Back in December, Alvin Leung earned three Michelin stars for Bo Innovation. his fine dining restaurant in Hong Kong, becoming one of only two self-trained chefs in the world to do so (the other is Heston Blumenthal). An engineer until the age of 40, Leung’s pioneering takes on Chinese cuisine earned him more Michelin stars in London, a judge spot on the popular TV series Masterchef Canada and notoriety for his rebellious ways – one of his most famous dishes is called ‘Condom on the Beach.’ Now, the straight-shooting, self-titled ‘Demon Chef’ is taking on Shanghai. But instead of fine dining, Leung has partnered with new restaurant Remedy 365, overhauling the café-like menu and incorporating elements from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and hoping to expand to 20 restaurants in five years. Here’s what Leung has to say.
Why have you chosen Remedy for your Shanghai debut...
I was asked by Eu Yan Sang [one of the oldest TCM companies in the world, backing this venture] to help build up a menu based on health food. Wait... I wouldn’t say health food. That sometimes touches the wrong button for people. I’m attempting a crossover between Chinese medicine and cuisine. There are a lot of Chinese dishes in which medicinal purposes are already embedded – look at our soups - so the concept of mixing medicine with food is definitely not new. It’s something that you should incorporate into your lifestyle to maintain your health. So it’s a very exciting project.
Do you think the knowledge is going out of fashion?
I think nowadays, with modern education and the internet, more people are turning to alternatives when they discover certain Western medicines or supplements have side effects. It’s obviously not as popular as 100 years ago, when it was your only choice. But I do not think that it’s lost. A lot of people are taking supplement pills. And obviously Chinese medicine is quite a bitter pill to swallow...
Yeah, a lot of Chinese medicine doesn’t taste very good...
Well, I never heard of medicine tasting very good, unless it’s a morphine substitute or something like that [laughs].But some do. Obviously we’re doing a café where people come to eat. And the best medicines are the ones you don’t know you took.
My approach is to utilize any distinctive flavor in the herb that could be pleasant, and if the taste is not pleasant, find a way to make it so. Coffee, black, is not pleasant to a lot of people... except me and you of course... [Leung has had two coffees so far].
So they disguise that taste with milk and sugar. But the coffee and caffeine is still there. The same can be applied to TCM. If it contains something pleasant – in coffee you get the aroma, that bitterness - that attracts your taste buds then I try to showcase that.
Can you give me an example of some herbs you’re working with?
Ginseng, caterpillar worms, hawthorn and lot of others that are probably not well known. A lot of flavor problems come from the drying process. Take mountain yam. In its dry state, it tastes like chalk. But fresh, it’s very useful. I went to a herb factory in Dongguan and tasted of a lot of fresh herbs before they were processed. Some are fantastic.
You call your food at Bo Innovation “X-treme Chinese food” – do you see this new project as a natural progression or departure?
Taking Chinese medicine and turning it into a chain restaurant, isn’t extreme? Just because there’s no condom in the dish? Just cause I don’t make a cow pregnant?
Ha, fair point. Ever get tired of being asked about “X-treme Cuisine”?
I don’t – it creates a certain myth around me, which to a lot of people can be fascinating. You never get tired of the attention, unless it’s people chasing me for money I owe them... [chuckles] I think extreme can be interpreted in many ways.
My philosophy is to change people’s comfort zones. Every time people see Chinese medicine they go ewww. Taking that on, that is also extreme. You go down the street and walk backwards, that’s extreme. I’m not trying to go the opposite way, just another way.
That condom on the beach – ever regret inventing the dish?
You should never regret what you do in life, you can’t go backward in time, so it’s not very practical to regret something. The question you want to ask me is, would I do it again with something else? And the answer is 100 percent definitely, yes.
You’re not a classically trained chef, did this help or hurt?
There are positives and negatives about that. I started from a blank board, so I’m able to see things from another perspective, and that’s good because it makes you different – but can also be a hindrance. But nowadays with the internet you can learn techniques in split seconds. It’s probably harder for me to learn how to putt a golf ball than chop up a lobster.
Any valuable lessons along the way?
I learned that an egotistical chef and a financier who couldn’t cook or and can’t eat if his life depends on it are a bad mix. In order to do what I do, you have to have a lot of different skill levels – the least of which of cooking.
You have to manage a business and get the best out of your staff. You have to organize things and know the differences between profit and loss. To me, cooking is easy, you can pick it up in hours. It’s harder to pick up these other life skills.
Talking about ego, you were saying you like the reputation and recognition...
You don’t?
No, I love it... but I don’t have three Michelin stars and...
You’re making this like I should be guilty or something
No, let me finish! I was going to ask how you keep yours in check, because a lot of chefs can’t and they fail because of it.
My wife keeps it in check, she keeps criticizing me.
The ‘Demon Chef’ moniker - you came up with that yourself. Why?
Because I didn’t want to be named something else. If your mother names you Chicken Liver, then you’re stuck with it. They were calling me ‘The God Chef’ and ‘The Rock n’ Roll chef,’ and I didn’t want that. So I decided to step in and make myself the Demon Chef.
The Rock n’ Roll chef sounds cool. Why don’t you want that?
Because I’m not a musician. I don’t know why they call me the Rock n’ Roll chef. I guess because I have long hair and tattoos and break things and whatever. I’m just saying that Demon Chef best fits my personality and my philosophy.
If you were to ask me “Why are you the Rock n’ Roll chef?” I’d have nothing to say, know what I mean? So, knowing 10 years down the line that there may be a lot of journalists or fans asking me that question, I was smart enough to anticipate that and change my name...
So why the Demon Chef?
I’m a very mysterious person. People see ‘Condoms on the Beach’ and think, this guy must be a nasty person, he’s weird, he’s probably on dope. But I’m not weird. I’m very practical and have full control of my life and my body.
Is that persona something they told you to play up?
This is all me. I’m inspired by success and recognition which could be a very selfish inspiration. People say I want to do it for my family, my country. It’s a very nice thing to say. Read it in the paper a thousand times. Is that guy really the new Jesus incarnate? Put him on the cross and find out.
Condom on the Beach
Leung’s most recognition-achieving dish resembles a used condom discarded on a beach. “I made something with shiitake mushrooms that looked like sand and then, in my little deformed mind, I said, ‘I gotta do a complete U-turn here,’” he has explained. He dips a cigar former into a viscous pink liquid made of tapioca and yams to create a translucent sheath, into which he injects a white mixture of honey and Yunnan ham. He then lays the edible prophylactic on to his mushroom sand.
// Taste Alvin Leung’s latest creations at Remedy 365. See Listing Here
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