My Hong Kong: Bo Innovation chef Alvin Leung gets personal, takes readers on a tour of the city in new cookbook
- The Canadian chef’s cookbook that was seven years in the making includes recipes for several famous Alvin Leung dishes such as molecular xiao long bao and ‘Sex on the Beach’
Leung has reached into other parts of Asia (there’s now Bo Shanghai and a branch of Forbidden Duck in Singapore), hosts Korean food and travel shows and is a judge on MasterChef Canada.
In the introduction to My Hong Kong (2018), Leung writes that the book was seven years in the making. “Because of the success of Bo Innovation, I have been blessed with the opportunity to try to do many things […] The down side is, this book was often put on a back-burner and left to simmer far too long.
“A sad fact for me is the man who wrote the foreword is no longer with us. My friend and Hong Kong restaurant icon Kinsen Kam Kwan-sing unfortunately passed in 2012, at the age of only 66. The eldest son of the founder of Yung Kee Restaurant, famous for their roast goose, Kinsen while he was around made it a truly world-class establishment that was a must-visit for anyone visiting Hong Kong […] Similarly, I want to mention the late chef Michel del Burgo, who was a great inspiration to me and was one of my earliest supporters. He too will not be able to see this book. The three-Michelin-star chef died early in 2017 [aged 55].
“There is one positive aspect to the book’s long delay. Over time, its content, pictures and dishes have changed as much as I have. This is a good thing because I believe I have become a better cook […]