Fleet head chef Chun Wong of Rocinante on the need for creativity.
I became a superyacht chef in 2020 after many years as a chef in a restaurant. I heard about yachting because my wife was working in the industry and she encouraged me a lot.
I studied in a culinary school in Menton, France, and when I was a kid with my father who used to have a Chinese restaurant in Nice. I learned a lot about traditional Chinese cuisine but also how to manage a kitchen, preparing the mise en place.
I love traveling around the world, discovering new cuisine and new flavors. I remember when I joined PAPAin Phuket, I had never been in Thailand; I had Thai food in France, but nothing compared to what I tried in Thailand — it was amazing.
The hardest part is being away from your family. So you need to build yourself a routine, like go for a run and spend as much time as possible out of the boat and go visit a new place.
You always need to be creative because when you have a guest on board for two weeks or sometimes owners for more than three months, they are not going to eat the same thing and can get bored. Also being creative is a good way to keep yourself busy.
My style of cooking is fusion and traditional, like the Peking duck. I like to use the Peking duck flavors and its crispy skin and turn into a plated dish with a nice, reduced duck juice serve with baby carrot and carrot puree.
My favorite cuisine is Chinese because of all the different flavors and spices, and I love Hong Kong-style chili oil.
The strangest guest request I’ve received was a traditional cacio e pépé pasta, and after it was served, he added 150g of caviar into the pasta... The cacio e pépé was perfect before that.