Blades of Glory: Wallace Wong 黃百淳: 先苦，後甜，再淡然

English 英 : Beverly Cheng | Chinese 中: 文禮 Christina Li

VENUE: Ikonica Studio · ART DIRECTION: Deborah Lau-Yu · PHOTOGRAPHER: Jackson Huang, Ikonica · Photography ASSISTANT: Jonah Wiley, Ikonica · VIDEOGRAPHER: Karl Man, Eyespie Productions · MAKEUP & HAIR DESIGN: Maggie Ng, Pro Beauty Artists · ATTIRE & Footwear: Capsule Markham · Coordination: Rhonda Lam

“ My grandma always said that if you wanted to get revenge on your worst enemy, invite them or their loved ones to work in a restaurant,” remembers Chef Wallace Wong. Despite witnessing how gruelling the restaurant business can be — and happily for the world — our favourite ‘Six Pack Chef’ didn’t heed his Po Po’s advice.

His passion for cooking stemmed from childhood, as both his grandparents and parents were in the restaurant industry. His mother and father came to Canada after being sponsored by a chop suey restaurant in Streetsville, Mississauga, and because of this, the Wong elders tried hard to dissuade Wallace from joining their ranks. He went off to Sir Wilfred Laurier University to pursue a Bachelor Degree in Business but then decided to add a second, concurrent culinary degree. He ended up graduating from both programs at the same time but his family was surprised when the culinary side won out. Looking back, he’s happy he took on both as what he learned in the business program has gone on to inform many of his entrepreneurial decisions.

有人說：「先苦後甜」總比「先甜後苦」為佳，因為經歷困難、克服挑戰後，往往令人學會珍惜、感到滿足，更懂得細味人生。說此番話的人就是三十出頭的黃百淳(Wallace)，這年青廚師曾在丹麥哥本哈根NOMA、美國芝加哥Alinea、加拿大多倫多Langdon Hall及香格里拉大酒店內的Momofuku Shoto等世界頂尖米芝蓮星級餐廳工作。擁有標準健碩身形，令他有「六肌廚師(Six Pack Chef)」的稱號；高中時，癌症令Wallace曾經貼近死亡，使他悟出一套與同年齡湛然不同的價值觀，五個不一樣的人生道理。

道理一: 無畏改變

覺得Wallace面熟？他可算是飲食頻道烹飪大賽的常客，戰績彪炳，曾獲得Fridge Wars及Chopped Canada冠軍、Top Chef Canada決賽資格等，他分享：「我想證明出色的廚師不一定在餐廳內，能烹調出美味食物的就是好廚師！」原來，Wallace參加這些比賽都是在離開了餐廳工作之後。與世界頂尖的廚師共事，畢竟是每位初出茅廬廚師的夢想，但他偏偏選擇放手這些罕有機會，全因想重掌生活 —— 餐廳是不分晝夜、沒有週末的工作，工種危險、艱辛、考驗意志力，他婆婆曾經因心痛他持續每天工作十六多小時而飲泣。在餐廳廚房埋頭苦幹近十年，他希望有更多時間與家人相聚，體驗人生。

While the Wong family may not have been thrilled by his decision to become a chef, Wallace Wong likens his chosen career to being a superhero: the work is physically gruelling but can also be extremely gratifying. “Chefs come home long after dark, eat one meal a day and contend with extreme temperatures in the kitchen: often sweltering, sometimes freezing,” he explains. As for the more rewarding part of the job, he continues, “As a chef you can make people laugh or make them cry. You help evoke emotions from the past or bring back memories of a place they have been to. Chefs can also hurt someone, such as not carefully asking about food allergies or not properly deboning a fish. They also bring comfort with congees, soups and herbal teas to soothe and heal.”

Wong knows all too well about the powers and setbacks of a chef’s life. After school, while most of his classmates ventured into the corporate world, Wong took a different approach and targeted only the best restaurants in Toronto. His initial experience at the renowned Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa in Cambridge, Ontario, would lead him to bigger, brighter places including Michelin-starred Alinea in Chicago and five-time Best Restaurant in the World winner Noma in Copenhagen. Wong would also meet celebrity chef David Chang and help him open Momofuku in Toronto.

道理二: 追求進步

舞台改變了，Wallace不斷提升自己的心態依然不變。當年癌症教曉他：「如果不想讓身邊人為自己感到難過，要變得更好的自己。」與米芝蓮廚師工作，也令Wallace學會謙卑，他憶述：「Momofuku主理人、名廚David Chang教會他追求完美，每道菜、每件事永遠有變得更好的空間。NOMA總廚René Redzepi經常提醒團隊，人類只比猴子聰明2%，所以我們必須努力改進，成功關鍵永遠在那2%。」離開餐廳工作後，Wallace擔任過餐飲顧問、私人廚師、教學，現在正努力打造自己「六肌廚師」品牌。

It was while working among such star power (and their environs) that Wong finally found his niche. A naturally competitive person, he would start every job wanting to cook, watch and absorb everything he could. Despite the exhilaration he felt and his eagerness to learn it all, he eventually realized that, while many of the chefs he was working with had achieved great fame and fortune, they were still unhappy. He also was painfully aware that he was spending very little time with his own family; the very people who tried to steer him away from restaurant life in the first place. Eventually, he left Momofuku with no concrete plan for the future; all he knew was that whatever it was, he would do it his own way. 

Some might consider walking away from a career that one had invested a decade into might be a big step into the unknown, but Wong did it with little fear. Being brave in the face of uncertainty was something he’d already confronted while battling cancer as a teenager. In his last year of high school, a bump appeared on his eye in August; by the time he was able to have it operated on in December, it had blown up. His face deformed, the growth spewed puss and made him the target of much bullying. Turning out to be cancerous, Wong spent six months of his graduating year undergoing chemo and radiation. It was an extremely low point in his young life. “I felt like, at that point, I hadn’t done anything with my life yet! I didn’t make the basketball team, there were video games I hadn’t played yet, I didn’t have a girlfriend, I couldn’t die yet,” he recalls. He powered through, using his studies as a way to fake a sense of normalcy and to ensure he graduated at the same time as his friends.

Now, looking back, Wong believes that cancer was the best thing that happened to him because it gave him the jolt he needed to pursue every opportunity life presents with zeal and without regret. You already know about the two simultaneous university degrees, but this same drive and courage has taken him even further: first he transformed his body from clinically obese to one that earned his moniker ‘Six Pack Chef.’ He then worked up the courage to compete on the television shows Top Chef Canada and Chopped Canada. Those experiences, in turn, led to him to start dabbling around on Tik Tok.

道理三: 持之以恆

健身和美食看似風馬牛不相及，而且傳統觀念是愛吃的人大多是肥胖的。Wallace就希望藉住自己的知識扭轉這種思想。當年，癌症康復過後，Wallace被診斷為臨床肥胖，令他決意作出改變，堅持走入健身室，及後更成為了國際健身選手，代表加拿大參加世界負盛名的Arnold Amateur和North Americans健美大賽。以過來人的親身經歷，分享健康又好吃的菜餚是Wallace品牌的重要信息之一，故名「六肌廚師」。

打造品牌不是易事，尤其當財務不充裕的時候，Wallace坦言：「現今世代，運用互聯網宣傳是最相宜的策略。但奈何我一竅不通，拍攝、打燈、取材、畫面構思，所有東西全是網上自學。」三年多時間，拍下多千條短片，COVID時期，他更每天在TikTok及Instagram分享十五遍，不斷的堅持，目前在TikTok的切菜視頻吸引了超過130萬粉絲，他的TikTok帳戶更擁有超過65.9萬粉絲，每天有超過2,000名粉絲加入。他分享：「瘋傳的只是一條短片，一個視頻

需要彈出只要在對的時間，有一個合適的人觀看並分享，就成了！但你可知道那條切青瓜短片是我第十五個發佈的創作？假若我從未開始，又或沒有之前十四個視頻，瘋傳根本永遠不會發生！一間屋得以建成是因為每一磚每一瓦。」成功在於堅持，必須埋頭苦幹！

Back in 2016, he tentatively posted some videos of himself showing off his knife cutting skills by chopping everything from the tiniest chocolate chip to slicing a cucumber so magnificently that it attracted 117 million views and picked up media attention. Today (and with 1.5 million followers), he reflects on his success but also the unexpected outlet Tik Tok has been to share his family’s legacy. “I feel proud to be able to share about my family now. Before social media, it never felt cool to talk about my upbringing.” Like many children of immigrant families, he had grown up embarrassed by the Chinese food he’d bring to school for lunch; never quite fitting in. With his Tik Tok channels, he not only gets to demonstrate the skills he’s learned along the way, he is able to celebrate his Chinese heritage with recipes passed down through generations.

In 2020, he flexed his business mind to conceive of Spatula, a food company that collaborates with Toronto chefs to create restaurant-quality food that can be prepared from frozen at home in just 10 minutes. Then COVID-19 happened and, tragically, Wong lost three of his grandparents — the ones who had initially sparked his passion for cooking. It was a difficult time, but true to form, he forged forward. Today, the Spatula frozen meal packets are available online and in select grocery stores; he hopes they will become a game changer for people who want excellent meals in the comfort of their own home, quickly. 

As he reflects on the new business while remembering the family who unfailingly championed him throughout his life, he summarizes where he’s at today beautifully: “As human beings, we have this responsibility that as long as we’re alive, we should positively impact someone each day,” says Wong. “I think it’s scary to lead a life where no one remembers you; it would be a shame to leave this world and never leave a mark. The goal is to have people I’ve never met say 'thank you’. I think my parents and grandparents would be proud of that, and say ‘oh, he’s not just a naughty boy.’”

道理四: 毋忘初心

這位天才廚師原來從沒想過當廚師。 Wallace一直以為自己大學畢業後，會是一個會計師、策劃師之類，從未考慮廚師為終身職業。但或許小時候經常在家中廚房留連，又可能懷念跟爺爺嫲嫲一起烹調的快樂時刻，兜兜轉轉還是回到食物那處。他分享：「我最快樂的回憶，總是圍繞着食物和家人。無論是周末包餃子、烤栗子、或者在火鍋或燒烤時全家人聚在一起。 對我來說，食物是我的語言，家人就是靈感的來源。 」他就是希望用食物傳遞溫暖和快樂。

道理五: 將心比心

有些人在生活中總是有可以讓自己舒服的能力，也有讓別人舒服的能力，他們知道應該怎麼說話，怎麼做事才不會讓人討厭，才不會傷到別人。Wallace是一個懂得為他人著想的人，他今年成立的新攪作Spatula，就是一個為他人著想、反傳統的速食系列 —— 達餐廳品質的菜餚，全由廚師創作，每份急凍包包只要十分鐘即可享用。Wallace說：「就是希望每個人都可以享受烹調的樂趣。」此外，更設立分佣制度，每售出一道菜，每一位參與創作的廚師，也可得到一份被動收入。今次是Wallace首次創業，將心比心，特別關顧員工感受，每一天他也努力辦好Spatula，務求每一位員工及其家人也得到溫飽。 

生活有趣的是充滿未知數、一帆風順不是必然，成長需要逆境。只有在艱難困阻中不屈不撓，才能在大風大浪中翩翩起舞。我們不應該因為一點的失敗而灰心，要繼續向前走，擺在我們面前的是需要自己去爭取的機會。正如Wallace所言：相信自己，你一定可以！

SPonsored by FERRIS WHEEL PRESS

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