Chef Huang Te Sing

Executive Corp Chinese Chef

Hotel Marine Plaza

He comes from a culinary legacy that goes back to Kamling and Nanking and has been at The Oriental Blossom for 27 years now. Chef Huang is the face of the restaurant, for sure, and continues to cook with love

The Cool and Calm Chef

Interviewed by FARZANA CONTRACTOR

Chef Huang Te Sing is an incredibly wonderful human being. Soft spoken, gentle, patient, kind and most passionate about his trade. Little wonder that he is such a good cook. Through these traits he possesses the most important ingredient needed to create any dish; love.

He came to Bombay holding onto his father’s hand as a tiny six-year-old toddler. His dad was taking over the kitchen of Si Hai, a small but very popular Chinese restaurant at Colaba Causeway and

the family migrated with him from Calcutta, which had the best Chinese cooks in those days.

His father was lured away to Kamling eventually, where he worked until he passed away in ... Chef Huang imbibed that value system from him, having worked in just two restaurants in his 40-year-old career.

“From early childhood I was interested in cooking. I straightaway joined Nanking in 1982 as an intern. What was good is I was given the freedom by my parents

to go to the market and buy whatever I wanted and come home and try and cook it. I am glad this freedom continues to this day, at The Oriental Blossom. Mr Anil Madhok, my mentor, has great faith in my abilities and has given me a free hand to run the restaurant as per my wishes and customer requirements,” says Chef Huang, most humbly.

This factor could also be the reason why the chef has stayed put at The Oriental Blossom since its inception in 1996, that’s 27 years – a record in itself, where these days job-hopping is the norm.

It’s a lovely restaurant in Marine Plaza, tucked away behind Bay View on the first floor and above the famous watering hole, Geoffrey’s. Neat, clean, bright with a side view of Marine Drive and the sea yonder, the customers at Oriental are die-hard fans. People who have been going there for decades. Says the kindly chef, “People who lived here and then migrated overseas, when they return for holidays, make it a point to come dine here. 80% of the time, I customise the food according to their preference. Our food here is Cantonese and Szechuan. Often I have to balance between the two. After all these years of experience I manage that very easily. For me, I just want to see happy faces after the guests have had their meal.” I also learnt that resident guests at The Oberoi and InterContinental, both hotels which flank Marine Plaza, also make it to this restaurant when they wish to eat good Chinese food. What was heartening to know is that the staff of these hotels actually recommend and direct their guests here. Chef has travelled to major Sarovar properties all over India conducting Chinese food festivals; Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Poona, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pondicherry, Madras, even Tirupati. He was also opening branches of Oriental in many of the places mentioned above.

Among other major experiences, his 14- day crossover exposure at The Mandarin Oriental Singapore had a good impact on fine-tuning his talent. At Cherry Garden, its speciality restaurant, he honed his skills at learning to perfectly roast duck and chicken and make crispy pork, among many other dishes which he then included in his menu, back home.

Chef Huang does not take stress. It shows in his mildness. He starts his working day at 9.30 am, preparing for lunch, staying on till 3 pm. He then goes home for a siesta, returning at 7 pm for the dinner service, staying on until the last guest leaves, which can be anywhere close to midnight. “It’s all in the rhythm now, most of my guests know me and I know their tastes,” he explains in a simple manner.

And what about free time, what does he do on his day off? “I cook lunch for the family and in the evenings we go out to eat or just walk at a mall.” "Really, you cook even on your off days?" we enquire. “Yes, the children like that, or used to,” he says. His young adult children are now overseas, son is in New Zealand and daughter in Canada, and he misses them both. But visits them. Both here and when he travels, the chef’s favourite pastime is to eat out. See what is on offer, how restaurants are faring. In NZ, he likes eating from buffets – roast meat, tenderloin, venison. In Canada, he loves going to the yum cha (drink tea) places which serve amazing Dim sums and starters all day long. In Bombay, among Chinese eateries he likes China House, Coco, Royal China, Cin Cin, Mamagoto among others. But then Indian food is also his weakness. He often goes to Delhi Darbar near Metro cinema. “I am an Indian at heart and in body, mind and soul, even if I look Chinese!” he laughs and says, adding, “I can cook korma and biryani and bhuna gosht, too, very well. Also Bengali food, I like macher jhol!”

The chef’s best respite is when he goes away on a small holiday. His past retreats have been to places like Kerala, Kashmir, Shillong… “I like to go into nature where there are trees and forests, rivers and hills. I don’t much care to visit cities,” concludes the wise chef.

Like we said, all this shows in his demeanour and in his cooking.