From wet market to the world: Sabahan chef’s journey from fine dining to success with Sandakan’s Hakka fried pork noodles
“We do not scrimp on ingredients — we use only the best sauces — Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce and Camel soy sauce, a lot of pork bones, dried cuttlefish, dried shrimp andThe rebranded signature dish now highlights 80g of marinated pork belly or shoulder prepared with a special blend of fermented red bean curd and herbs, served alongside crispyand your choice of noodles in soup or dry, with optional add-ons like dumplings, eggs or vegetables.
The 31-year-old Sandakan native, Lee, had long dreamed of running his own fine dining restaurant, a passion that began in childhood when he attended RM10 pastry classes. “I saved money from staying with an uncle, and I could walk to work. I also had the staff meal and ate whatever leftovers from the restaurant, but I still could not even afford to buy myself a A$3 beef pie I desperately wanted. I think that time was the skinniest I had ever been,” he joked.
While juggling staging gigs at Bacchanalia and André during his days off, his talent began to shine, eventually earning him a spot on San Pellegrino’s Top Young Chefs list in 2017. “I ate it at least once a week growing up and people are always asking my mother for it, so I decided I could try it, starting small as a stall in a coffee shop in Inanam,” he said.
“It was a lot more capital than I had saved up, but this was my first restaurant, so I wanted it to be done properly, so I had good décor and invested in proper kitchen equipment, all while being very nervous as to whether this gamble would pay off,” he said.However, he needn’t have worried, as patrons lined up from day one of the opening of Lee’s Traditional Fried Pork outlet in 2019.