One of the fastest Michelin stars ever – Hong Kong-born chef’s unique restaurant Udtryk

“It was an absolute shock to the system on the night,” says the 38-year-old chef. “It’s absolutely wonderful. To go from zero to one star so quickly without a big-name chef or anything, that’s something to be proud of.”

Lee may not yet be a big-name chef, but Udtryk has certainly got the culinary world talking.

The restaurant melds Chinese with Nordic, French and Japanese approaches. Named after the Danish word for “expression”, it is the articulation of Lee’s gastronomic personality developed over the past two decades on opposite sides of the world.

At Udtryk, he draws heavily on his Hong Kong heritage. He only lived in the city until the age of five, but he often returns to visit family. He grew up in Sydney but kept connected to Hong Kong’s food culture through Sydney’s substantial Chinatown and Chinese neighbourhoods. The move to Australia instilled in him a lifelong fascination for different cultures and cuisines.