Kitchen of the Week: The ‘Angry Food Blogger’ at Home in Hong Kong

Google “angry food blog” and you’ll find Lady and Pups, founded by Mandy Lee in 2012. You’ll also find a profile of her on Vice, an online outlet better known for his cutting-edge news reporting than his cookbook author profile – and that’s where the appeal of the self-proclaimed blogger “born in Taiwan, raised in Vancouver and slowly aging in New York ”. His adventurous cuisine (shallot popover s’mores, anyone?) Grabs the attention of food lovers, while his unfiltered – yes, largely angry – thoughts on living abroad as a escape spouse makes him love rule breakers and iconoclasts.

Mandy’s first cookbook, The Art of Escapism Cooking: A Survival Story, with Intensely Good Flavors, was published last fall. Included: a selection of her recipes as well as ruminations on her six years expatriation to China, where she battled the looming depression by cooking obsessively. Mandy and her husband and their dogs took to Hong Kong in 2016, but she continues to feed her dishes with so much love and gall in her new home.

A few weeks ago, we stumbled across her newly remodeled kitchen on Instagram; we take the next available flight to spend an afternoon with Mandy; we will ventilate and cook. Until then, we recount the details of her Victorian-inspired cuisine, which she shared with us with her signature candor.

Looked.

Photograph by Mandy Lee.