Profile | How a Hong Kong chef is championing fine Cantonese cuisine at Michelin-starred Singapore restaurant
- Cheung Siu-kong is chef de cuisine at the Summer Pavilion – Singapore’s only Cantonese restaurant on the 2023 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants long list
- His goal is to showcase the flavours of Cantonese food so that when people dine at his restaurant, they leave with a great impression of the cuisine
Meticulously plated on hand-painted Richard Ginori tableware, the poached rice topped with delicate morsels of tender lobster arrives at the table. A waiter then ceremoniously pours a vivid orange-hued broth into the dish, its delicate aroma awakening the senses and whetting the appetite.
Sometimes, if one is lucky, chef de cuisine Cheung Siu-kong of the one-Michelin-star Summer Pavilion, located at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, will personally do the honours. At the same time, he takes the opportunity to interact with diners, inquiring about their experience and listening to their feedback.
“Lobster poached rice may be quite a common Cantonese dish, but how we present it here is different from other places,” says Hong Kong-born Cheung. “By pouring the soup tableside, diners get to enjoy an experiential element where the aroma of the dish is enhanced. This further elevates the dining experience.”
Cheung has been whipping up Cantonese delights for three decades, his love for the cuisine cultivated from the age of seven, when he would help his grandmother in the kitchen.
He scored a coup this year when Summer Pavilion placed No 86 on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, the first time a Cantonese restaurant in Singapore has made it onto the list since 2015.