Five Senses – Chui Lee Luk in Conversation with Aaron Seeto

Five Senses: Chui Lee Luk in conversation with Aaron Seeto, coincides with the major exhibition, Song Dong: Waste Not at Carriageworks, a single artwork consisting of over 10,000 objects from the artist’s family home. Conceived by Song Dong following the death of his father, the work represents his mother’s process of mourning and remembrance.

Consisting of the entire contents of her house, Waste Not reflects a journey of hardship and grief, resulting in a display of personal resilience and ultimately a celebration of life. Aaron Seeto, Director of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art will be joined by Chui Lee Luk, chef and current owner of Claude’s, a culinary institution at the forefront of French fine dining for over 35 years, to talk through some of the links and ideas which emerge from this monumental installation, and resonate within her culinary practice.

Chui Lee Luk was born in Singapore and spent her childhood in Malaysia before migrating to Sydney. Her food is admired for its classical French heritage and an innate understanding of South East Asian and Chinese cuisine. The relationship between good eating and life is what drives her creative discipline. Chui Lee Luk recently made a trip to her hometown in Sandakan in Sabah, Malaysia, and Five Senses will explore, through memory and the five senses, her recollections of home and the process of rememberance through food.

Please note that this event will take place at Carriageworks. Presented by Carriageworks and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

Public Program:

Five Senses – Chui Lee Luk in Conversation with Aaron Seeto
Saturday 23 February, 2013
11am – 12 noon
Carriageworks
245 Wilson St, Eveleigh NSW
FREE EVENT

Waste Not
Song Dong
5 January – 17 March 2013
Carriageworks
245 Wilson St, Eveleigh NSW
Contact: 02 8571 9099 10am – 6pm daily Free

Dad and Mum, Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well
Song Dong
5 January – 30 March 2013
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
181-187 Hay St, Sydney NSW
Contact: 02 9212 0380 11am – 6pm
Tuesday – Saturday Free

About Chui Lee Luk

After qualifying as a lawyer, Chui realised that her calling was not to practise law, but to cook. She firstly enlisted for work experience with Christine Manfield at Paramount; a move that confirmed her aspirations to own and run a restaurant. She followed that by spending time working with inspiring female chefs Anabel Savill at Emporio Armani and Kylie Kwong at Wockpool. She then headed to Cleopatra in Blackheath to work with Dany Chouet. It was there that she found her passion for French cuisine. In the next stage of her culinary education, she joined the kitchens of Banc to work with Liam Tomlin. Then she set her sights on Claude’s to learn from Tim Pak Poy, who admired her for her “sensitivity, drive, passion and intellect”. In turn, she saw in Pak Poy the same vision for fusing his Asian heritage with classical French technique.

It is this innate understanding of South-East Asian, Chinese and French cuisine that gives Chui’s a unique culinary edge. Moreover, Chui’s cooking has always come from the heart and she regards creating harmonious dishes that can be appreciated on many levels, as her paramount goal. Claude’s restaurant has been at the forefront of French fine dining and culinary inventiveness in Australia throughout its history. Celebrating its 35th anniversary in May 2011, an impressive collection of chefs have presided at 10 Oxford Street Woollahra. Founding chef and owner Claude Corne opened the restaurant in 1976.