Q&A: Eric Chong

"When I was six years old - in the kitchen making dumplings. As I got older I did stir-fry, lots of mixing, but no chopping until later. I helped out in any way I could. The whole family is food-oriented, especially when we have get-togethers, like Christmas parties. People always come expecting good food and lots of it."

"My grandfather. He is self-taught. He went to Canada with very little money more than 40 years ago, leaving behind my mum and grandma in Taishan, Guangdong. He found a job as a dishwasher in Chinatown and did that for several years. One day the head chef was sick so the owner wanted to close the shop but my grandpa was like, 'No, I can fill in for the head chef.' He ended up replacing that chef, because he did a better job. Eventually he opened his own shop, called Hong Kong Bakery, serving Chinese dishes on the side, fried noodles and dim sum. People started to come purely for the dim sum so he started doing only Chinese dishes but didn't bother to change the name. Later he sold his place and then worked as head chef at another restaurant. He retired when I was young."

"They thought it was stupid of me to quit my job [as a chemical engineer]. They didn't see a future for me as a chef. They thought being an engineer is safe. We watched the United States version of the show but I don't think they realised how big it would be. Now they see it has opened a lot of doors. I am working with one of the best chefs in the world. I got to skip a lot of steps - I didn't go to culinary school."

"It was two weeks straight of cooking, mystery boxes and practising with Asian and Canadian ingredients to see what I could cook in an hour. I went through about C$2,000 [HK$15,000] on ingredients, practising, practising, practising. I wanted to put my all into it - I didn't want to go into it half-assed."

"In the top 50 I was scared, intimidated by everyone. Most people were talking a big game, but when they cooked they weren't that great. So people started calling me the silent ninja - I was super quiet, kept to myself and tried to be smart about it. But in the first challenge I won the mystery box and everyone was like, 'Where did this kid come from?' But then as it got down to fewer and fewer competitors, I thought, 'I can't leave - I've gone too far to leave with nothing.' When we got to the top eight, I believed I could win it."

"He didn't even know what the show was about until he came on the family episode. He doesn't speak much English so he didn't understand why he had to go. He thought I was at a cooking camp. But when he saw the cameras, me in a white jacket, and watched me competing, he realised it was a big deal. After I won he was super proud, telling all his friends."