TeaandMemories
Raised in a Cantonese-Shanghai ne se household in Indonesia, David Yip grew up knowing only one type of food: the refined dishes that he was fed asa boy. His grand mothers from both sides of the family loved good food, and made sure that only the best was ever served at the family table. One of Yip’s favorite boyhood stories was about eating at his friend’s house and discovering for the first time that there were foods –andstandards–otherthanthose in his house. The revelation made him curious, encouraging him to spend more time in the family kitchen where he would learn the rudiments of proper home cooking.
The Yip household kitchen was known for producing elaborate meals. If a dish called for, say, oyster sauce, it would be made from scratch. If desserts needed sugar, fruit juices would be reduced to syrup and used as sweeteners. Young David rarely ate outside and did not know how condiments in bottles tasted. There was always the family chef and the two am ahs who sorted out things in the kitchen. Until he left for boarding schools, first in London and then in New York, he only knew elevated homecooking.
Yip invited me for tea at York Hotel’s White Rose Café. It was empty when I arrived. I was led to a table next to a window – Yip’s regular spot, I was told–where I found him examining some meat pie sand curry puffs while surveying the traffic outside. With the introductions out of the way, we started the interview. Here’s is a snippet.
MarcAlmagro: David, I enjoy your childhood stories, especially the ones where you discovered the joys of cooking in your own home.
David Yip: I grew up in the ‘60s. Back then we had a home cook who had worked as a chef for a very long time. I learned some hardcore Cantonese cooking techniques from him. I enjoyed hanging out with him in our kitchen – I’m an only child, see – but that didn’t excuse me from helping out with the chores. (My father didn’t allow me to order them aids around until I was 18 and I’m grateful for that. I learned about independence very early.) So, I would pluck tau geh and do simple tasks. When I was older, I decided to learn more about cooking so I started looking around and helping out in the kitchen of my maternal grandmother’s restaurant in London. I always gravitated towards food.
Almagro: Almagro: Almagro: Youtookmanydeep detours in your career – finishing a law degree, working as a clerk because you loved typing, then becoming a fashion buyer for Daimaru, a fashion journalist for a credit card magazine, a magazine publisher, and finally a book publisher with Marshall Cavendish – before you actually returned to food.
Yip: Yip: Yip: Yip: Yip: Yip: Yes. My first F& Bout let was in SOHO in Hong Kong. I rented a place where I cooked simple things like soup sand sandwiches and cakes. It was a very small place – a 12-seater – but it did fairly well. From there, I built up the courage to open up a 50- seat restaurant with a bar and everything. That was when I established myself as a chef.
Back then people asked me why Hong Kong instead of Singapore. You see, if I opened an F& B establishment here at that time, I could count on support from a lot of people. Honestly, I knew all the journalists and had all the connections. But I didn’t like that. In Hong Kong, I was a nobody, and it was tough er for an F& B business to survive there. But I knew that if I could make it there, the rest would be easy.
I worked there for six years until I started to feel burned out. I was lying in bed one night and asked myself what the **** did I get myself into? I was supposed to be semiretired by then, having fun with a little café, and yet I allowed myself to get sucked into the whole thing again. So, I decided that was it. I closed down the business overnight and moved to China. I found a job consulting for a major project in Hangzhou–theXixiWetland–and I did that for over a year. By then my partner’ s mother was growing old and we both decided to return to Singapore.
That was 10 years ago. I started freelancing again for the English
and Chinese newspapers, writing about food and travel. I also work as a researcher for CCTV( Central China Television ). My academic background helps me a lot in that job. Besides those, I’m a consultant for the Shangri-La group and for Kai Suites, Singapore’s first luxury confinementhotel.
Almagro: Whenyouaskedmeto meet you here, you mentioned this is where you get your Ha inane se food fix. What is it about the cuisine that you like?
Yip: Back in the ‘60s and the ‘70s, the only places where I could find Ha inane se decent food were the cafés, like Shashlik and other places like that. I enjoyed going there to havemysetlunchordinner.My palette can be very Asian but after living in London and New York, I also got used to continental cuisine. I like good pies but, honestly, it’s difficult to find them now in Singapore.
Almagro: Whyisthat?
Yip: Back in the day, a lot of the hotel chefs were Ha inane se. They earned very good money. A lot of them also ownedko pit ia ms. They were very skilled in cooking Western-style steaks, so I associate western food with the Ha inane se. I love how they mix the East and West. You know, they loved the British but they also brought in their own elements. I love that very unique fl av our which I couldn’t get it in London or in New York. But things have changed so much in most hotel kitchen snow that you hardly can find one Ha inane se. They’re almost extinct! (Laughs.) Even here, now, there’s only one Hainanese left. Almagro: Why do you think that’ s the case?
Yip: I think it’s because people are getting richer. In the past, the Ha inane se had fewer options. Back then all the races were very territorial when it came to certain fields of expertise. The Hainanese dominated the hotel kitchen. Later on you had the Teo chew and the Hokkien. Back in the day, if you weren’t Hainanese, you couldn’t step into the kitchen. Now, I can’t even find one Ha inane sec he fat Raffles Hotel. (Laughs.) Now that we have more hotels we don’ t have enough Ha inane se chefs. We are seeing more Western chef sin the kitchens, they are employing the Cantonese, the Hokkiens, and a lot of Malaysians as well.
Almagro: What do the Ha inane se bring to the kitchen?
Yip: TheEast-West.Lookatthese pies. The Ha inane se make their own puff pastries, which is now very rare. Alotofpeoplebuy…
Almagro: …puff pastry in a box. Yip: Puff pastry is very tedious to do. I don’t know about now, I haven’t asked. The last time I went inside the kitchen, two years ago, they were still making puff pas tries. They knew how to make theroux, which Cantonese, in the past, couldn’t. The Hainanese were the experts in making sauces; they actually picked it up from Western kitchens. A few years back, they took me e siam off the menu. I called the manager. The next time I came, it was back. (Laughs.) I can be that persistent.
Almagro: Well done, well done.
Yip: I mean, I hate to say it, but we might be the last generation that could eat traditional food. Food shouldevolve–Iagree.Whatever we eat now actually reflects current taste – there’s nothing wrong with that. But I guess I’m just being sentimental by insisting on having that old stuff. It’s common to hear the old folks lamenting that the food today is not as good as what they had. Typical right? The food has evolved and I believe in that. That’s one of the reasons why I enjoy working with young chefs.
Almagro: But you draw the line on inferior ingredients or….
Yip: …or poor techniques. I always remind the young chefs who train under me that they can create, innovate, whatever, but they must have a foundation. It’s only when you understand the foundation then you can know how to create. I can accept new flavors, new styles, new trends. I mean, I was in fashion, but I cannot accept it when someone incorporates wrong techniques into his food.