Social chatter: HK based celebrity food critic says Jap omakase treats 'consumers as idiots'

Hong Kong-based food critic Chua Lam has defended his criticisms against Japanese omakase after describing it as “treating consumers as idiots”.  According to the post on Lam’s Facebook and Weibo account on 8 September, the Singapore-born food critic and TV celebrity said that he did not expect his statement to draw heated discussions. He also said he is open to criticisms and opposing opinions, and claimed that viewing the incident in different points of view would have been more interesting.

Lam then further elaborated his opinion on Japanese omakase, explaining that whenever he enters a new restaurant in Japan, he would never ask for omakase, “We do not know each other, even though the restaurant is famous in town.”

He said that the chef will only introduce the origin of the food and products, then customers could choose whether to try or not, “and that’s when the communication comes between the chef and the consumer, representing a ‘makasu’ relationship.”

This comes as the food writer criticised Japanese omakase as “treating consumers as idiots” on his Weibo account on 22 August. "If I want to eat something I can order it, there's no need to bother the chef," said the 82-year-old. He also said that operating in this manner only makes it easier for restaurants to calculate their cost, and does not transmit the essence of Japanese cuisine.

The incident has drawn mixed reactions across social platforms. A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw that some netizens agreed with Lam under his Facebook post, while some commented that Lam misunderstands the meaning of Japanese omakase. Social listening firm Meltwater saw a total of 1.19k mentions over the past seven days across social platforms, with 10% negative sentiments and 10% positive sentiments. 

(Photo courtesy: Chua Lam's Facebook)

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