Features 1 minute 04 December 2017

On The Menu: What Inspired Chef Hidemichi Seki's Dish At The 2018 MICHELIN guide Hong Kong Macau Gala Dinner

The chef de cuisine from two Michelin-starred Tenku Ryugin goes back to childhood flavours to recreate this beautifully-plated dish.

For chef Hidemichi Seki, the familiar flavours of his childhood come from the traditional Cantonese dishes cooked by his father, who ran a Cantonese restaurant in Japan.

For the 2018 MICHELIN guide Hong Kong Macau 10th anniversary dinner, the young chef de cuisine decided to create a dish of Chilled Miyazaki Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu, Hokkaido Sea Urchin and Chinese Supreme Broth Jelly that brings together the best of both worlds he grew up in — fusing both traditional Cantonese and Japanese flavours.
What’s the idea behind your dish?
I wanted to infuse traditional Cantonese flavours into classic Japanese cuisine.

What is the most difficult part to get right?
The precision of controlling the balance among flavors of all the ingredients.
Can you describe your culinary approach?
The backbone of my cuisine is solidly Japanese, but it’s influenced by my exposure to Chinese and Spanish cooking. I apply modern culinary techniques and I like to feature premium local ingredients.

Does your dish contain any unusual combinations?

It combines elements of both Chinese and Japanese, but it also harmonizes ingredients from the land and the sea, which is quite rare in Japanese cuisine.

What was your inspiration?
It comes from my childhood. My palate developed with the Cantonese cuisine I learned from my father. And in this dish, I’m expressing the soul of Cantonese cooking by making Chinese supreme broth an essential part of it.

What are your memories of learning from your father?
He was a Chinese chef in Japan who ran a Cantonese restaurant and he exposed me to the whole array of Chinese flavours. I enjoyed helping out in the kitchen and I always loved making dim sum. I was very good in making dumplings. Now my two-year-old daughter loves shrimp dumplings as much as I do.

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