Cover Much like Standard Chartered, Cheng's journey is one that has required unmatched professional excellence at every turn (Photo: Courtesy of Standard Chartered)
Much like Standard Chartered, Cheng's journey is one that has required unmatched professional excellence at every turn (Photo: Courtesy of Standard Chartered)
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The Vea chef’s story spans from finding mentors from restaurants around the world, to claiming a spot in Asia’s 50 Best and putting French-Chinese cuisine on the map—all successes he attributes to the skills he was taught along the way
Creating a world-class dining experience requires the sort of expertise that can only be built up through years of dedication. That precisely describes what Vicky Cheng has done. Chef and owner at Hong Kong fine dining restaurant Vea, Cheng first trained in classic French cuisine, something that requires a huge amount of professional knowledge. He then rose to the top of the culinary tree with Vea, which has featured in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, powered by his decision to combine his expertise in French cuisine with Chinese ingredients. Much like Standard Chartered, which uses its peerless expertise to help every customer meet their financial goals, it’s a journey that has required unmatched professional excellence at every turn.
Born in Hong Kong, Cheng moved to Canada in his youth, and received his training at various French restaurants in Toronto, then at Daniel Boulud’s New York eatery.
“My mentors influenced me a lot,” he says. Among them he highlights Jason Bangerter, head chef at Toronto modern French fine dining restaurant Auberge du Pommier, “the guy I asked for advice on which first knife I should buy”.
Standard Chartered also recognises the importance of expertise and professionalism. That’s why it partners with Insead, one of the world’s leading business schools, providing professional training to its relationship managers.
Chef Vicky Cheng (Photo: Courtesy of Standard Chartered)
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Cheng’s decision to strike out on his own with Chinese-French restaurant Vea in 2015, he says, was driven by the insight that it was now or never. “My mind told me it was time for me to leave and do my own thing. I wanted to do something different from what I’d been doing. I was well trained in French cuisine, and obviously I’m from Hong Kong,” so it felt like a natural choice.
Then in 2021, he decided to launch Chinese restaurant Wing—again, diving headlong into a cuisine that requires bucketloads of professional expertise to master.
“Seven years ago, I took the risk of doing Chinese-French cuisine; I was the first doing it in Hong Kong and one of the first internationally. I realised that over the years I’ve opened doors to other chefs and restaurants. I realised that taking risks was not only of benefit to myself—the learning curve of mastering another cuisine that I hadn’t grown up with—but also opens up paths for many others.”
In the same way as Cheng has mastered multiple cuisines by immersing himself in them, Standard Chartered’s wealth management experts bring their comprehensive knowledge to bear in their efforts to help customers achieve their financial goals through different stages of life. The bank’s Fund Select platform offers an expert selection of best-in-class mutual funds across a range of asset classes, sectors and themes that can cater to every customer’s financial needs and risk appetite. The Standard Chartered Fund Select team analyses and monitors various funds across the market, to generate a recommended list of around 80 high-quality funds every month.
For all the professional experts that have helped him, Cheng says, the number one mentor of all in his life remains his mother. “Except for her, my entire family said to me: don’t be a chef; it’s not a good career; it’s not a proud occupation—to the point where my mum was getting grief. She said to me: if you’re going to do something, do it the best you can or don’t do it at all. That’s easy to just listen to, but when you see your mum fighting with the entire family, it gave me a lot of mental power. I knew I had to make my mother proud.”
Since then, he’s been able to make his dreams come true with the financial security of a sound wealth management plan. “Everyone needs to have dreams,” he says. “Growing up, it was always a dream of mine to be a successful chef. It’s now also part of my dream to become a successful businessman.”
With the aid of Standard Chartered’s one-of-a-kind expertise, now everyone has the chance to share in that dream.
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