Pang Pin Lee, left, is one of 32 chefs at Hakkasan. Delores Johnson / The National
Pang Pin Lee, left, is one of 32 chefs at Hakkasan. Delores Johnson / The National

Hundreds of hungry diners top the menu



Pang Pin Lee, known as Sam, is the executive sous chef at Hakkasan, the upscale Chinese eatery in Emirates Palace. He is one of 32 chefs who produce hundreds of meals each night and cannot afford a single mix-up.

9am

I wake up and have breakfast. Sometimes I cook for myself and sometimes I go out. I cook sausage, eggs sunny side up and bacon. On my day off I go and buy all the food and keep it in my fridge to cater for the whole week.

10am

I leave for work. The company provides transport. I live near the Muroor area. It takes about 20 minutes.

10:30am

The first thing I will focus on is receiving the food. We have to do forecasting with our suppliers. At the moment it's challenging because of the summer. We have to control the quality because it's so hot. We have to receive all the items at the right temperature. There are always different issues. There was the Japan earthquake, which affects us. Our signature dish is the duck salad. We ran out [of the salad leaves] because the municipality banned all the shipments from Holland and Spain. Now we have got a new supplier and we will get some products from Australia. But the pricing is double and it is going to affect my costing.

11:30am

I have to work together with Emirates Palace HR regarding all the issues from our back of house. Also we have to do the submissions for all our staff for the monthly payroll.

Midday

I start in the kitchen. There are so many sections: barbecue, pastry, dim sum, woks. I have to monitor these. In my team, I have seven sous chefs. All the signature dishes are done daily, and these take a long time to prepare. We spend four hours doing all the preparation, including the boiling, sauces, garnishing, deep-fried items. We check the reservations to see how busy it is.

2pm

Sometimes we create new recipes. Then we have to try everything. We'll get comments from our whole team and we will try to adjust.

4:30pm

We have dinner in the staff canteen.

5pm

The kitchen briefing starts. We go through the daily report. We will revise what happened yesterday and I let the team know what our daily revenues were for the day before. We discuss any problems anyone is having. This is very important because we're a big team. We don't work solo.

6pm

Everyone is back at their stations. The restaurant opens. We only open for dinner, not lunch. If we are really busy, I can tell you that everyone will cook in a line for five hours and we'll never stop. Our career is very tiring.

Midnight

The restaurant closes.

12.30am

I catch the bus home.

1am

I take a bit of time to sit down and relax, take a shower, drink a hot milk, and I check my e-mails.

1:45am

Bed.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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How does ToTok work?

The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store

To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.

The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.

Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.

 

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
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8.50pm: Calandogan
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Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes. 
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

'O'
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Set-jetting on the Emerald Isle

Other shows filmed in Ireland include: Vikings (County Wicklow), The Fall (Belfast), Line of Duty (Belfast), Penny Dreadful (Dublin), Ripper Street (Dublin), Krypton (Belfast)