Interview: Chef David Laris On Fine Dining In Shanghai (Part Two)
In part two of our interview, we cover Laris's status as a "target" among Shanghai's young chefs, his preparation for the entrance of the Gordon Ramsays of the global culinary world into the city, and the upcoming launch of his first Chinese restaurant, Le Sheng (乐笙).
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Contents
- "Never Once Have I Said I’m Stepping In And Trying To Cook Shanghainese Food – That’d Be Suicide"
- part one
- Jing Daily (JD): Design is a major part of what you do, in the food and the venues. Has that always been a main focus of yours, or did it just click with you at some point?
- David Laris (DL)
- JD: That’s one thing, I think there's a real visual identity in each of these places, and you don’t see that as often in Shanghai as you should.
- DL
- JD: You mentioned getting your hands dirty. Now that you’ve got so many projects going at once, does it leave you any time for...
- DL:
- JD: Yeah.
- DL
- JD: Do you ever worry you’re getting too big, and at some point, as a figure in Shanghai, you’ll become almost like a target?
- DL
- JD: True, well, I guess it’s just one of those things I’m curious about, in terms of dealing with that.
- DL
- JD: It seems like there have been quite a few younger chefs coming in over the past few years, and it seems that there’s a bit more of a community now.
- DL
- JD: To backtrack a little bit, you were talking about the global side. Now that you’re positioned here, are you hoping to go to Hong Kong or somewhere else?
- DL
- JD: Looking at the idea of challenges, I know you’re getting ready to open your first Chinese restaurant in October. Can you say something about that project?
- DL
- JD: So one final, big question: Beijing versus Shanghai?
- DL
- Special thanks to David Laris and Christina Kao of David Laris Creates.
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