Mr Lam and his fellow bamboo artisans can make a single steamer in mere minutes. When you look inside the workshop, Mr Lam’s workbench is a solid block of Singaporean timber, the very same one from when his family first moved to Hong Kong. It takes about three years to learn the art of handcrafting a steamer from a single piece of bamboo. When Tuck Chong Sum Kee first opened in Hong Kong, they only made the 21-inch basket that waitresses would carry with two leather straps attached. Now you can get baskets of 17 different sizes, in addition to chopsticks, cups, mooncake moulds, bamboo nets, and other eating and cooking utensils that are made from leftover bamboo pieces.
Tuck Chong Sum Kee Bamboo Steamer Co., 12 Western Street, Sai Ying Pun | +852 2540 4386