Fast-food line cook to fine dining executive chef: Whisk’s William Lau talks about his culinary journey
- Born to poor farmers who emigrated to Hong Kong from China, Lau started working part-time at a fast-food restaurant when he was 16
- After working in Australia, he returned home and took jobs at fine-dining outlets Serge et le Phoc, Pierre and Amber, before his present job at Whisk
The first things that come to mind for many Hongkongers when they recall the city’s economic boom in the 1990s will be images of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop” dominating the local music charts and the films of Wong Kar-wai earning international acclaim.
Few remember that, not far away, there were still families struggling and children going hungry during such a prosperous time.
When chef William Lau’s family arrived in Hong Kong from Chaozhou in China’s Guangdong province in 1998, the five of them lived in a 170 sq ft (16 square metre) flat in a public housing estate in Sha Tin in the New Territories.
“My mum and dad were farmers in Chaozhou. He would tell me that life was unpredictable working on the farm, and even after all the hard work we would often go hungry,” Lau says.
“Despite the difficulties we had in Hong Kong, the money he could make as a labourer was enough to feed our family and send money to my grandparents in mainland China,” he adds.