- We just got here early.

Sun still up.

People aren't quite here yet

but the kitchen just started cranking,

so let's see what they're cooking at Oi Man Sang

[Lucas speaking in foreign language]

This is what we call a Dai Pai Dong,

which literally translates

to big license stall. [text booming]

They make this thing we call Xiao Chao, small stir fries.

They specialize in fresh seafood, huge amount of seasoning,

big aromatics, high octane cooking.

Always absorbing new cultural influences

serving a huge amount of people.

So we're in the district,

a neighborhood called Sham Shui Po.

Sham Shui Po is known for a lot of manufacturing,

a lot of textiles...

And this type of eating was sort of blue collar

and democratic in all over the place.

Everyone from every sector of society all over Hong Kong,

will descend on places like this

because you're gonna drink cold beer,

eat hot food, all four seasons.

Because of the history, the push and pull.

There aren't that many Dai Pai Dongs left.

In Hong Kong, there are probably only around

about 20 of these guys left.

You'd read different stories.

Some people might say,

"There used to be 700, there used to be 2000,

there used to be 3000."

Point is as wonderful as this place is,

a little bit of a rare site.

These are really traditional

old school types of restaurants in Hong Kong

where government gave people licenses

to cook on this street.

Now, the government doesn't issue these licenses anymore

which means that the only way to keep cooking

at a place like this is to transfer that license

from a friend to a friend,

or from one generation to the next generation.

[Both speaking in foreign language]

So this license, they've held onto for 60 years.

As a result, these guys are guys who are operating it.

They're not the owners of the license,

but they're the operators of the restaurant.

The way it's set up is based on lines.

This chef's job here, what you might call a garde manger,

is to put together these little bowls of ingredients

that are then passed off to the wok station,

so that all the wok guys need to do, is cook it.

And then put it on top of a plate.

Whatever the chef needs for the dish,

that's the guy that's gonna put it all together.

On the right hand side, is the seafood butcher.

He's going to butcher, clean, and prepare

all the seafood to order. [scaler scrapping]

All the seafood,

fresh comes in every single day.

[knife chops]

These tanks are all live fish.

You get pomfret, you have [speaks in foreign language]

and crabs as well.

And that's what we're gonna ask chef to make.

This is crab that's known for its flesh.

It's killed to order.

Chopped up, split up, butchered.

[knife chops] Woo.

In the middle are two chefs each with their own woks.

They specialize in their own dishes.

Right hand side, tend to be the slightly more complicated,

oftentimes seafood dishes.

Left hand side, a lot more sauces and vegetables,

stir fries.

Everything they need is an exact arms reach.

They share a seasoning station in the middle

that has all the things they need.

Oyster sauce, salt, sugar, MSG, chili oil, chili paste.

The chefs don't even need to see the order.

Once they see the ingredient hit the table,

they know what dish they have to make.

All the chef needs to focus on is cooking.

[fire blazing] [food sizzling]

Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip.

Only needs a couple of tosses

to bring everything together.

Oh my God.

That was like four or five tosses, 15, 20 seconds.

No joke.

[text booming]

When you're stir frying, if you toss something into the air,

then, when it's in the air,

because of how hot that wok is, it stops cooking.

When it touches that wok again, it's hot again.

So it's cooking only by conduction.

So as it tosses, and tosses, and tosses,

it's like, [imitates food searing]

and just gets seared, and seared, and seared all over again.

That temperature reaches 400 plus degrees.

It goes through the Maillard reaction

and all those sugars inside of those ingredients

starts to caramelize.

There's a sweetness, umami...

All of that starts to be expressed.

The wok cooks will finish the cook in a matter of minutes,

if not seconds. [text booming]

Once that hot food is done,

it's gonna come out right in the middle

where the servers will pick those plates up

and bust 'em directly to the tables.

[Both speaking in foreign language]

Oooh.

Now, because this is a Dai Pai Dong,

this is not a regular Chinese restaurant inside.

The government gives him a license

that's been grandfathered in to cook with kerosene.

Kerosene.

Oh my God.

Okay.

That's a secret.

Kerosene makes this extra, extra, extra hot.

You can't get stove tops this hot in Hong Kong anymore.

[fire blazing]

[Both speaking in foreign language]

In Hong Kong, restaurants don't really take tips.

So if you were a restaurateur, you ran restaurants,

and you wanted to make a little bit more money,

the key is to serve more people.

That's where this essence of speed comes in.

It's all about a brutalist sort of efficiency, right?

The tables here span the entire block.

And honestly, there's a type of freedom

and do whatever you want spirit.

The number of tables that are in this restaurant

that they can serve,

is depending on where the cars are parked.

Today, unfortunately for them, as you can see,

somebody else parked their car

right where these folding tables,

and these plastic stools are supposed to be.

So sat down for dinner, a bunch of friends came with us.

We're gonna get some Dai Pai Dong food.

[group speaking in foreign language]

- That's a lot...

[Lucas and server speaks in foreign language]

That lady said,

I think they do at least three or four turns here at night.

The funny thing is she has no idea

how many people she serves a night,

which I'm sure she knows how much money she's making.

[speaks in foreign language] This is my favorite dish.

This is the dish you ordered

to test the wok technique of the chef.

Very familiar clay pot. Oh, my goodness we can't stop.

[text booming]

When you get to describe food in studio,

they can talk through all the ingredients if you have time,

but here, everything happens so fast.

It's like sports casting,

you have to like- - 'Cause everything

is served fast.

- And you have to like, [laughs]

Okay, Typhoon Shelter Crab.

Look at this. Are you joking? - Whoa.

- Are you joking? That's a whole claw.

No joke. [slurping] It's so hot.

You want those like earthy,

almost burnt chili crisp tones right at the end.

But at the top, you want that bright sparks

of that small, dried birds eye chili.

And then the fresh pepper, don't really taste it that much

but that's mostly there for color.

I think so much about Dai Pai Dong cooking is about style.

And here, chef is trying to address

all those layers of heat.

I'm just sitting here

and for the next two minutes I'm gonna be tasting that crab.

- He's got all the- - Yeah.

[all laughing] - Like, he's so good.

- [Lucas] The first time I came to Oi Man Sang

was seeing chef off in the distance.

When you walk into this restaurant space,

you walk down the middle of the road...

And in this kitchen, all you see

are his bright yellow shorts flapping in the wind.

Chef has forearms of a wok God, nothing stops him.

No heat, no fire, no injury,

because he's the coolest dude in all of Hong Kong.

[fire blazing] [Chef laughs]

Cheers. Thank you for coming. - Cheers.

- Thanks for having us. [glass clanks]

[Lucas speaks in foreign language]

[glass thuds] - Okay, let's get out of here.

Ciao. [chair clattering]

I should pay, I should pay.

I'll pay. [all laughing]