the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 3times2
takeaway to MasterChef
own equipment, my own ingredients.
Whereas obviously other chefs,
they had professional kitchens to
bounce off.”
The only controversy attracted by
this autumn’s MasterChef was over its
vegetarian dishes. Writers in The
Guardian protested that there were not
enough of them. Lee says the problem
had already been addressed by the
show, particularly in the semi-final
staged at the Alain Ducasse restaurant
in the Dorchester Hotel, where the
signature dish looks more like a flower
arrangement than even a salad.
“I get it. Obviously vegetarianism,
veganism, are becoming a lot more
prevalent. More and more people are
becoming aware of what’s going on
and they go towards vegetarian and
veganism, which is brilliant and I don’t
want to say The Guardian is wrong or
anything but, you know, personally
I eat meat, I eat fish, and I like to cook
with them, so I’m going to do that on
the show. If I’m asked to do just
vegetables, I will adapt and I’ll do it,
but I like to cook food that I like to
eat, and as much as I love vegetable
dishesI do love a bit of fish. I do love
a bit of meat.”
What I had not guessed was that
the fine dining the show advertises
— his winning Singapore chilli crab
was topped with squid ink tuile, soft
crab shell tempura and basil cream
with crab and chilli oil (and this
was a starter) — is not particularly
Lee’s thing. When he said after
his win that he wanted to start a street
food business from a truck he was
not joking.
“I’d like one because I could turn
out good, tasty food at low-cost prices
to whoever wants it. If
I say, ‘OK, I want to go
open just a restaurant; I
want it fine dining; I want
it 30 seats,’ I’d have to
charge X amount of
money. Not everyone can
access that, and that kind
of bothers me because
my style of food can be
accessible to everyone.
“Of course, there are
times, like in MasterChef,
I can refine it. I do a lot
more techniques, a lot
more elements, a lot more
expensive ingredients. I
could do a restaurant
around that, and I do want
to eventually, but at the same time,
my philosophy is that food should
be accessible to everyone, so I’d also
want a food truck that can serve
people for low cost.”
Since his win was announced —
the filming was in the summer —
he has been touched by the number
of messages from the “Eurasian
community”, saying: “Thank you for
representing our food.”
His agent has regretfully resigned,
saying: “Dan, you’re going to be too
busy for anything nowadays.” And I
suspect that job offers are not the only
propositions that Lee, who is single,
will be receiving.
Dan Lee’s website consists of a
single page, reading: “Something
exciting is coming soon.. .” But you
do not need a prophetic dream to be
sure of that.Dan Lee, top, with his
aunt Kwai Lee in
Birmingham’s Chinese
Quarter and, above,
on MasterChefmanagement. You pick up who you
learn off. So if you work with screamy,
shouty chefs, which I did a fair few
times, you pick up their habits. I
shouted at people, I screamed at
people. I have been that chef. I had a
temper on me, I would absolutely flip.
“Then I just realised, and I think a
lot of the industry is realising as well,
it’s not how you get the best out of
people. It’s not. Obviously, I wish I was
never like that originally, but I learnt
to be the way I am now: take time
with people, appreciate that everyone
learns at their own pace.
“In a kitchen, it’s a tense
environment. Pressures do arise. I will
raise my voice occasionally in the heat
of service. There’s nothing wrong
with that; everyone is under the same
pressure. As long as you make sure
you say sorry after. If you shout at
someone, say: ‘Sorry. It is what it is.
It’s the pressure. I owe you a drink.’ ”
In Singapore he worked as a sous
chef at Table 65 and helped it to win
a Michelin star in its first year. But it
was time to come home.
The problem was that soon after he
did so, and having served just one
meal as a private-hire chef, lockdown
was imposed. He could not evenserve street food
from a truck
because nobody
was on the streets.
“No truck. No
furlough, because
obviously I’d been
out of the country
for so long and just
moved back. It was
difficult. It was really upsetting. I was
looking for jobs. I was trying to keep
cheffing. We didn’t know how long
before restaurants would reopen. ‘Do
I need to find another career path,
what’s going on?’ There were a few
questionable times.”
He took a job at Tesco. The four
recruits he worked with were from the
hospitality industry too, but the spirit
at the supermarket was “absolutely
brilliant”. Finally, lockdown lifted, he
found someone running a small chef
agency business and he picked up his
career catering for private clients.
When he was selected for
MasterChef, however, he was on his
own, not working in a restaurant
kitchen. “The thing I’m most proud of
is that throughout I had to practise in
my home kitchen, my mum’s kitchen.
It’s a tiny kitchen. I had to buy myANDREW FOX FOR THE TIMES
Something strange is going on.
Did you stick the swab too far up
your nose?No. I mean between two
individuals. One furrier and fluffier
than the other.
One man and his dog?One woman and her cat. Meow!
Oh dear. Is it a sad story?Hard to tell. On the one hand, it
could be a tale of love and two gals
having a good time out on the town.
On the other, of a woman who is
somewhat unhinged and holding
a trapped hostage.
Are you sure you didn’t stick the
swab up too far?Yes! It’s Kate Beckinsale you need
to worry about, not me. She
uploaded a video to Instagram this
week of her taking her cat out
underwear shopping.
I see. And is it a bikini or full-brief
kind of kitty?It was a human knicker spree, not
a feline one. Cats don’t wear pants.
They might in celeb-ville. From La
Fur-la. Hee hee.Hilarious. But no. It would be too
difficult for the cat to browse the
rails in the confines of its carrier,
anyway.
Also, without opposable thumbs.
Wait, carrier?Yes — a circular one with wheels
and a handle. Think carry-on
suitcase, but made of clear plastic
and with a cat inside wearing a
festive jumper. That’s what
Beckinsale was dragging around.
The image is clear in my mind. My
only question: why?Why also pose with said cat on your
head? Or dress it in pink feathers?
Or a Cinderella gown? These are
all things Beckinsale has done.
Clearly, she is obsessed.
Yes. Or, maybe, she — whisper it —
has a sense of humour.
Hannah RogersThe lowdown
Kate Beckinsale
MasterChef: The
Professionals is on
BBC iPlayer
Website chefdanlee.com
Instagram
@daniel.jb.lee