"Everyone has a dream," says Leehom Wang in one of his songs.
Yvonne Kam Kiu-yan has a dream, one that lives up to her father Ronald Kam Kwan-lai's mantra: cheng xian qi hou, ji wang kai la, or take the legacy and blaze a trail into the future.
"I have long nurtured the dream of forging a young-generation brand for Yung Kee," said the CEO of the iconic restaurant group. To realize it, she opened Yung's Bistro.
She has exacting standards for the shop at K11. "It has bright Chinese restaurant ambience that projects a refreshing, chic and exuberant mood. Its elements of Chinese culture [round table and red table cloth] blend with the Yung Kee character [brick walls, dai pai dong-styled communal table]."
I visited the second one of the shop's three dining experience zones. It looks out to a wide terrace where guests enjoy an expansive view of the harbor as they soak in the sun while having afternoon tea.
Instead of the executive lunch set, I tried a few signature dishes - roasted whole goose leg, steamed beef patties and stir-fried slice beef with premium aged tangerine peel, and deep fried shrimp ball with fermented bean curd.
The beef patties have a pleasing texture, and the novel shrimp ball dish was new to me. I ask Kam about the making of the signature dishes.
She said: "To bring out the authentic taste of Cantonese cuisine, we use ingredients from local farms as much as possible. We also talk to the customers," she said.
As the local catering industry struggled in the past few years, Kam was frustrated that the results fell short of expectation and was disappointed that the shop hasn't realized its full potential.
But she will plow on.
"I will keep going. Even if business is slow and manpower is short, I will think of some innovative ideas," she said.
I asked about changes to the SAR's dining culture in recent years.
She observed: "It is an era of gimmicks. Food and drink presentation has to look nice, cool, fun, special and good for 'check in' and posting on social media before everyone else. Like fast fashion, customers these days expect a new dining experience every day."
But to Kam, quality remains the top priority, and it is her job to ensure that "the food we serve is presentable, delicious and with authentic flavor."
Terence Chang Cheuk-cheung is the retired headmaster of Diocesan Boys School
