Culinary Masters・Culinary Masters
Johnny Pan's Culinary Odyssey Across China
04 June 2025
At Provincial, regional Chinese flavours are reimagined through lived experience.
Chef Johnny Pan didn’t set out to become a chronicler of Chinese cuisine—but that’s what happened. His journey began in the kitchens of his family’s business in Jiangmen, where he helped after school with whatever needed doing: washing vegetables, prepping meat, scrubbing down the line. “You didn’t choose your role,” he says. “You just listened and did what had to be done.”
It was in his early twenties that his curiosity deepened. First through Cantonese kitchens, then—starting in 2014—across China. He spent years cooking in Shanghai, Beijing, Hainan, and beyond, documenting flavours that lingered, jotting down techniques, and absorbing local knowledge from chefs and street vendors alike. “I began to understand that the most meaningful dishes aren’t written down,” he says. “They’re handed down. Lived.”
It was in his early twenties that his curiosity deepened. First through Cantonese kitchens, then—starting in 2014—across China. He spent years cooking in Shanghai, Beijing, Hainan, and beyond, documenting flavours that lingered, jotting down techniques, and absorbing local knowledge from chefs and street vendors alike. “I began to understand that the most meaningful dishes aren’t written down,” he says. “They’re handed down. Lived.”
That ethos now shapes Provincial. Johnny created a commemorative menu anchored by a single signature: a Chongqing-style slow-cooked beef rib, richly layered with spice and umami to celebrate the Club’s 140th anniversary. Based on a street dish he encountered early in his mainland travels, it’s been meticulously refined for the occasion. “We keep the soul,” he says, “but bring finesse to the structure.”
To adapt the dish to the local palate, Johnny reimagined the signature mala heat. The result is fragrant but not overly spicy, with slow-building depth rather than immediate intensity. “For Hong Kong diners, it’s not about overwhelming heat,” he says. “It’s about aroma, balance, a kind of quiet richness that lingers.” The sauce—silken and complex—draws on his archive of regional techniques, blending dried chillies, fermented broad bean paste, and aromatics with restrained precision.
The beef rib is just one facet of Johnny’s larger vision. Two additional creations, while not part of the anniversary set, showcase the depth of Provincial’s culinary exploration.
To adapt the dish to the local palate, Johnny reimagined the signature mala heat. The result is fragrant but not overly spicy, with slow-building depth rather than immediate intensity. “For Hong Kong diners, it’s not about overwhelming heat,” he says. “It’s about aroma, balance, a kind of quiet richness that lingers.” The sauce—silken and complex—draws on his archive of regional techniques, blending dried chillies, fermented broad bean paste, and aromatics with restrained precision.
The beef rib is just one facet of Johnny’s larger vision. Two additional creations, while not part of the anniversary set, showcase the depth of Provincial’s culinary exploration.
One is a reimagined water-boiled fish, inspired by an exchange with a Sichuan master. “Most versions today are simplified,” Johnny says. “But we prepare ours the traditional way—blanched first, then finished with a house-blended chilli oil. It’s all about layering.” The dish retains the boldness of its origin while dialing in clarity and poise.
The other is a northern-style sauce-simmered flatbread, adapted from a Hunan night market snack. Crisped, aromatic, and full of texture, it’s served in a compact form with all the intensity of its rustic counterpart. “It’s about memory,” Johnny says. “Shrunk down, but still rich with character.”
These dishes offer a glimpse into Johnny’s broader practice: building an evolving dictionary of regional tastes, techniques, and traditions. His menus shift with the seasons, Provincial refreshes its offerings—drawn from Johnny’s own archive of handwritten notes and photos, sorted by province and flavour profile.
“I’m always learning,” he says. “Sometimes it’s a street vendor in Guizhou. Sometimes it’s a chef in Shanghai. Sometimes it’s just tasting something you thought you understood, and realising you didn’t.”
Western technique plays a subtle supporting role—appearing in the occasional slow-cooked duck, or in delicate plating that reveals, rather than obscures. “The roots are always regional,” he says. “But the perspective is my own.”
And that’s what Provincial offers: not a museum of Chinese cuisine, but a living journal. A place where stories are cooked, not archived.
For Johnny Pan, authenticity isn’t about imitation. It’s about memory, emotion, and meaning. Every dish carries a place, a season, and a story. And like the provinces he’s traveled, Provincial never stays still.
The other is a northern-style sauce-simmered flatbread, adapted from a Hunan night market snack. Crisped, aromatic, and full of texture, it’s served in a compact form with all the intensity of its rustic counterpart. “It’s about memory,” Johnny says. “Shrunk down, but still rich with character.”
These dishes offer a glimpse into Johnny’s broader practice: building an evolving dictionary of regional tastes, techniques, and traditions. His menus shift with the seasons, Provincial refreshes its offerings—drawn from Johnny’s own archive of handwritten notes and photos, sorted by province and flavour profile.
“I’m always learning,” he says. “Sometimes it’s a street vendor in Guizhou. Sometimes it’s a chef in Shanghai. Sometimes it’s just tasting something you thought you understood, and realising you didn’t.”
Western technique plays a subtle supporting role—appearing in the occasional slow-cooked duck, or in delicate plating that reveals, rather than obscures. “The roots are always regional,” he says. “But the perspective is my own.”
And that’s what Provincial offers: not a museum of Chinese cuisine, but a living journal. A place where stories are cooked, not archived.
For Johnny Pan, authenticity isn’t about imitation. It’s about memory, emotion, and meaning. Every dish carries a place, a season, and a story. And like the provinces he’s traveled, Provincial never stays still.
