Chef Charms Hong Kong With Pork So Perfect You’ll Forget It’s Just Meat

KEY POINTS

•Chef ArChan Chan leads Ho Lee Fook in Hong Kong, transforming classic Cantonese dishes with modern twists and creative ingredients.
•Chan’s char siu pork involves extensive curing, marinating, smoking, and charcoal grilling to enhance traditional flavors.
•Signature dishes include updated sweet and sour pork with pineapple blocks and a perfume lemon tea sauce base, plus an elaborate seafood stir fry.

Meet ArChan Chan, the culinary wizard of Ho Lee Fook in Hong Kong, where mahjong tiles and beckoning gold cats set the scene for an epic char siu makeover. Chan’s char siu pork goes through a rigorous four-hour Kurobuta pork cure with sugar and spices, gets an overnight hoisin-heavy spa treatment, then is roasted and charcoal-finished like a smoky flavor diva. Her sweet and sour pork throws shade at pineapple geometry and uses perfume lemon tea as sauce base—yes, perfume! Then there’s a stir fry king starring abalone, dried shrimp, and anchovies, with the audacity to add peanut sprouts. Not to be outdone, razor clams get steamed for just over a minute, pimped with glass noodles and 'aged garlic soy sauce,' which sounds fancy enough to justify the wait. Chan hopes every bite delivers a local Hong Kong vibe with a fancy twist, complete with a fortune cookie sendoff. Who knew Revolutionizing Cantonese food meant playing food Tetris with pork and serving nostalgia with an urban edge under mahjong ceilings?

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Mockingbird News

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Ho Lee Fook's char siu goes through more processing phases than a Marvel movie plot, all to convince you it’s worth carving into geometrically precise pineapple blocks.

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