Zen

Growing up in the small Province of Cheng du China, Tang credits his success from early childhood experiences with his mother Wang, who taught him the true meaning of Sichuan family style dishes, from wok fried whole Basa fish with aged salted black beans, to slow roasted crispy pork belly with crushed Sichuan peppercorns. 

As Tang entered his culinary career with Zen at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in 2004, he asked to design all of the custom wok stations to fit him and his team. Tang made sure that from start to finish, the design was suitable enough to execute and achieve the highest level of quality. To this day, he still only produces dishes from his wok pan custom made 10 years ago. Tang swears that “all of his dishes taste better” coming from that specially made piece of equipment.

Honoring the ingredients has always been a focal point in his culinary upbringing, sourcing only the best products from around the country. Chef Tang travels to his hometown in China twice a year to bring back “must have” traditional ingredients to share with eagerly waiting Zen customers. 

His passion to share recipes and stories of his childhood echo throughout the restaurant. One story depicts a master chef of a local restaurant kitchen in his neighborhood who caught a 10-year-old Tang sneaking sweet and sour spare ribs. As it turns out, that person, Chef Zhang, gave Tang some amazing advice about going to culinary school to help unlock his hidden talent and sharpen his culinary skills, and that one day he should travel to the United States.

Tang continues to marvel people with his simplistic approach to traditional Sichuan cooking, from sweet and sour to hot and spicy, he touches all parts of the palate to create harmonized balanced dishes. Every dish that Tang serves not only honors the people of Cheng Du China but more importantly Master Zhang and of course his Mother Wang.