31/01/2014
I met David Lai in his restaurant. Chef and "Boss Man" (as it reads on his card) is the “protégé” of Alain Ducasse. This local chef has a strong personality and nothing seems to stop him. I interviewed him in his restaurant “On lot 10” on Gough Street. One of the best places in Hong Kong.
Can you explain me what you are doing in Hong-Kong?
I am from Hong Kong and I am a chef so for me it was the logical conclusion to have my own place. I have 4 other places such as Japanese restaurant and a bakery.
What are its strengths compared to others?
It has been almost 5 years so we have an established reputation. Besides it is a small restaurant and we give more personal services to customers.
How do you import the food?
HK is one of the best places to import the food, the logistic is very convenient. HK is also really convenient because for the seafood I cook, I use local seafood.
What is the turnover of the company?
Between 8 to 10 million HK dollars.
What is the future of the industry according to you?
It will be much more international, other the past ten years, the level of quality (food/service) is much higher. You can see some Robuchon or Ducasse restaurant all over Hong Kong. Before HK was all about hotels, there was no famous chef, but now we have much more professional and up to date restaurants. For example, last month, the restaurant *****, 2 “étoiles stars” in Paris opened in HK. Before, it took at least 5 years for a famous western restaurant to come to HK and open a place, now it is almost instantaneous.
In HK it is a competition, at the end of the day, a lot that cannot compete will close. For example on this street, 5 restaurants went out of business in the past few years. The rent is very expensive sot you can’t make mistakes.
Do you have any plans for the future?
I have many different ideas but I need to find the right partner, the right place. It takes a lot of time and I am not going to rush in order to avoid any mistakes. For example, here the prices are variable according to the fish of the day/month. One of my ideas would be a restaurant with fixed price.
Come to eat at my restaurant.
Sure!
I met David Lai in his restaurant. Chef and "Boss Man" (as it reads on his card) is the “protégé” of Alain Ducasse. This local chef has a strong personality and nothing seems to stop him. I interviewed him in his restaurant “On lot 10” on Gough Street. One of the best places in Hong Kong.
Can you explain me what you are doing in Hong-Kong?
I am from Hong Kong and I am a chef so for me it was the logical conclusion to have my own place. I have 4 other places such as Japanese restaurant and a bakery.
What are its strengths compared to others?
It has been almost 5 years so we have an established reputation. Besides it is a small restaurant and we give more personal services to customers.
How do you import the food?
HK is one of the best places to import the food, the logistic is very convenient. HK is also really convenient because for the seafood I cook, I use local seafood.
What is the turnover of the company?
Between 8 to 10 million HK dollars.
What is the future of the industry according to you?
It will be much more international, other the past ten years, the level of quality (food/service) is much higher. You can see some Robuchon or Ducasse restaurant all over Hong Kong. Before HK was all about hotels, there was no famous chef, but now we have much more professional and up to date restaurants. For example, last month, the restaurant *****, 2 “étoiles stars” in Paris opened in HK. Before, it took at least 5 years for a famous western restaurant to come to HK and open a place, now it is almost instantaneous.
In HK it is a competition, at the end of the day, a lot that cannot compete will close. For example on this street, 5 restaurants went out of business in the past few years. The rent is very expensive sot you can’t make mistakes.
Do you have any plans for the future?
I have many different ideas but I need to find the right partner, the right place. It takes a lot of time and I am not going to rush in order to avoid any mistakes. For example, here the prices are variable according to the fish of the day/month. One of my ideas would be a restaurant with fixed price.
Come to eat at my restaurant.
Sure!