🥢 Day 3 at Savour by LIV Golf: Exploring “Neighbourhood to Table” Flavors with Chef Gavin Chin 🥢

Welcome back to an unforgettable Day 3 at the Savour by LIV Golf stage here in Hong Kong! If you missed the action today, you missed a truly enlightening culinary masterclass.

Set against the lively backdrop of the golf tournament, we had the absolute honour of hosting a chef demonstration with none other than Chef Gavin Chin. Known for his incredible work at Brut! and his gorgeous Sai Ying Pun restaurant, House of Culture, Chef Gavin brought his unique multicultural perspective to the stage.

Alongside his engaging live cooking session, Chef Gavin shared his profound passion for community, heritage ingredients, and sustainable cooking…

Neighbourhood to Table: Rethinking Local Flavours

Chef Gavin challenged the audience to look closer at the ingredients in their own communities. Born in Perth with Malaysian heritage, Gavin identifies as a “third culture kid” and designed House of Culture to be “a home for many cultures to come together”.

To showcase this, he highlighted incredible local ingredients from the traditional shops in Sai Ying Pun. He spoke passionately about preserving these local businesses: “If these dishes are slowly eroding or fading away… how can we as the next generation create new innovative dishes that can still utilise these traditional ingredients in a contemporary format so that we can sustain these shops”.

Highlighting Heritage Ingredients: Chinese Olives and Soy

Chef Gavin brought this philosophy to life by incorporating unique local elements into his cooking. He introduced the audience to lam gok, or Chinese olives. Unlike western olives, these are marinated in licorice and soy, giving them a “unique earthy umami flavour”. He even shared a fantastic piece of history, explaining how vendors used to throw bags of these “flying olives” up to apartment buildings in exchange for cash thrown down by residents.

He also demonstrated the power of soy, using both light soy for “foundational flavour” and dark soy for a rich “caramel colour tone”. To naturally bind and thicken his dish without corn flour, he utilized white miso – a great sustainable product born from soy fermentation.

The Humble Onion Pie: A Multicultural Masterpiece

To prove that traditional ingredients can shine in contemporary ways, Chef Gavin prepared a spectacular “Humble Onion Pie”. Inspired by the classic Australian pub Guinness pie, Gavin created a completely vegetarian version.

He substituted heavy meat with local fermented vegetables, such as chai poh (salted, aged white radish that provides a “chewy meaty texture”), the umami-rich Chinese olives, and onions deglazed with dark beer. As a special nod to the LIV Golf event, he playfully plated the dish with “grass” made of chives and a brilliant edible “golf ball” made from coconut milk infused with kaffir lime!

Zero Waste and Accessible Advice

Sustainability was also at the forefront of the demo. Chef Gavin shared an innovative zero-waste initiative from his restaurant: instead of throwing away excess lamb fat, they render it down to create a “lamb fat wash old fashioned” cocktail, constantly exchanging ingredients between the bar and kitchen.

Feeling inspired to recreate his pie at home? Chef Gavin offered some incredibly accessible advice: Make it Your Own: “You can definitely use olive oil [instead of butter]… we can actually use soy [milk], which is not a problem at all. That’s also delicious. Or coconut milk”. Don’t Stress the Measurements: “A lot of home cooking and that comfort food comes from a dash of this and a dash of that. And you can always adjust at the end, so it’s never an issue”.

Here’s to sustainability at large scale events like golf tournaments, we hope that through food we can be part of the movement toward a healthier, more sustainable future.

(P.S. Chef Gavin is giving away four free drinks at House of Culture for the best social media post tagging his restaurant and the event today!).

 

Interested in more?

7th March 2026

🌱 Day 2 at Savour by LIV Golf: Fueling the Body with Michelin-Starred Chef Shane Osborn at our Chef Demo – Eat the Rainbow! 🌱

 

6th March 2026

🌱 Day 1 A Taste of Nature: Chef Christian’s Sustainable ‘Forest Burger‘ Demo at SAVOUR by LIV Golf 🌱

Want to embed sustainability into your events? Let’s have a coffee chat!