Chef Yuzuo Han: Mumbai's Famed Chinese Chef speaks to South China Morning Post

Grand Hyatt Mumbai chef Han Yuzuo isn't bothered about Bollywood, he just wants to be the best, writes P.Ramakrishnan.
All pictures: Sayan Sur Roy

"For Chinese cuisine in India, walk right up to the Grand Hyatt and ask for the chef," recommends Shobhaa De, prolific Indian author and columnist. "It's wonderful - more importantly, authentic."

Han Yuzuo, 28, is the head chef at China House, the Mumbai hotel's Chinese restaurant, which is a favourite of the Bollywood crowd and Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, when he's in town.

"I really wouldn't know an Indian celebrity if I was meeting them," Han says. "The staff always tell me, so-and-so star is here. It doesn't bother me as I'm working. There's no major difference between serving an actor or anyone else. Perhaps we do a bit more decoration, but the food is the same.

"My concerns are all kitchen related; vegetables and sauces. Indian vegetables are very different from the ones we use in Chinese food, so that's what I worry about the most. I get sauces and fresh vegetables air-cargoed in. I get excited when the items come to the hotel straight from the airport, and sauces from Beijing and Hong Kong are ordered specially. Leafy vegetables, bean sprouts, Chinese cabbage, fungus, mushroom, lotus plants - small ones [the Indian ones are too big] - come in, I get excited about the meal plan for the day."

Originally from the Dongbo district of Sichuan province, Han has worked for the Grand Hyatt chain for almost a decade, in several cities around the world, and has been in Mumbai for two years. Having become an apprentice chef at the age of 16, Han attended culinary college and obtained his professional certificate in 2001, then the Chinese Cooking Technician Certificate the following year.

"In China, in my hometown, there are seasons; winter, spring, summer and autumn, so we co-ordinate menus according to what's in season, make meal plans according to the weather. In Mumbai, it's always hot. Or it's very hot," he says, with a laugh. "But I'm getting used to it. The menu changes three times a year and I do that according to what produce is available.

"I have many Chinese and Indian friends here in Mumbai so, even though my wife, sister and family are back in China, I don't get lonely. I get homesick only during the Chinese festivals as they are not celebrated in India.

"It's not difficult living in Mumbai, most people are friendly. I don't speak any Hindi - it's very tough - or English. With my Indian friends, it's a lot of acting and hand movement to make them understand. It works.

"There are many Indians who learn Mandarin, so they come here and ask for me and I talk to them after their meal. Or they request to see me before as they want to order in Mandarin. It is fun for them and me."

What's truly foreign to the tongue, of course, is the taste of India. "Sichuan food is spicy, so is Indian, but it's a different spice," Han says. "Preparation is long, that's the main difference. I see my Indian colleagues preparing dishes and it takes hours and the smells are very strong. Chinese food is made much faster, food is tossed in and out of the wok quickly - but curries have to marinate for a long time. And the temperatures are very high, which I don't understand."

Working six days a week, Han's routine rarely changes.

"My mornings are not very rushed. Around 11am I go to the kitchen; just before the lunch rush hour, I'm here," he says, pointing to a spotless open kitchen that's in a glass bubble in the middle of the restaurant.

"Off-duty, I go out to see Mumbai. Like China, India's a country with a rich history - so that's exciting to see.

"I started as an apprentice chef and learnt from great teachers. I want my cuisine to be known as the best, not just in the restaurant I work in, but in the region."


POSTSCRIPT:

Mumbai is a marvel and especially the people I've met there. Many thanks to the fab photographer Sayan Sur Roy for working around his busy schedule for a portrait shot. Wanted a picture to display a Chinese chef who's working in India. Getting the Natraj in the background for this shot conveyed what I needed in a very simple click. Love it.

Have to also say, the team at Grand Hyatt Mumbai were fantastic, arranging the translator, the chef to come in on a weekend, the pr team following up on emails back and forth... all turned out well, after a few initial hiccups. The hotel's gorgeous too.

Outtakes from the shoot.


Portraits by Sayan Sur Roy.

Diaspora Diaries: Jeff Hahn

Don't be fooled by the baby face. Photographer Jeff Hahn is building a reputation in London, writes P.Ramakrishnan.

Photographer Jeff Hahn's impressive CV belies his youth. At 21, Hahn sometimes finds it hard to be taken seriously as a photographer, especially in a city such as London, which is teeming with talent. Recently, when turning in a shoot of a chief executive for a magazine, the managing editor mistook him for the delivery boy. But Hahn's work has appeared in leading luxury and lifestyle magazines in Asia, including The Peninsula magazine, Maison Mode, Kee, Esquire and WestEast, and he's been hired for corporate photoshoots.

In the past two years he's been published in Britain and had an exhibition on London's fashionable Brick Lane. He's being profiled by cult magazines Idol and i-D, and is preparing for upcoming exhibitions in New York, London and Hong Kong.

"I got into photography when I was about 13," he says. "My brother had one of those amazing and, in retrospect, awful, two-megapixel chunky digital cameras and I used to play around with it. Shortly after that I discovered Lomography which, aside from being a company with ingenious ideas for new cameras, was also more of a concept and a way of photographing. It's all about capturing the moment and not thinking technically."

Hahn's signature look - his eye for finding the aesthetic in the mundane, often saturating images with a 1970s-style hue - was formed as much by default as by deliberation.

"I explored light leaks, blurry pictures and photographing the banal," he says. "It was probably the most liberating entry into such a massive world. I think when I took my first picture, my eyes opened for the first time and, instead of looking, I was finally seeing."

Born in Switzerland to a Swiss father and Chinese mother, Hahn was raised in Taiwan, New Zealand and Hong Kong, but he now lives and works in London. As much as he likes the challenges of working in the British capital, he still has a taste for Hong Kong.

Hahn started his career interning at magazines on the well-beaten paths of Sheung Wan. He was 16 and didn't get paid, but was glad for the opportunity.

"I found working in Hong Kong much easier than in London, probably because it's a smaller city and the media community is so tight-knit," he says. "Everyone's supportive and they all love to work with new people. It's a completely different story in London.

"Life isn't always great [in London]," he says. "You don't often feel safe; sometimes it makes you want to give up but it's real and I love it for that. The amount that I've grown and the things I've learned, I probably would never have experienced had I stayed in Hong Kong."

Hahn has a multitude of cameras, ranging from "my faithful Canon 30D, to the medium-format beast that is the Mamiya RB67, to disposable cameras. I think my collection amounts to about 20 that I use.

"My first show in London was called Boy BANG Boy. Curated by artists Stuart Sandford and Sichi, it aimed to celebrate the image of the boy. I was one of eight artists and I did a series of self-portraits based along the lines of narcissism and voyeurism. The feedback was great, more than 2,000 people showed up and i-D published a piece on its website featuring my work."

His star appears to be rising: this year, his work will be displayed in some prestigious London galleries. Hahn's next body of work will involve "challenging the way society views you, with regards to how you present yourself", he says. "It's still in the early stages so no details yet but it's moving in almost a complete opposite direction to the previous show.

"I see myself staying in London for another couple of years," he says. "But I want to give something back to Hong Kong and be part of a bigger movement to push the creative scene."





Post script:

Jeff's talent annoys me. How dare he be so young and gifted. The hard knocks of life have not hit him... yet. muahahahha.