之前去杭州西子湖四季酒店的中餐厅时，就有人告诉我，隔壁做西餐的WL Bistro西湖餐厅有一位新加坡来的大厨，还专门推出了新加坡菜单，而且“是个帅哥哦”。

我立刻拿出小本子，决意与帅哥好好聊一聊，结果发现这是一位特实诚的帅哥，实诚到我时不时觉得“这天是聊不下去了”。

爱上一个杭州姑娘

再爱上有她的城市

帅哥叫梁隆基，今年29岁，是杭州西子湖四季酒店的西厨副厨师长。我曾经在西餐的厨房边吃过饭，知道西餐里的Chef（厨师长、主厨）是多么有权威的存在，所以看到这么年轻还有点腼腆的Chef，真有点意外。

话题从他的工作经历开始。之前我采访过的很多大厨，都是跑过三江六码头的，阅历都很丰富，结果梁隆基就一句话：“我之前就在新加坡啊，杭州是我离开家后长住的第一个城市。”

为什么来杭州呢？“因为我太太在杭州啊。”听起来应该是一个浪漫的故事，不过从梁隆基这里说出来就很简单了：20岁的时候在新加坡遇到了一个杭州姑娘儿，他是酒店厨师，姑娘儿是酒店里的实习生，就这么好上了。“那段时间挺不容易的”，他说，两人在一起经历六年的异地恋后领了证，第七年的时候摆了酒，第八年他就来了杭州，今年是他们在一起的第九年。

准备一直在杭州，还是说有其他计划？梁隆基对这个问题有点不理解：“为什么要走？我太太在杭州啊，我当然也在这里了。”

虽说说话直来直去，但这恩爱秀得还是有点让人猝不及防。除了太太，还有什么理由留在杭州？梁隆基说：“环境特别好，绿化啊什么的，还有杭州人也很热情。”

杭州菜首选糖醋里脊

菜单藏着对家乡的思念

异地恋那几年，梁隆基每年都要飞杭州三次，所以他对杭州菜非常熟悉，平时周末不上班的时候，还会跑去菜场买菜——杭州的很多食材都比新加坡的新鲜，对于一个厨师来说真的蛮有吸引力。杭州的家常菜，梁隆基首选糖醋里脊，他还喜欢吴山烤鸡和知味观的点心，我拿出自己的私藏安利给他，比如三毛烤鸡也很好吃，还有采荷菜场的“富阳佬牛肉”和“仙居佬鸡”都不错，他都特别认真地记下了。

梁隆基为餐厅设计的新加坡菜单十分简洁，就八道菜，包括肉骨茶、炭烤沙嗲鸡肉串、叻沙、椰浆饭、炒稞条、摩摩查查等。为什么是这八个？答案非常实在，“因为这些都是我爱吃的。”这些菜，很多食材和调料都是进口的，这是五星级酒店对品质的把控。同时他追求的是“从小吃到大的味道”，只是在辣度上略减。我想这原汁原味，可能就是他对新加坡的一点思念吧？

很多美食都是有传承的，所以我问梁隆基，你怎么会学做菜的？家里有人是做这个的吗？结果他的回答是：“没有啊，我家其他人都是老师。”

我于是随口开了个玩笑，莫不是你读书不行才去学厨师的？梁隆基还是很老实：“对啊”。他说自己不喜欢坐在办公室里，一直觉得做菜挺好的。

聊到最后，我终于找到一个和主厨共同的地方：我学的第一道菜是番茄炒蛋，他学的是班尼蛋。

（部分图片由毛若皓提供）

Love for Love’s Sake

The other day I went to a Chinese restaurant at West Lake Four Seasons Hotel where I learned from a friend that there was a new chef from Singapore at WL Bistro, the next door restaurant that offers western food. The new chef launched a menu of eight dishes featuring the cuisine of Singapore. “What’s more, the chef is handsome,” the friend adds. I am curious and go to visit the chef.

The handsome 29-year-old Wilson Leong is the sous chef of West Lake Four Seasons. To my surprise, he is indeed young and somewhat shy even though I know such a chef is a top authority figure at the restaurant.

Unlike the chefs I have interviewed before who usually boast a wide range of travels and wok experience in many cities and even across the world, Wilson Leong has a simple and straightforward career. “I worked in Singapore and Hangzhou is the first city I have stayed for a long time after Singapore,” he confesses.

He came to Hangzhou simply because his wife is a native of Hangzhou. It sounds like a big romance, but the version he gives sounds quite simple. At 20, he met a girl from Hangzhou. He was a chef and the girl was a trainee. The two fell in love and they kept the relationship alive and burning for six years even though he was in Singapore and she in Hangzhou. In the sixth year, they married. And in the seventh year, they held a wedding banquet. In the eighth year, he came to Hangzhou. The year 2019 is the ninth year they have been together.

Why Hangzhou of all cities? Is there any plan to move to some other cities? Wilson Leong is puzzled by my questions. “Why would I leave? My wife is in Hangzhou and I am certainly where she is,” says the young chef. Is there any other reason to stay in Hangzhou? “The ecology is excellent. You see trees everywhere. And local people are friendly and warmhearted.”

Wilson Leong flew to Hangzhou three times a year when he was in Singapore and his girlfriend in Hangzhou. These short visits exposed him to the culinary delights of Hangzhou. Nowadays, he is very familiar with the local cuisine. During weekends when he is not working, he does shopping at local food markets. These food markets offer very fresh food materials and ingredients, which attract him as a chef. Of home-made delicacies of Hangzhou Cuisine, Pork Fillet with Sweet and Sour Sauce is his favorite. He also likes Wu Hill Roasted Chicken and pastry delicacies of Zhi Wei Guan Restaurant.

The Singaporean menu he designed for WL Bistro is simple enough: it is a menu of eight Singaporean delights including Bak Kut Teh, Chicken Satay Skewer, Laksa, Coconut Rice, Fried Kway Teow and Bo Bo Cha Cha. What’s so special about these eight delicacies? The answer comes straightforward again. “That’s because they are my favorites.” The food ingredients and seasonings for these eight dishes are imported, reflecting the quality control of the five-star hotel where he works. The chef maintains the original flavor of the delicacies that he has enjoyed all his life since his toddler years. For ordinary diners and gourmets in Hangzhou, the young chef slightly reduces the hotness of these dishes.

I ask Leong how he started as a chef and whether anyone in his family works as a chef. Again to my surprise, he says he is the only chef in the family. All others are teachers. I jokingly ask if he wanted to be a chef simply because he wasn’t academically brilliant. His answer is laconic again, “Right.” He doesn’t have a passion for office work. He thinks it nice to cook.

The interview ends when we compare our favorite dishes. At last I find we have something common to us. The first dish I learned to cook was an egg dish. So was the first dish he learned to cook.