• Around Town Home
• What's On
• Features
• 
• 
• Bookmark this site

47 years old, the Demon Chef

“If you can name a sandwich a hero, then you can name me a hero,” says the chef and owner of Bo Innovation, Alvin Leung, Jr. “I’d be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, maybe with a slice of Parma ham.”

He simply has no idea why anyone would label him as a hero. “What kind of criteria are you guys working with exactly? Heroes save people from fires. They risk their lives to save others,” he says. “All I want to do is give more recognition to Hong Kong’s culinary landscape. Hong Kong has to take the culinary experience a bit more seriously.” But surely there’s heroism in that, isn’t there?

What Leung, aka the Demon Chef, does best, is to take diners out of their comfort zone, and mess with their heads, serving creations from his mad scientist kitchen. “Come on, Hong Kong is supposed to be this food town, but it lacks innovation. I’m just showing them how it should be done,” he laughs.

No one has ever accused him of being humble. “Those who say they are humble are not,” he says matter-of-factly. “People don’t like people like me.” Certainly he breaks the mould, creates weird and wonderful eats that go against traditional Chinese pedigree, and has spent a pretty penny to do exactly what he wants to do. “I follow the category of that bad guy that everybody loves. Everybody loves John McEnroe but he’s an asshole.”

He sees no harm in anyone thinking he is egotistical (evident in the self-portrait mosaic wall mural at the entrance of his restaurant). “You’ve got to have a little self confidence. If you doubt everything you do, you won’t get anywhere,” he says.

Leung is in the process of carrying his message of Hong Kong pride to the international market (with a planned outlet in London on the cards) using food as the vehicle. “It’s a good time to be Chinese right now,” he says. Indeed it is, and an especially auspicious time to be a devil in the kitchen. Angie Wong