Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Alvin Leung
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English chef Alvin Leung.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
You have to be confident to be successful... I am somewhat confident.
The 'Maverick Chef' is one concept that I would really want to do again because I am traveling from country to country taking from what is in that country that is iconic, special, funky, weird and doing it my way. That is something I really enjoy.
The stock from a pigeon is unique. It's much better than quail or duck.
Those who come into my restaurants expect something more, expect my 'fingerprint,' and trust me to give them a different experience.
One of the reasons I'm called 'Demon Chef' is because in Hong Kong, people were calling me God chef, and I right away took away that term because calling yourself God is blasphemous.
Airplanes are a good place to concentrate because you get no emails, no phone calls.
My grandmother and father both had diabetes.
I may seem a tough guy, but I'm also very sentimental.
I want to take Chinese cooking to the next level and bury the takeaway mentality.
By the time I was in high school, I was big enough to beat the hell out of everybody who said anything to me. And I learned how to blend in. All of that made me a very confident man. A very aggressive man. I developed it to survive.
People keep saying I'm westernizing Chinese food. No I'm not. McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, have done it big time, way before me.
One good thing about being brought up with Chinese food from another country means that you're not a purist and you will accept deviation.
My grandmother passed away from diabetes. And my father died from heart disease as a result of diabetes. They were in their early 60s.
The DNA of Rojak is found in its textures.
In London, the food critics are harsher, the clients milder; in Hong Kong, the clients are harsher, the critics milder.
All the earrings are mostly crosses. It's kind of a contradiction to wear it since I'm known as the Demon Chef. They're all custom-made. Some are Tiffany's. Some are Stephen Webster from England.
I love cooking with wine.
You learn from a mistake by just not doing it ever again. And then you forget about it.
I don't like being labelled so I decided to label myself.
Being a scientist/engineer by nature, I approach everything as a problem.
I have developed recipes that are diabetes-friendly for my restaurant menus.
I went from two stars to one star to two stars to three. In the history of the 'Michelin Guide,' I don't think there has been any chef to go up and down - and then up again.
The Brits like to see their local chefs do well - when a foreign chef comes in - even Joel Robuchon - they are harshly critical.
Talent in cooking can be described as skill, creativity, your instincts, how do you approach a problem.
You don't call yourself the Demon Chef by being gentle. I am tough.
A dish should have flavor, texture, appearance and smell, but I'm doing it differently. We take Chinese food, play with your sentiments, memories of it, and then take you to the border; you won't fall over the edge, but you get excitement.
There's a great vibe in Vancouver, and there's a market. If there's a market, then there's an opportunity.
Part of my trademark is my blue sunglasses and cross earrings, which I always have.
As I have to have low-sugar foods, I eat more berries, dragonfruit and kiwis. Aside from that, my go-to sweet treat is Chinese dessert soups.
I can't remember a dish my mother made that to me was pleasant. To this day I have a phobia of instant noodles.
Everything I do is about Chinese culture. My dishes have to symbolize something because they taste better when people understand.
It's important to learn from your mistakes and then to refine.
Calling yourself God is blasphemous, but calling yourself demon isn't.
Kids always like the villain or the guy who's different.
When I'm in the moment, I'm in the moment.
This is X-treme Chinese Cooking. X-citing, X-otic and X-traordinary.
My food is an extension of my personality.
I've ruined a lot of hotel towels. I did a shoot in San Francisco and stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. I must have ruined thousands of dollars worth of towels. I dye my hair once a week. The dye is not temporary. It stains everything. It stains tiles, that's how powerful it is.
Unless people die from it, a little diarrhea isn't going to stop us from having our live fish.
I love to go to Hunter's Pizza on Huntingwood and Birchmount. That's in Scarborough, of course! It's been in the same family for two generations. It's been there since I moved there in '67, so it's been there for 50 years. I can't claim it's the best pizza in the world but I can say it's my favorite pizza place.
I like comfort and I like simplicity.
I'm not cheap but I'm not unaffordable.
I used to create meals for my friends. Eventually one of them suggested opening a restaurant. So I did.
It's not that hard to make good food.
Change is always good. You can't keep tradition all the time. Yes, Grandma cooked on a wood stove but she would have used electricity if she could.
It is not difficult now to make good food because we have sophisticated equipment and refined ingredients. Being innovative also helps you. It sets you apart from other chefs. But taste is king.
Chinese parents always think you can do better. But it comes from wanting you to succeed.
My mom wasn't a good cook. No, that was an understatement. She was really horrible. And in a Chinese family, that's a disaster.
A friend of mine had a private kitchen that was available and it was an inexpensive way of starting a restaurant and testing whether or not I could sell my cuisine.
Foie gras is a breeze to cook, something that can't go wrong.
It's good to go down because then you know you have to climb back to your old spot. And you can't be on top and not know that you can only go down.
I play squash.
I grew up in a family that was aware of the consequences of diabetes.
The core of who I am is Canadian.
You can't hide behind a Michelin star.
Diabetes is not curable. It's sustainable.
I want to explore the borders between being a genius and being an idiot.
Your best guide is a good word from a friend.
A symbol in Chinese Buddhism is the lotus plant, which regenerates every year, symbolizing life, renewal, and the Buddha himself. Actually it is used in many Asian religions including Hinduism. Few people think of it as food even though it is used as an ingredient all the time.
With caviar, you place a blob of it on sour cream or on a lettuce leaf and everyone is happy. I'm trying to get away from that.
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