How Top Chef changed the life of Barry Quek, chef of a Michelin-star Hong Kong restaurant, and the TV cooking competition’s ‘really big impact’ on him
- Watching Top Chef, Barry Quek of one-Michelin-star Whey learned about ‘a lot of cooking techniques’, from making geoduck sashimi to cooking with liquid nitrogen
- The chef talks about how the American TV show also taught him the importance of ‘a plan B’ in the kitchen, but also why he’d never consider appearing on it
Long-running American television cooking competition “Top Chef” pits contestants against each other in a series of culinary challenges, using a progressive elimination format.
Barry Quek, head chef at Michelin-star Hong Kong restaurant Whey, where he serves modern European cuisine featuring ingredients influenced by his Singaporean background, tells Richard Lord how it changed his life.
Watching it, there were a lot of cooking techniques and flavours that I’d never seen or heard of before. I remember watching season three, and the winner (Hung Huynh) was Vietnamese-American.
He used geoduck, which I’d never seen before, and the way he prepared it, to be eaten raw, like sushi, was super interesting to me. It had a really big impact on me – all these years later, I can still remember that particular ingredient he used.
I saw situations like those in the programme when I was part-timing. I kept watching because I thought, “This can happen in real life. If things go wrong, how can it be dealt with?”
It challenges people to cook in different situations, like in the wild, cooking for 50 people just using a gas stove. It drives your imagination and forces you to be creative, and that kept me watching the show.
“I realised that you always need a plan B or a plan C. If you don’t have an ingredient in the pantry, what can you substitute to give you the same or better results?
The show really made me think about making different plans, because it doesn’t always work out the way you want. The ability to change on the spot was something I didn’t have back then.
I also remember season six, when the winner was Michael Voltaggio. Again, his approach to food was different from anything I’d experienced. He was cooking sous vide and using liquid nitrogen. I thought, “Wow, that’s really interesting. How can cooking be like this?”
However, the show didn’t really prepare me for working in a kitchen. What was being shown was highlights. It never showed all the repetitive stuff you have to do every single day just to perfect your craft, or the long hours you have to work.
I could definitely still learn from the show now. A few years ago I might have wanted to go on it, but not at this point. Sometimes, if you want to cook something in a very short amount of time, it forces you to make decisions that are not really what you want. I think I’d embarrass myself.
