Inspired by his experience in fine-dining, chef Chun-wan Lai wants the details to shine with his intricate yet affordable burgers at Sick! Burger.
Chun-wan Lai was not inspired by the likes of Thomas Keller, Eric Repert, or Anthony Bourdain when he became a chef; it was a Japanese drama series featuring a cunning bakery chef that enticed him to join the trade.
“This character was so handsome, so smart. In my childhood, I knew becoming a chef in the future would be pretty cool,” Chun-wan states.
In his younger adult years, fine-dining, as he puts it, was a way to formalise his entrance into the industry in becoming a real chef. In the beginning of his culinary career, he joined celebrity chef Tom Aikens in the kitchens at The Pawn and The Fat Pig in Hong Kong, worked on the line at the late Cépage in Wan Chai and Aspasia in Tsim Sha Tsui, and gained experience at Macau’s three-Michelin-starred Robuchon au Dôme.
For him, fine-dining was the start; a base to apply himself elsewhere. The next phase of his career came when he entered the burger business. “To be honest, I wanted to earn more money and find a way to copy the details and experience [I had in fine-dining] into a new direction.”
Opening a fine-dining restaurant in Hong Kong is prohibitively expensive in Hong Kong, with Chun-wan estimating HKD200 to HKD300 million needed in capital to open a venue. But, a burger shop in his neighbourhood of Ma On Shan? A no brainer economically.
Sick! Burger opened in Ma On Shan in August 2021, only 10 minutes from Chun-wan’s house. Operating a shop dishing out burgers made from simple recipes, Chun-wan says he is able to bring his fine-dining skills to elevate the burgers beyond expectations.
“With the idea of just creating burgers, I can be even more focused on details,” identical to the chef’s past back-breaking work cooking fine French food in Hong Kong and Macau.
With one beef, a chicken, fish, and pork burger on the original menu in 2021 – now with a vegetarian burger replacing the pork – each ingredient sandwiched between the burger buns is up for experimentation.
Take the caramelised onions used in the Sick! Burger and Signature Sick! Burger, a BLT-style beef burger. “Maybe in some burger shops [in Hong Kong], chefs would just put the onions on the grill and fry them until golden. At Sick! Burger, we caramelize the onions with butter to render them until brown, add brandy or sherry for flavour, and thyme for fragrance.”
Whilst a classic burger typically sees a wallop of ketchup and mayonnaise, Chun-wan believes that sauce is too integral of a burger component to ignore. Their red onion relish, Japanese tartar sauce, and caesar sauce. and house sauce is all made in-house and packed with flavour.
When it comes to the beef, Chun-wan uses a blend of Japanese wagyu and American chuck for the fat to boost the salt content of the patties. Their buns, arguably the most essential part of any burger, are made with precision, similarly to how you would expect the pastries at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
“We work with a bakery shop in Hong Kong to create our bread buns using poolish, a type of yeast starter that has a stronger yeasty smell and taste than sourdough. This brings a better flavour to the burgers so everything joins together nicely.”
Sick! Burger’s connection as a homegrown Hong Kong burger chain is in their Sick! Chicken Burger and Sick! Fish Burger.
The former brings a masala & buttermilk marinated chicken patty together with shiso leaves, lemon zest, caesar sauce, and red onion relish. “In Cantonese cuisine, every cha chaan teng you can see a curry dish or street cart with curry fish balls. Hong Kong people love curries and this curry-inspired burger has become a hit.”
“As for the fish burger, we want to elevate the normal fish burger recipes in Hong Kong using breaded Atlantic cod, rather than cheaper fish which a lot of other shops use and it’s not very good.”
Following success in the New Territories, Chun-wan expanded Sick! Burger to its second and most popular store in Causeway Bay in October 2023, enticing both Western and local Hong Kong diners. A store in Central was not in the future pipeline just yet – owing to Chun-wan’s aversion to hiking hills – but an opportunity came in July 2025 to open a pop-up in Basehall.
At the same time, HSBC’s Red Hot Chef cooking show premiered in Hong Kong, featuring Chun-wan as one of eight Hong Kong chefs competing to earn first place with dishes judged by chef Anh Sung-jae of Mosu Seoul and Hong Kong. On Aug. 2, he won the competition.
“After I won the competition, so many people have now come to dine at [Sick! Burger] in Causeway Bay. It has helped a lot with business!”
As Hong Kong’s F&B industry expands and contracts, and Shenzhen lures Hong Kongers up north to consume, Chun-wan’s wish is for more Hong Kong diners to stay in Hong Kong to dine. “Let’s support the local restaurants in Hong Kong.”
Visit Sick! Burger in Causeway Bay, Ma On Shan, and Central today for a taste of their fine-dining-inspired burgers.
