Growing up, Chris Lam spent most nights helping out in his father's restaurant: bussing tables, inquiring about ingredients, and sometimes just horsing around. The Vancouver chef comes from a long line of restauranteurs. His grandfather and great-grandfather both had restaurants in Macau—and, although he tried taking another route by enrolling in medical school (mostly to please his mother he says), he found he just couldn't break away from the life of food and hospitality. "I tried very hard. My Dad is a chef [and] every dad chef doesn't want their kid to follow in their footsteps," Lam explains over the phone. "Because it's a pretty hard life." Launching his first restaurant in the midst of a pandemic certainly wasn't his plan—and must add to his parent's fears of a hard life—but Lam tells me that when you love restaurant culture and the life that comes along with it, either you're in—come what may—or you get out. "And I really enjoy the life," he admits, laughing.

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