Asia’s Best Female Chef 2021 winner DeAille Tam, of Shanghai’s Obscura, on the beauty of Chinese cuisine: ‘Sichuan and Fujian left me with the deepest impressions’
- Hong Kong-born Tam became the first female chef in China to earn a Michelin star, helming celebrity chef Alvin Leung’s Bo Shanghai in 2018
- Co-founded with her husband Simon Wong, Obscura’s menu is the result of several taste-finding trips and an insatiable hunger for the country’s distinct regional flavours
Hong Kong-born chef DeAille Tam only opened her first restaurant in November 2020 – Shanghai’s Obscura – and has been working in fine dining restaurants in Asia since just 2014. So it came as a complete surprise when she was named as Asia’s Best Female Chef 2021, voted by industry experts from across the region, at the annual Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants listings.
“I was completely shell-shocked when I first received the news as I had just finished a busy service and was coming down with a serious fever,” says Tam. “After hearing the announcement, I had to do a double take and ask the representatives to repeat themselves for fear that I was delusional.
“I am ultimately very grateful for receiving the accolade as it is a form of validation for putting in all of the hard work and making all of the sacrifices up until this point. This will only motivate me to continue improving every day.”
Tam opened Obscura with husband Simon Wong, who works as a chef in the kitchen alongside her.
“Simon is the other executive chef and co-founder of Obscura so it is something we have been used to since arriving in Asia back in 2014,” Tam says. “We have yet to cause one another serious bodily harm or psychological trauma so I suppose we get along like peas in a pod, fortunately!”
Tam was born and brought up in Hong Kong before moving to Canada with her family when she was 10. After graduating from high school she pursued a degree in engineering. It was while at university that Tam’s career path took an unexpected turn. In having to make her own meals, she realised her passion for cooking and boldly left university to start her gastronomic journey.
Opening your own restaurant is the equivalent of raising your own child. Do not underestimate the commitment that you must be willing to make to make it work – most restaurants do not have a fairy-tale ending
Her parents tried to open her eyes to the decision she had made. “They said, ‘Are you sure? This industry is not so glamorous, the hours are long, the work is hard and the sacrifice is immeasurable,’” recalls Tam.