At 15, most Hong Kong teenagers are fretting over exams. At that age, Kan Wong, the newly appointed executive Chinese chef at Celestial Court at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, was up to his elbows in a wok, learning a lesson his father never intended to teach.

“I started helping my dad out in the kitchen when I was only nine years old,” he says. “He thought it would teach me a lesson so I would study harder at school. But I fell in love with the work.”

Born into a working-class family in Tai Po, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, Wong has spent 35 years working in the city’s most prestigious kitchens.

He grew up around cooking – his father and his uncle were both head chefs at local Chinese restaurants – and had his sights set on the most revered role.

“Of course I wanted to work the wok station,” he says with a smile. “It’s the coolest position in a Chinese kitchen. You look cool while working the wok. It’s usually the most desired role to aspire to.”

Despite his upbringing surrounded by chefs, Wong says he did not always have a taste for fine food.