Chef Ken Yau​​ 邱璟琛: Elevating the Ordinary 舌尖上的人情味

English: Melissa Haggerty | Chinese: 文禮

AS FEATURED IN EDITION NO. 7 OF FETE CHINOISE MAGAZINE: PERSPECTIVE覺•渡

Venue: Graydon Hall Art Direction: Melissa Haggerty Photographer: Christie Vuong Videographers: Clifton Li & Brian So @ Curio

A fter returning to Canada from years of working at groundbreaking restaurants like the Michelin 3 Starred The Fat Duck in England and Liberty Private Works in Hong Kong, Chef Ken Yau launched k.Dinners, a pop-up supper club concept in Toronto. These were multi-course, experiential tasting dinners for just 16 guests in a different location every week. Those lively evenings of great food and convivial conversations around a communal table came to an abrupt stop when the pandemic hit. Suddenly, Ken was left scrambling to think of another source of revenue. 

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He kept coming back to comfort food. And really, what is more comforting than dumplings and fried rice?  With the hilarious name of k.Dumps, he suddenly found himself in the dumpling business. Success came quickly via word of mouth and patrons have been devouring his inventive take on the classics at an astonishing rate. Since March 2020, he has made more than 200,000 dumplings, countless wontons and several tonnes of fried rice, sold on his k.Market website and delivered around Toronto weekly. 

What elevates his product above the rest are his fillings. Traditional wrappers are stuffed full of his favourite dishes (some of which aren’t Chinese at all): Mapo Tofu, Teriyaki Beef, Dan Dan Chicken and the classic Pork & Chive. The wontons are flavour bombs of red Thai curry, Char Siu Pork and Butter Chicken. And the fried rice? A take on his dad’s recipe that the home cook can whip up in five minutes in a frying pan — from frozen. 

愛吃是人的天性！你特別喜歡那碟菜式，是因色、香、味、意、形？還是那溫暖的感覺和回憶？美食可以在家裡的廚房、在華麗的餐廳、在街頭的小檔、在街角的便利店。但或許我們會發現，那菜式之所以好吃，很多時候並不只在於食材本身，而是氣氛、環境、時刻與人，特別是來自於做菜人的心。

Blossoming Tofu
《腐蓉菊美》

Materials: Silken tofu, Chrysanthemum Snow Fungus broth, Goji Berries + Jinhua Ham Oil 

材料：豆腐、菊花、紅杞、雪耳、金華火腿油

‘Summer’ Har Gow 《生機凍蝦餃》

Materials: Thinly Sliced Daikon, Fresh Prawns, Bamboo, Umeboshi (Japanese Salted Plum), Perilla Leaf, And The Yau Family’s Xo Sauce

材料：白蘿蔔片、生蝦、竹筍、梅子、紫蘇葉、邱家XO醬

Peking Duck Dumplings
《北京烤鴨餃子》

Deep Fried Rice Cracker: Powdered Scallions, Dehydrated Hoisin 

Dumpling: Duck Breast + Skin, Cucumber, Scallion, Five-spice Powder And Yau’s Everything Sauce

材料：米紙、封乾海鮮醬、麵粉、五香粉、青瓜、蔥、鮮鴨胸肉連皮、燒鴨皮、梅子、邱家醬

There are no boring ingredients,
just unimaginative cooks

Fête Chinoise asked Chef Yau to put his spin on some mainstream, classic Chinese foods. His knife skills turned bland, boring tofu into a blossoming flower that was almost too pretty to eat. His Har Gow combined ingredients from Korean, Japanese and Chinese cuisines and the raw shrimp sat inside a wrapper made from thinly-sliced daikon radish instead of the usual flour and water. Naturally, the constant crowd favourite, Peking Duck, went inside a dumpling. In Ken Yau’s deft hands, we watched the foods we eat every day transform from ordinary to extraordinary. 

沒有不起眼的食材，只要沒心思的廚師文化就是交集著經典與創意、記載著溫暖的回憶。Fête Chinoise 團隊特別邀請了Ken來一次交流創作。我們起了三個題目，請他替家裏廚房的小角色、家傳戶曉的點心、以及人見人愛的經典菜餚，作一遍華麗更新。花花心思，廚房的小角色都可以是上菜，家傳戶曉可以華麗登場，經典也可以是新時尚。這數千年來，人情味就是溫暖舌尖的靈感來源！

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