Neighborhood lies hidden amid wet markets, antique shops, and budget bars in a nondescript lane in Hong Kong. It has no website, Instagram page, or marketing. Yet it gets booked weeks in advance and recently bagged the No. 9 spot in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Travel + Leisure India & South Asia speaks to Chef David Lai, who has also won the Inedit Damm Chefs’ Choice Award this year, for some insight into his unique ways and travels. By Sumeet Keswani
T+L India: What does this Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants rank mean to you, your restaurant, and your patrons?
Chef David Lai: We are thrilled to be ranked #9, but it also means we will have to work harder to meet people’s expectations. At the end of the day, we have to keep it real and continue to do what we do best and try to make our guests happy—one at a time.
T+L India: How would you define your culinary philosophy?
Chef David Lai: My culinary philosophy: cook what we (and our guests) like, use ingredients that excite us, and try to ignore trends.
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T+L India: Your restaurant is located in a hidden laneway in Hong Kong and does not employ a website or even social media—and yet gets booked weeks in advance. Tell us about this quirky strategy.
Chef David Lai: We liked the space because it is in a quiet alcove but within a busy, centrally located area. By the way, Neighborhood is not as difficult to book as people say!
T+L India: To what do you attribute your success, especially at a stage like Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, where most of the winners are meticulous about their marketing strategies and brand identities?
Chef David Lai: We are just as surprised. At the end of the day, how does one pick out 50 restaurants in all of Asia? We are just really, really grateful for the support and consider ourselves very lucky.
T+L India: Will these awards change the way you go about your marketing?
Chef David Lai: At the beginning, it was more that we simply couldn’t afford proper marketing. But our strategy (or lack of it) seems to have worked well for us so far, so we will see what happens.
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T+L India: This year, you have also won the Inedit Damm Chefs’ Choice Award. We’ve read that you initially pursued a course in Fine Arts and Art History. Could you tell us about your journey of becoming a chef?
Chef David Lai: Perhaps studying art history made me aware of how my personality was poorly suited to become a viable artist. On the other hand, cooking was an easy transition, since it requires manual work, involvement of the senses, and expression. I think cooking is also a more democratic form of art, since foods don’t have to be insanely unaffordable and inaccessible like collectable arts.
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T+L India: Which mentors have had the biggest influence on you?
Chef David Lai: Chef Julian Serrano gave me my first job in a serious kitchen at Masa’s in San Francisco. There I learnt how to work, since the kitchen was small but very organised. Chef Sylvain Portay was head chef for Alain Ducasse and Jacques Maximin for many years. From him I learnt to cook intuitively.
T+L India: How much do your travels impact your food at Neighborhood?
Chef David Lai: Traveling allows one to jump out of one’s routine and see the world through the lens of other cultures. As a chef, it is an easy way to get inspired—not so much to copy other people’s recipes, but to think about common ingredients from new perspectives and attitudes. For example, Kyoto is a favourite destination of mine, and every time I go, I rediscover again and again the definition of seasonality; it is a city where it is normal for chefs to change their menu every couple of weeks to take advantage of prime seasonal produce. In Spain, the simplicity of a plate of raw tomatoes or grilled peppers can be so refreshing, as are the generous working-class fares of Lyon, or the honest cooking in trattorias in Italy.
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T+L India: What is the wackiest meal you have ever had?
Chef David Lai: Wackiest meal—always at a tiny bar counter at Yukifuran Sato in Kyoto. The chef works alone in this kappou-style restaurant and prepares the whole meal “a la minute” from scratch. Usually, a meal there begins at 6 pm and does not finish until 1 am (the earliest). The chef really pours his heart out and gives you the freshest cooking based on the best seasonal ingredients.
T+L India: If you were to cook a meal for five people—dead or alive—who would they be?
Chef David Lai: The five people would include the best friends from my whole life. I’m not an extrovert, so five is a good number. Some long overdue reunions over a crazy long shared meal.
T+L India: What do you like to do when you’re not cooking?
Chef David Lai: When I’m not cooking, I’m most likely eating.
Sumeet Keswani
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