Born in Dongguan and raised in Hong Kong, Jacky Chan became an apprentice chef in his teens and an executive chef at 29. Today he is chef at Tsui Hang Village.
I was born in Dongguan, China, and moved to Hong Kong with my parents when I was 4 years old. During my childhood my father worked very hard and my mom was sick, so there was no one to cook for me.
From the age of eight, I ate out by myself almost every day, and that gave me the chance to try many different kinds of food, especially Cantonese cuisine, which is my all-time favorite. I first went into the kitchen and cooked for myself when I was 15. I made a very simple dish, but the fact that I could create something tasty with my own hands astonished me.
A year later, I decided to become an apprentice chef, since that’s the necessary step to build a career in the culinary world, especially in Chinese society. For nine months I worked in the kitchen and helped the chefs with prep work, but I wasn’t allowed to do any actual cooking. Then one day an opportunity came that gave me a chance to show I could cook.
A customer ordered Yang Chow fried rice while all the chefs were away on a break. As I was the only staff member in the kitchen, the manager simply told me to get the order done. I was very nervous yet excited, and I tried to prepare the dish according to what I’d learned. Just before the dish was served to the customer, our head chef came back. He tasted it and said to me, “Kid, well done.”
It was the first time I had cooked for someone else, and the positive feedback gave me the confidence to keep pursuing my dream of cooking. At 26, I was the chef in charge of an established seafood restaurant, and at 29 I became the executive chef.
Cooking is my job as well as my hobby. I love creating new recipes and improvising with whatever I have, whether the ingredients are Asian or Western. My favorite ingredients are beef and seafood.
