He came from a hardworking family and his parents were often working late and responsibility fell on young Jacob to prepare dinner for the family. Every day, at 10 years old, Jacob would head to the local Hong Kong market to get groceries to cook for dinner. His passion for cooking and food grew every day, and his lifelong dream was to become a chef.

In high school he asked his English teacher what name sounds best with ‘chef’, she replied ‘Jacob’. Ever since this day, Ying Wai was known as ‘Chef Jacob’ in the Kitchen.

​His first steps for this dream began while training at the Hong Kong Culinary Institute. Jacob started out in a Japanese cuisine, moving his way through Italian, French and American. He always challenges himself and has qualifications from Hong Kong, Germany and Canada holding his Red Seal.

In his mid-20s he made the move away from his family and his home of Hong Kong to Calgary. 10 years later, his lifelong dream of opening a restaurant became reality. Now in 2024 his vision to provide tasty and approachable modern Chinese food, will be fulfilled with Second Son.