How an old Chinese cookbook collection changed one Hong Kong chef’s life, empowering her to cook modern Cantonese food

ArChan Chan, head chef at Hong Kong contemporary Cantonese restaurant Ho Lee Fook, was put onto the 1956 cookbooks 30 Years in the Kitchen by her grandfather

Studying the recipes has given her ‘background knowledge’ and inspired her to create the modern twists on Chinese classics she’s known for

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ArChan Chan Kit-ying, the head chef at Hong Kong contemporary Cantonese restaurant Ho Lee Fook, opens up about how reading a collection of Chinese cookbooks from the 1950s influenced her cooking. Photo: ArChan Chan Kit-ying

Published: 5:15pm, 25 Aug 2023

30 Years in the Kitchen (1956), by Chan Wing, is a collection of vintage cookbooks featuring traditional Cantonese recipes written by a chef with 30 years of professional experience.

ArChan Chan Kit-ying, head chef at Cantonese restaurant Ho Lee Fook in Hong Kong’s SoHo neighbourhood, who took up the job in 2021 after 13 years cooking in Australia and Singapore, tells Richard Lord how it changed her life.

I read it back when I was in Australia. I grew up in Hong Kong and only moved to Australia in 2008, after I finished university, to continue studying to be a chef.

In 2016, I got my first head chef role, at Andrew McConnell’s Ricky & Pinky, a modern Chinese restaurant (in Melbourne). I’d done my internship at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong and then moved to Australia, so I didn’t really have Chinese kitchen cooking experience.

“30 Years in the Kitchen” (1956), a collection of cookbooks by Chan Wing. Photo: ArChan Chan Kit-ying

To me, reading is important. I was learning to cook Chinese cuisine, and I was studying books as much as I could.

I asked my family, “OK, what is traditional Cantonese food? I can find books about modern food and fusion, but I want to know more about before I was born.” My grandfather talked about who was writing when he was young, and he mentioned this set of books to me.