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China

Lau Kin-Wai: Decline of Chinese Cuisine Since the 1950s

By thomascrampton ⋅ August 13, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Lau Kin-Wai, a well-known Hong Kong chef and restaurateur, laments in this video that the pace of cooking in modern-day China has destroyed the country’s cuisine.

Kin, who shuns use of MSG and artificial flavoring, prefers cooking that takes time and uses natural ingredients.

Tonight I ate the Yellow Door, one of the “private kitchens” Kin founded in Hong Kong. These are tiny legal restaurants set up in apartment buildings. The at Yellow Door was a delicious set menu with no choice in order for the chef to make sufficient quantity/quality dishes. We must have eaten 15 different dishes for HK$288 (US$36).

At Kin’s Terrace, Kin has a 70-year old chef who cooks dishes like salty chicken that take up to an hour to prepare. The system of salting the chicken by hand, compares with a 15-minute method of soaking it in salty water that many younger chefs use.

Lau founded a number of “private kitchens” in Hong Kong, including Yellow Door Restaurant, Kin’s Kitchen and Kin’s Terrace.

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China

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Comments for “Lau Kin-Wai: Decline of Chinese Cuisine Since the 1950s”

  • I like cooking with natural ingredients.
    Maybe it will take a long time but it's healthy.And if you taste carefully,you may find cooking in such way will make food more delicious
  • I have lived 6 year in Asia (Singapore and Taiwan), and I can say that it is very difficult to find chinese cuisine without artificial flavoring. This is too bad, chinese cuisine can be so good when it is well done.
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...