What makes Chinese chef at Grand Ambassador Seoul special
Lu Ching Lai
By Kim Se-jeong
“Buddha Jumps Over the Wall”
“Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” is the name of a Chinese soup, named so because, according to ancient Chinese history, it was so delicious that a vegetarian Buddha had to jump over the wall to eat the soup.
Hong Bo Gak, the Chinese restaurant at Grand Ambassador Seoul, is one of the few places the city where guests can taste the Chinese delicacy that originated from Fujian Province.
Instead of using shark fins, Lu Ching Lai, Chinese-Korean chef and the owner of the restaurant, uses a variety of seafood, beef and pork to accommodate the taste of Koreans. The soup is one of the most popular dishes at his place.
“I make Koreanized Chinese food,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times. “There are many good authentic Chinese dishes, but if they fail to attract local Koreans, the reputation and recognition (of the restaurant) are meaningless.”
The soup costs 99,000 won, but the restaurant serves a couple of dozen of it every day.
With this philosophy, he also serves other dishes beloved among Koreans, including jajangmyeon, or noodles with black bean sauce; jjamppong, or spicy noodle soup with seafood and meat; and tangsuyuk, or sweet and sour pork.
The restaurant has been open for 10 years and is the most renowned Chinese restaurant in Seoul. Last year, the restaurant was recommended by the Michelin Guide, albeit it did not yet earn a star.
He said, however, that Koreans lack an accurate understanding of Chinese food.
“Many think Chinese cooking is all about deep frying on high heat but that’s totally wrong. Chinese love vegetables that are boiled in water or steamed,” the chef said. He also stressed that, unknown to many, Chinese cuisine involves a lot of sophisticated cooking methods. “For example, when you make the sauce for the sweet and sour pork, you need to take time, adding the starch water little by little so that it will become nice and syrupy. If you do it fast on high heat, you don’t get it the way you want.”
The chef has a rare success story.
He was born to a Korean mother and a Chinese father in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. He lost his father to a car accident at the age of six.
After graduating from middle school, at age 15, he went straight to work at a Chinese restaurant to become his family’s bread winner. Why did he choose to work at the Chinese restaurant? “Back then, if you are a Chinese-Korean, you didn’t have any options.”
He worked hard and made his way up. He had a good teacher and learned a lot. By his mid-20s, he became the sous chef at another hotel in Seoul. Then, he quit and ran his own restaurant for a decade before working in his own restaurant at the Grand Ambassador Seoul.
He has one younger brother, Yeo Kyung Ok who followed in his footsteps and has become a famous chef at the five-star Lotte Hotel in Seoul.
“Because I lost my father early on, I matured early and learned fast about how life worked,” he said, adding that part of his success goes to the good masters who guided him and helped him grow.
Besides cooking and running the restaurant, he teaches culinary classes at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, and he is admired by everyone because of his personal story.
He is a father of two sons. His older son, Lu Min, is learning to become a chef at his restaurant.
The restaurant opens every day from noon to 10 p.m. It has 50 seats and six private dining rooms. Multi-course meals and a la carte dishes are available. For more information and reservations, call (02) 2270-3141.