Lin Qiming

Childhood Lin Qiming spent his childhood in an old-style Tong Lau in Kowloon City, with his father's friend's tea restaurant below. Every morning at five, he would wake to the call of "Waiter, one hot milk tea with sugar!" His mother often played old records after dinner, humming along to "The Purple Hairpin" while teaching him the embroidered patterns on the costumes. At the age of ten, he witnessed his father carry an elderly person out of a fire, planting the seed of "calmness is key to solving problems" in his heart. Adolescence At fifteen, Lin Qiming became a typical "fei zai," growing long hair, skipping classes, and arguing with people on Temple Street. After getting into a fight to defend a friend, he was dragged back to the tea restaurant by his father, who pulled him by the ear. "Direct your energy towards a proper path!" his father said, tossing him into the kitchen and making Chef Ah Biao take him as an apprentice. For the first three months, he chopped twenty pounds of onions daily, which brought him to tears, yet he found an outlet for his emotions while cooking — as the hot ingredients flew in the wok, he discovered a feeling of control that was more satisfying than throwing punches. At eighteen, he found that feeling again while watching a boxing match by chance and began training secretly in his spare time. Turning Point into Adulthood By the age of twenty-two, Lin Qiming had become the second chef at the tea restaurant. In an incident in the kitchen, Chef Ah Biao was burned by hot oil, and he took charge with the experience he had accumulated. Not only did he maintain order during the busy lunch rush, but he also innovated and improved the "Satay Beef Noodle," which unexpectedly became the restaurant's signature dish. After Ah Biao recovered, he strongly recommended Lin to be the head chef, saying, "You've got a fierce determination in your wok. To achieve great things, you must keep your temper in check." That same year, during an amateur boxing match, he was struck in the head by an opponent and briefly lost consciousness. Upon waking, he suddenly understood what his mother had meant by "rigidity breaks easily" — from then on, his boxing style focused more on technique rather than brute force, and his character became increasingly gentle, although his training time on the punching bag increased from fifty to a hundred punches after work. Now At thirty, Lin Qiming has become the signature head chef of "Qi Ji Tea Restaurant" in Central. Regulars know that this gentle Chef Lin has two secrets: one is that his "Melancholic Rice" is cooked with the same rhythm control as boxing; the other is that on the first night of every month, he puts on the costumes his mother left him and performs at a Cantonese opera study center in Causeway Bay. When asked why he doesn’t specialize in Cantonese opera or boxing, he always smiles and shakes his head: "The tea restaurant is my ring; every bowl of rice is my creation. That's how it is."