Cuisine & Wine Asia
November 1, 2007
Trailing The Seasoned Path
by Vanessa Tang
Following a small-town boy who left to take his chances in the big city, we at CW Asia tailed the trail of this English-born chef with a fascinating heritage underneath chefs’ crisp whites. We unearthed a path to self-discovery across continents on Splendido’s chef David Lee’s culinary journey, and why you should keep an eye out for Canada, a rising star on the culinary map.
It’s a trial not to be intimidated by the hulking figure of Chef David Lee upon a first meeting with him. Having gleaned a picture of him prior to our meeting. I found the chef in person a completely different picture, to say the least. He is proof to the expression “less is more”, because even after shaving off about 23 kilogrammes since the start of 2007, Lee still retains a commanding stature and presence. Standing erect and confident (the way a general leading a platoon of war soldiers would), Lee leaves one with an indelible impression, both in and out of the kitchen. The chef and co-owner of Splendido, one of Canada’s top dining establishments, located in the cosmopolitan city of Toronto, arrived on our local shores for the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore’s Ninth Annual New World of Food & Wine Festival. With two respective food and wine pairing dinners lined up under his name during the span of the festival, Lee not only impressed diners with his culinary creations, he unquestionably placed the spotlight on Canada’s culinary landscape. “This is my first time in Asia, and I’m definitely very honoured to be in Singapore to put Canada on the culinary map and show what we can do as Canadians, culinary-wise.” Enthused the strapping chef, who was not only ready to take me through his rich narratives of yesteryear, but was also effusive with charm despite the tiresome affliction of jetlag.
After a mere 36 years of age, Lee has garnered an admirable wealth of experience within the culinary industry. Born and raised in Hertfordshire, England, one would easily place him as an Englishman through his pleasant an easy talk. His looks however are another matter entirely. Lee’s grandfathers hail from China, while both is grandmothers were of French and Mauritian heritage respectively. Combine that with a parentage of second generation Mauritian and it becomes crystal clear where his Asian-inclined features are derived from. Being born and brought up in a somewhat Asian family, according to the chef, manta that he was perpetually surrounded by food. As with almost everything else, it all starts from the heart of the home, and I like to believe that it lies within the kitchen. Apparently, so does Chef Lee “I think good cooking always comes from your parents. The love, passion and respect for food to begin with. Plus I was very close to my mum,” explained the reminiscent chef, a proud descendent of ‘professional’ chefs in their own right, at hearth and home. With supportive parents who declared that young Lee was more than apt in the kitchen, he was given free reign to create messy culinary storms at his disposal. Although, if truth be told, the chef confessed that he was initially driven to feed himself. With preoccupied working parents always away from home, a young growing boy needed his three square meals a day, and for that, Lee had to whip up his own chow. Like every other blessing in disguise, this one stuck, which led him to eventual self-discovery and around the world, a bonus we should all be so blessed with.
The newfound zeal and ambition led Lee to take a life-changing step that would capitulate him into the “big boys” arena of Michelin-stars, when he moved out of quaint Hertfordshire to London at the age of seventeen. Anyone would call it a bold move, particularly for a small town boy whose only experience at the time was acquired through stints in the town’s smaller restaurants. Lee went on to work for and alongside several notable chefs over the course of his career, including brief encounters with renowned Chef Raymond Blane and a tenure with Swiss masterchef Anton Mosimann. For every term he served with the individual chefs came a discipline, respect and sincere understanding of food that has been imbued in him. Lee recalled that, “Every chef I worked for gave me something good and bad, and whatever bad I experienced was an important lesson. Your worst enemy is yourself basically, and you need to see for yourself how other people around you don’t always make the right choices. From there you learn how and what you want to be like, and set out fulfilling that vision.” For Lee, working with Executive Chef Peter Kromberg during his tenure at the Hotel InterContinental Hyde Parke, London was an immensely divine stroke of fate. His tutelage under the rigorous and meticulous German chef allowed him a taste of what it meant to produce Michelin-star-worthy food, and to observe the intricacies of running a vast internal organization. It didn’t hurt that Lee found himself exposed to a myriad of cultures too, and he explained, “Peter (Kromberg) was always surrounded by so many talents, from the Japanese to the French ad Italian. I always got to se and learn from all these culture and their cuisines, which is important for a young chef to experience when starting out.” Throughout his youth, Lee was endowed with opportunities for glove trekking, all in the name of his art. From the kitchens of London, to Switzerland, France, Spain, and Italy, his appetite for the craft was relentlessly fuelled while he continually acquired skills in varying cuisines and styles today, Lee’s dishes are what he calls ‘classical French with a seasonal Canadian approach’, since making the move fro London to Canada in 1994. He went on further to explain that he Canadian approach to their cuisine comprised solely of local and seasonal produce.
Since opening the doors of Splendido in 2001, Lee firmly believes in using only the best of local and seasonal ingredients. Splendido’s menus naturally undergo weekly though small-scale, changes. “My menus are always changing, sometimes up to three a week, because at Splendido, we try to evolve and improve the cuisine consistently.” The restaurant has an indisputable reputation for its clean and sharp flavours, uncomplicated presentation and impeccable service. In addition to that, its head chef is all for unpredictability and the element of surprise when it comes to pleasing the restaurant’s patrons. “If I get somebody knocking on my back door (Splendido) and tell me they’ve got great raspberries, I’ll take them and we can incorporate it into the menu right away, just so the guests get the best of the best,” revealed Lee. The Splendido experience is not simply centered on just fine cuisine, but also top notch service which transcends even the best of the best. Read: ladies’ purse stools, personalized requests to the chef and unswerving attention to detail. With cuisine especially, Lee is thorough in imparting the finer points of the craft to younger chefs under him in the kitchens of Splendido. “Taste, style, simplicity, the yin and yang aspect of food, and where I procure the products from are of utmost importance. I don’t believe in buying from mass producers, and prefer knowing the source of the produce if I want beef, I need to know where it is from and if the beef is eating the best possible grain health-wise it’s vital, because you’re eating whatever that animal’s eating, and I want to personally assure you’re getting top quality. At the end of the day, it’s about getting intensely good flavour from the land, including the best meats.” There isn’t much space for argument there, not after a sample of Lee’s delectable veal tongue conflict and pressure-cooked veal cheeks. Not everyone takes to enjoying tongue on their palate, but being a fan myself, I found every bite of the well-portioned dish tender and rich.
Yours truly was duly awed when it was disclosed that the chef himself enjoys cooking caribou best. Not a small feat, for the beast, otherwise known as reindeer, is rather daunting in size. Still, cooking wild game is old news to the chef, who accepts personal culinary solicitations that span across grouse, pheasant, hare and moose meats.
Cooking with the best produce available, preserving the integrity of the food, while melding simplicity and edge into his cuisine are what distinguishes Lee’s culinary works of art as part of the new world of food. With a hardcore drive at the pinnacle of his pyramid of success, the chef and Splendido are set to enter a whole new ball game in raising the culinary bar for Canada. “There’s a growing awareness of Canada, but it doesn’t take just one chef to do it. It requires a minority of chefs to elevate the nation’s prominence in the culinary scene, and I think Canada is getting there.” Even with that keeping him busy the chef has plans underway for the opening of a second restaurant in the city of Toronto come 2008, where casual dining’s the word.