IF YOU’RE A FOODIE IN HONG KONG,

Andy Dark will be familiar to you, but have you ever wondered about the origins of his unusual moniker? Dark’s actual surname is Lai, which he never goes by. “There were too many Andy Lais in my life. When people tried to Google me or add me on Linkedin, they always connected with the wrong person,” he says. “The character ‘lai’, when it’s not a surname, can mean ‘darkness’. There’s Lai Ming (Leon Lai), the Cantopop singer, whose name means ‘from dusk till dawn’. I thought, that’s a pretty cool idea. I renamed myself Dark, so that I wouldn’t just be another Andy Lai.” Since the chef adopted his stage name, friends have no problem finding him anymore, and nor do his staff at Quarry Bay restaurant Grotto, who address their boss as the “dark lord”. Had he not been as good at food, perhaps a career fronting a goth band would have been appropriate for Mr Dark.