Stuff Digital Edition

THEIR PLACE VICKY HA

PHOTOS: MONIQUE FORD/STUFF WORDS: AMBERLEIGH JACK

Chef Vicky Ha, 39, moved to Dunedin from Hong Kong when she was 15, but now lives in Wellington, where she established House of Dumplings. She has an apartment in the city for her weekday home, spending weekends – and all of her downtime – at partner Cedric Williams’ home in Whitby, Porirua.

VICKY: I moved to New Zealand when I was 15 to go to boarding school in Dunedin. In Hong Kong, everyone lives in an apartment unless you’re loaded. When you look outside you just see buildings all around you.

It’s different from looking out in the bush. It’s not liberating living in that kind of environment. It’s never peaceful. It’s a very vast difference.

The Whitby house has a little stream running right onto the property. It has eels in it, and kids sometimes walk up to it to explore. I’d have done the same if I was a kid.

The futon by the window is the spot I spend my weekend if I don’t have to work. I can hear the river from there; different birds, especially right in the morning and just before dark. It’s so noisy out there, it’s really cool.

I just stare or play on my phone. That’s all I do. Moving to New Zealand was shocking. I was quite popular when I was a kid. I was doing quite well in sports and was a tomboy. I was [mischievous] in Hong Kong and outspoken.

When I first moved to Dunedin it was cold, and moving to a boarding school was full-on. It was quite restrictive. I was on my own with no friends, racism, boarding school and bullying because I wasn’t the girly-girl like a lot of the boarding school girls. I was quite odd, awkward and getting in trouble constantly.

I was just an outsider. As soon as I got out of boarding school I was so much better.

I do have quite a lot of scarves. I travel so often, and I don’t carry a lot of stuff with me. When you travel, a scarf is easy to put in your backpack. Most of the time it is hand-woven or handmade, always colourful. There’s a story behind it. I love it.

I have kept those handmade moon cake moulds from my travels. It’s a reference to my heritage. It’s more than a box of chocolate favourites: It’s special when you receive a box of moon cakes as a gift.

I don’t use them. I don’t know how to make them. I’m a chef, so I guess I could wing it in some way.

I still don’t have what I want in my kitchen because it costs money, basically. You just make things work. My partner actually does a lot of cooking. It’s not his job, so he loves cooking.

When I cook, I cook a feast. I eat takeaways: It’s quick, quick, quick. I’m not going to spend hours in the kitchen because that’s my work. People think chefs eat well, but it’s like, no, we actually eat like shit.

I designed the logo for House of Dumplings, because I did marketing when I was at Otago University. We spray-painted the logo onto a coffee sack before I bought any hessian material.

I started making dumplings in a kitchen by City Market [in 2012], and spent 17 hours making the first market dumplings. They sold out in two hours and that was the beginning of House of Dumplings, basically. That was it.

I don’t have a spot where I work in the house. I go around the house – on the floor, on the couch, sitting on the deck, on the bed, I sit on the stairs.

I stay here during the weekend, because during the week I have to be close to work. I’m not a morning person and my partner gets up really early. So I stay in town during the week and Friday I come here until Monday or Tuesday. And holidays I stay here.

Staying here is like looking forward to a holiday.

Kāinga / Home

en-nz

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282724820811541

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