Emmett Chow wakes to the sound of his mom passive aggressively vacuuming outside his room. With no time to waste, he starts the day with scripture study: reading a few pages of . Then he hops onto Instagram for his weekly live-stream, #chewingtheporkfat.

It’s his way of checking in on the community (7k followers and rising – he calls them the ChowFans, geddit?), who in turn keep him humble. Mostly, it’s a way to offload things on his chest. Today’s topic: a 20-minute vendetta against anyone who says “bao buns”.

That’s so dumb, like, you wouldn’t say “bagel bread”. As Emmett drives to Lucky Dragon – the resto where he works – he hops on FaceTime with his graphic designer to discuss the logo for his first solo pop-up. He’s already got the name: Nai Nai, which pays homage to his grandmother, who taught him to fold his first dumpling.

Good, right? For a super sick vibe they’re gonna do it in a death metal font, only they can’t decide between Monkey Rhumble and Midnight Grave. His shift starts. As he juliennes 5kg of scallions, Emmett reminds himself how blessed he is to be following his dream.

Growing up, he ignored his parents’ constant nagging that he apply for med school. He remembers the moment he realised he wanted to be a chef – watching Đức, the head chef at Lucky Dragon, light the wok burner with a cigarette, then proceed to send out 36 consecutive dishes with the cigarette dangling from his mouth, never once putting it down or dropp.