. I stripped out most of my “feminine” side to be one of the boys, but I think it also had to do with age. When you’re young, you want to fit in by being like everyone else. When I was 28 I had a crisis of direction. Matt Abergel, the co-owner of Yardbird, Ronin and Sunday’s Grocery encouraged me to take a new path. I started Little Bao pop up store at Island East Market in 2012. People seemed to love our burgerlike baos. The next year we found a permanent location for Little Bao in SoHo, Central.
People are the key to running a business. My overseas experience influenced my cooking and style of management. I tend not to be constrained by tradition, I love to cook with seasonal ingredients regardless of their origins. I am very honoured to be the winner of the 2017 Asia’s Best Female Chef award. It is not just for me but for all the female chefs who want to pursue their dreams. Nothing should stop you from being what you dream to be. The award reminded me of when my mother would smile at me while I was eating her cooking. She said I enjoyed the food so happily, it embodied the pure enjoyment of food and cooking. Recently I have been busy with a new dining bar called Happy Paradise. We are looking at introducing more inspiration from regional areas of Chiuchow. We’re going to develop our own soy stock with 18 ingredients. I collect a lot of soy salt from Kowloon Soy Company in Central to use at the new dining bar. The next challenge I am setting for myself is to be a well-rounded restaurateur that offers great opportunities for local chefs as well as to continue my exploration of Chinese food heritage. M
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