Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
Oct 15, 2026 · 35 min · 16 segments
In this special episode, we’re sharing an extended cut of our interview with chef Lucas Sin. He praises all that Hong Kong diners have to offer, including the customizable breakfast noodles, the…
Lucas SinGuest
Christopher KimballHost
It's this sort of, like, casual all-day restaurant that, in effect, is a little bit borderless in where it sources its best and most delicious ideas from, but it's also sort of accessible and democratic and often working class.
One of the things I loved that you said in the book is this is not so much a fusion cooking, a term I don't think you like very much.
I think chefs oftentimes, and food writers, and, and, and all of us since the beginning of the 21st century, have grown a little bit of an allergy towards the word fusion, capital F Fusion.
Because at the end of the day, what we realize is what we're allergic to, what we're sensitive to, is not the combination of cuisine so much as the performative nature of that combination of cuisines.
And part of the impetus and sort of, like, the, the thought behind writing this book was I found that cha chaan tengs are a really great case study, um, of an antidote to that allergy, to that fusion sort of idea in cooking.
It's made by the people, for the people, but that sort of marriage of different types of cuisine comes out of a place of pragmatism and sometimes boring restaurant operations.
Um, in the cha chaan teng context, I think often about the baked pork chop rice is probably one of my favorite dishes, um, in the cha chaan teng.
And the baked pork chop rice, in effect, is a deep-fried pork chop set underneath bubbly, low-moisture mozzarella cheese broiled with this delicious sweet tomato sauce on top of golden fried rice.
And the, one of the common things between washoku and cha chaan teng is there's a lot of ketchup.
It's this sort of, like, casual all-day restaurant that, in effect, is a little bit borderless in where it sources its best and most delicious ideas from, but it's also sort of accessible and democratic and often working class.
One of the things I loved that you said in the book is this is not so much a fusion cooking, a term I don't think you like very much.
I think chefs oftentimes, and food writers, and, and, and all of us since the beginning of the 21st century, have grown a little bit of an allergy towards the word fusion, capital F Fusion.
Because at the end of the day, what we realize is what we're allergic to, what we're sensitive to, is not the combination of cuisine so much as the performative nature of that combination of cuisines.
And part of the impetus and sort of, like, the, the thought behind writing this book was I found that cha chaan tengs are a really great case study, um, of an antidote to that allergy, to that fusion sort of idea in cooking.
It's made by the people, for the people, but that sort of marriage of different types of cuisine comes out of a place of pragmatism and sometimes boring restaurant operations.
Um, in the cha chaan teng context, I think often about the baked pork chop rice is probably one of my favorite dishes, um, in the cha chaan teng.
And the baked pork chop rice, in effect, is a deep-fried pork chop set underneath bubbly, low-moisture mozzarella cheese broiled with this delicious sweet tomato sauce on top of golden fried rice.
And the, one of the common things between washoku and cha chaan teng is there's a lot of ketchup.
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