Oliver Li

Oliver Li could have taken the well-trodden path: pay deference to Cantonese tradition, tweak a garnish here, introduce a dainty French technique there, and call it innovation. Instead, at Jee, he is doing something far more interesting. In collaboration with Cantonese master Siu Hin-chi of Ying Jee Club, Li isn’t simply modernising classic dishes—he’s interrogating them, pulling them apart, and reassembling them with a kind of fearlessness that suggests he’s cooking for the future, not just the present.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Li’s journey into the kitchen has been anything but ordinary. His training is steeped in French fine dining, rising through the ranks at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon before leading the kitchen at L’Envol. Then came a pivotal move to Paris, where he worked under David Toutain, refining his approach to ingredient-led cooking and sharpening his ability to extract the essence of a dish. It’s this background—rigorous, disciplined, yet deeply creative—that makes his work at Jee so compelling.

At Jee, he is not simply applying French technique to Cantonese flavours—he is asking what Cantonese cuisine can become when pushed beyond expectation. His dishes don’t pander, they persuade, and Li is making it very clear that he is just getting started.