CNY seafood recipes from a passionate 82-year-old chef

He may now be 82, but Choy is still very passionate about Cantonese food. — ART CHEN/The Star

ALTHOUGH he potters about slowly now, 82-year-old Choy Sin Sang still has a keen sense of taste and appreciation for what constitutes good Cantonese food. Choy was the former head honcho at the former Equatorial Hotel (now EQ)’s defunct Golden Phoenix Chinese restaurant, which closed in 2012 when the hotel underwent a refurbishment exercise.

The restaurant opened in 1974 and Choy joined in 1977, staying until the end. This year, EQ has staged a Golden Phoenix revival in the guise of a pop-up restaurant located in the hotel which will be running until 15 February. The renaissance has also brought Choy back to the place where he spent decades running the show in the kitchen. His gravitas is such that other chefs in the hotel all refer to him as the “sifu” (master).