I'ts family recipe time for chefs on leave
PETALING JAYA: For people in the food industry, the Chinese New Year is especially sweet, with many spending their holidays cooking family recipes.
They include restaurant owners like Dora Ong, Darren Chin and Christopher Yee who would recreate childhood favourites in the family kitchen, to share with their family.
Ong, co-owner of the Awesome Canteen chain of cafés said, her family always served their family’s rendition of loh bak on the table.
That was the only dish her mother would allow her to cook during CNY.
“The kitchen is her area. To intrude is like taking over her job.
“But she wanted to make sure the family recipe was passed onto the next generation. Because of that mum wants me to make it. She usually does everything herself,” said Ong.
She added that the dish takes at least half a day to make and feels her mother is discretely letting her take over preparation duties.
“I think she also knows she can’t prepare this dish anymore because of the amount of work involved,” said Ong.
Chin, chef-owner of fine-dining restaurant DC Restaurant in TTDI, said the must-have dish for his family was its own rendition of chap choy.
He said that he had been cooking it with his father, since he was a child and would only change the vegetable used in the dish.
“The recipe was passed down to my father from grandma. And now to me,” said Chin.
Yee, who helms French eatery Topshelf in TTDI, said that he normally does not cook during CNY but decided to cook two dishes that he grew up with this time around.
For businessman Jason Ong, the reunion dinner is a special event.
“The reunion dinner is of utmost importance during CNY. My wife Khoo (Siew Tin) and I, strictly follow this ritual,’’ he added.
Joining the Ong family yesterday were his nieces and nephews – Ethan, 9, Eliza, 8, Joel, 6, and Eunice and Jody, both 4.