Chef finds 'soul' of Chinese food in ingredients

Chinese cuisine is based on myriad combinations of cooking methods, cutting, and ingredients, and just like it is wrong to cook kung-pao chicken with Western vinaigrette or fruit sauces, it is also wrong to mix Western flavors or cooking methods with other Chinese cooking, Choo insists.

He left My Humble House in 2007 to open his own kitchen, and in 2011, he joined JUN Chinese restaurant in the Crowne Plaza Beijing Sun Palace, where he has the maximum freedom to practice his cooking philosophy.

Now his resume is studded with awards both from China and abroad for his culinary skills and innovation, and he says diners often come to the restaurant just for his most recent creations.

He updates about 50 percent of the dishes on the restaurant menu every year.

Seeking inspiration from all over China, the only thing that matters to him is cooking authentic Chinese dishes.

"Authentic doesn't mean I cannot innovate, only that innovation must not tangle with flavors that are not Chinese," Choo says.

His most recent creations include special hairy-crab flavors - he braises them with Gastrodia elata, a herb used in Chinese medicine to treat headache, convulsions, and hypertension, and in another rendition with green plum wine, to create a novel and savory taste.

Choo says he developed an interest in cooking as a small child, when he often helped heat leftovers in the family kitchen, and he has never regretted the decision to drop out of the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Center and learn the art of Chinese cuisine.