The spectacle can be playful, but the technique behind it is exacting. Ye has spent more than two decades in the kitchen and has long specialised in ingredient posturing and hot pot. His career began in Beijing, before he went on to oversee large-scale dining projects and the operations of numerous hot pot restaurants. He joined MGM as chef de cuisine in 2024.
Travel and fishing have also fed his fascination with where ingredients come from and how they behave once they reach the kitchen. For his presentations, Ye does not start with sketches. Uniformly cut pieces of fish become what he describes as “blocks of colour”, arranged directly in vessels and decorative structures until the composition comes together.
There’s little room for improvisation once work begins. A presentation can require three chefs working in a 20-minute relay. The first breaks down the ingredients and handles the knife work, the second prepares the shaved-ice base and the third takes care of plating and decoration. With lobster, freshness can be apparent in a particularly visceral way: the claws may still be moving when it is brought out.
Precision on the plate
Much of the visual effect begins with the knife. Thickness is controlled down to the millimetre because even a small difference can alter the texture and chew of an ingredient once it hits the broth. Cuts must also remain uniform enough to work within the composition.
New Zealand blackfoot abalone requires especially precise knife work. Ye favours a horizontal cut for its visual effect, demanding close control over both thickness and timing. At Enchanté, postured hot pot brings together three elements, ingredients, aesthetics and knife skills.
.jpeg "Top-graded 1++A Hanwoo sirloin is arranged with references to traditional Chinese painting before being cooked in the hot pot.")
For all the visual drama, hot pot eventually comes down to what happens when ingredients meet liquid and heat.
Enchanté offers nine soup bases and 12 dipping sauces, prepared daily by Ye. Choices include fish maw and chicken, lobster bisque and matsutake chicken. The fish maw and chicken broth takes eight hours, combining fish maw with Guangdong-style old hen, while Ye’s seafood dipping sauce also uses old-hen stock as its base.
.jpeg "Crane motifs rendered in handcrafted Suzhou embroidery bring artistry and symbolism to Enchanté’s interiors.")
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