Bonnae Gokson decorates a wedding cake at Ms B's Cakery. (Photo/Provided to China Daily)
"You think: beef noodle soup－so what? They're a dime a dozen. But we've all had bad versions of it, and there's just no excuse for bits of dried-up sour meat in a dull broth."
The menu has many touches that will strike a chord in the capital. Red and gold, popular hues in China, grace many of her creations, for example. Many of her signature dishes are lavishly presented in a 2014 coffee-table book, Butterflies and All Things Sweet: The Story of Ms B's Cakes.
And while she has described her approach as the "East-meets-West DNA of refinement for Hong Kong", she is wary of too much adventurism in fusion.
"I hate things on my plate that I have to guess what they are," she says with a grin.
To deliver honest, good food, she says, she will often create an Asian dish with authentic ingredients but with a Western presentation. Having grown up in the international city of Hong Kong, however, means she has a palate of authentic Western fare at her fingertips, too.
"Hong Kong was British-governed when I was a girl," she says, "and my dad was schooled in Edinburgh. So everything wasn't Cantonese: There were lots of Brits and Americans and Russians, too."
Her restaurateur father taught her the joy of simplicity. "We still make his vegetable wontons, with eight or nine different vegetables, and pickles, and a broth gets rich from slow cooking."
That's a theme that recurs in her running commentary on food.
Her signature Hot Mango Tart, for example, features a mango jam that's cooked for six hours on low heat to bring out the full flavor of the fruit.
"Slow cooking is a hot trend today, but it's nothing new in China," she says. "It's important for us to preserve what makes us special, our cuisine special. We have thousands of dishes from all provinces of China, all with he same tradition of care."
The fashion-industry veteran says China's economic rise and the emergence of the Asian market has affected globalization in some good ways.
"At some point, we realized that you can't have exactly the same things in duty-free shops everywhere," she says. "Now our attention is going back to small things, to the core and to the detail of craftsmanship. That brings out individuality. Asian consumers have moved from the glamor of brands and labels to the glamor of quality－quality that can be seen without a flashy logo.
"Now, you have to produce a star."
If you go
Sevva for Series 2 Louis Vuitton Cafe, through April 12, Louis Vuitton, 1 Jianguomenwai Avenue, Chaoyang district, Beijing.
