Menus follow the sun at Macau’s one-Michelin-star Chef Tam’s Seasons
- Executive chef Tam Kwok-fung changes seasonal dishes every 15 days to ensure only freshest and finest ingredients are used in his Cantonese cuisine
Whenever Tam Kwok-fung, executive chef of one-Michelin-star Chef Tam’s Seasons Cantonese restaurant in Macau’s Wynn Palace integrated resort, goes to the local market, it is not only so he can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, seafood and meat for his dishes.
He is also there to learn from stallholders about the finest seasonal produce for his ever-changing menus.
“Can you help me pick a few crabs that are at their best?” he asks one trader selling live crabs, who answers: “Would you like to look at them under the lamp? If the light shines through, it means that the crab doesn’t have enough roe inside.”
Tam is looking to buy female mud crabs, which are normally full of roe in the fifth and sixth month and 11th and 12th month of the lunar calendar. “Eating seasonally is a way of life in China, especially for Cantonese people, as Guangdong [province, in the southeast] has lots of natural produce in abundance,” he says.
“When it comes to particular agricultural produce, there are seasons when more melons and fruits are available, and at other times, you see more leafy greens. We change our menu based on these seasonal ingredients.”
When choosing ingredients for his seasonal dishes, Tam also always refers to the 24 solar terms in the Chinese calendar – two per month, which reflect things such as changes in climate, natural phenomena and farming production.
This ancient system of knowledge, based on the long-term observation of the sun’s position over the year, provides important markers that help farmers plan their work according to seasonal changes and cyclical weather conditions.
