Born in China in 1960, Caesar Lee started as a hotel kitchen helper at 13 or 14 and is now chef at Charlie Brown Café in Hong Kong, which serves American food.
My name is Caesar Lee, and I’m the chef at Charlie Brown Café. It might seem that Charlie Brown is some historical figure, but the story is much more interesting than that. Do you remember the cartoon dog Snoopy? His owner’s name is Charlie.
And no, we don’t serve pet food. We serve real American food instead, here in Hong Kong.
I was born in China in 1960. I was a simple Chinese boy who started working before he even had his head screwed on properly. I was around 13 or 14 and had just finished primary school.
Of course, I couldn’t choose a job by myself, and I couldn’t go to a recruitment agency either. Can you imagine a 13-year-old in a suit carrying a folder of documents? I’m exaggerating, of course, but it was my mother who chose my work.
A good friend of my brother’s was a chef in a hotel, and my mother suggested I work there. Why? It’s very simple: working in the kitchen would at least guarantee that I’d be fed. And that was already something.
Yes, that’s what we dreamed about in those days. It’s only now that we need “self-actualization”, “career development” and “a high salary”. Back then I was happy with a tasty soup from the chef. And of course, I found other advantages in my work on my own.
I started as a kitchen helper, doing anything and everything they could throw at me. It was really hard work, to be honest! Do I appreciate it now, and do I respect myself for getting through that little hell? I think you know the answer.
And more important than all those challenges, this was when I started to admire the chef’s work and the way different dishes were cooked. I was such a small person in the kitchen, and he was so tall. I always found it interesting to watch him out of the corner of my eye while I cleaned the stove.
I bought my first set of cookbooks in 1974, 3 months after I started work. I also started learning English and asking the chefs questions about the art of cooking, and my questions went beyond how to chop carrots to much broader things.
I became self-motivated and made up my mind that I would become a successful chef. I’ve kept it up for the past 40 years.
My favorite dish is Caesar salad. Funny coincidence, isn’t it? My name is Caesar and I like Caesar salad. The truth is, one of these things is a lie: my real name will remain a secret, but I’ll tell you how I became Caesar.
Before I started working in the kitchen, I had learned about Caesar salad and how it was prepared on a cart in front of the customers. All that tossing looked to me like someone throwing punches, so one day I joked: “He’s hitting Caesar.” It sounded especially funny in my language, everyone kept laughing at it, the joke stuck as our insider slang, and that’s how I became Caesar. It was the most interesting experience of my career.
By the way, I also like good steaks. And I dislike blue cheese: the smell is terrible! Yes, I know millions of people like it, but I’m not one of them; I prefer a burger.
When I have free time, I love working out. I’ve played many different sports: tennis, racquetball, soccer, canoeing, jogging and more. I swapped my racquet for an oar, then put it away and took up running!
I love sport, but at my age I play less active games more often. Still, I never miss a chance to train my brain: I play mahjong, and it’s a great thing!
I love to travel, and I still take regular vacations with my family. We have a great time together! Of course, on our trips I take pictures of the sights and eat local food, and I also try to learn about the cuisine of the country or region and how other chefs prepare their food. It’s a good way to keep learning: reading books isn’t enough, practice is important.
I have a special message for your readers. Everyone likes to cook now. Just look at your smartphone or google “culinary blog”, and you can get lost for at least 3 hours, completely forgetting about your iron, your plans for the evening and a hungry cat.
But following a recipe isn’t enough: it’s important to cook with your heart! Treat ingredients as living things in order to create perfect dishes. And nothing is perfect without love!
The dish in the photo is our mini burger platter. As you might have guessed, it’s our signature dish. It has beef and chicken burgers, and once you know which one you prefer, you can order it in maxi size, or standard size, to be precise.
