Lobster Love

Lee Adams, the head chef of Skye, The Park Lane Hong Kong's fine-dining rooftop restaurant, shares the secrets of his signature dish.

What was your initial inspiration for this recipe?

It's a take on something that I used to eat when I was quite young in England, like home food. But I wanted to give the diners of Skye a bit more of a luxurious experience.

When did you think about making it a signature dish at Skye?

I've known since I was quite young that I wanted to be a chef – and there were a few dishes that I always thought of, even when I was younger. "Ahh, if I ever got my restaurant, I would put this on the menu…" Originally, it was just going to be macaroni and cheese, but obviously, now I'm older and wiser. I think you can't just put macaroni and cheese on the menu! [laughs]

Where does the lobster come from?

From Brittany. We get it live – we buy it live and we get the delivery three times a week.

Is it a difficult dish to cook?

I wouldn't say it's difficult. The difficulty is in making sure that the base recipes are correct, whether it's making the pasta, the bouillabaisse, the Mornay sauce… They are very traditional recipes, which sometimes seem to be quite easy to take shortcuts but are easy to get wrong. To make a good bouillabaisse, a good Mornay sauce… it takes time. So it's these things that, if you get them right, everything will fall into place.

How long did it take to create, adapt and finalise the recipe?

I guess it was two to three months of just thinking, sourcing the ingredients and tasting before we actually put it on the menu and we thought: "Yeah, we got that right."

Skye, The Park Lane Hong Kong, 27/F, 310 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay (parklane.com.hk)