2 November 2026 · Head Chef
A Chinese chef is a cook in a Chinese restaurant kitchen, usually trained on one station such as wok, dim sum or roast. Here is how the roles work, what they pay and what employers want.
A Chinese chef is a professional cook who works in a Chinese restaurant kitchen, usually specialising on one station: wok, dim sum, roast meats, noodles or the chopping station. In the UK the work ranges from a neighbourhood Cantonese restaurant to a large dim sum hall or a hotel Chinese restaurant. Pay follows the normal kitchen grades (commis, chef de partie, sous chef, head chef), with the wok and roast stations often carrying the most responsibility.
Chinese kitchens are not organised like a classical French brigade, though the grades overlap. Work is split by cooking method, and each station needs a different skill set. Knowing which one you actually do is the first thing an employer will ask.
The wok station is the busiest in most restaurants and the one most advertised. You cook to order over very high heat, often several dishes at once, and the skill is timing and heat control more than recipe knowledge. Good wok chefs keep the breath of the wok (the smoky, seared character on stir-fries) consistent across a 200-cover Saturday. If this is your route, the wok chef jobs page shows what is being advertised now.
Dim sum is closer to pastry and larder work than to wok cooking. You make doughs and wrappers, fold and shape dumplings, steam, fry and bake, and you do it in volume before service. It is early-start work with a lot of repetition and precise handling. A dim sum chef who can turn out uniform product at speed is hard to replace.
The roast station handles duck, crispy pork belly, char siu and similar items. It involves marinating and hanging, managing ovens or specialist roasting equipment, and carving to a consistent standard. Much of the real work happens hours before service, so this suits people who like process and planning.
The chopping station portions, cuts and plates roasts and cold dishes. Some kitchens also have a dedicated noodle or soup station, and everywhere there is a prep team doing vegetable work, stocks and sauces. Prep and junior roles are the usual entry point if you are new to the cuisine.
"Chinese" covers very different cooking. Cantonese kitchens lean on dim sum, roast meats, steaming and delicate seasoning. Sichuan kitchens are built around chilli, Sichuan pepper and layered sauces. Others serve Shanghainese, Hunan, Hakka or northern dishes. When an advert says Sichuan or Cantonese, take it seriously: the techniques and the pantry are different, and a trial shift will show quickly whether your experience matches.
You can start as a kitchen assistant or prep cook, move into a commis chef position, then step up to chef de partie running a station. From there the route is sous chef and head chef. In many Chinese kitchens the senior wok or roast chef has authority close to the head chef's, particularly when the head chef is also the owner or manages the front of house relationships. Job titles are looser than in hotel kitchens, so read the duties in the advert rather than trusting the title.
The Only Chefs salary guide does not split pay by cuisine, so the figures below are for typical mid-experience chef roles built from UK job adverts. They give you a reasonable benchmark when you see a Chinese restaurant advert. Typical figure first, range in brackets:
A skilled wok or roast chef usually sits at chef de partie level or above, and the chef de partie salary guide is the closest match. Remember that the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026, so any advert paying near that for a skilled station role is worth questioning. Check hours as well as salary. Late closes, six-day weeks and split shifts are common in restaurant kitchens, and a high annual figure can hide a very long week.
Expect a trial shift. Most Chinese restaurants want to see you cook before they talk money, and that trial will usually be on the station you applied for. Arrive with your own knives and be ready to work at their pace, not yours.
On your CV, put the station and the type of cuisine at the top of each job, followed by volume and any training you gave to juniors. If you are applying from abroad, the guide on moving to the UK to work as a chef covers what to sort out first, and the advert should say whether the employer sponsors visas. Do not assume it does.
It also helps to know how boards work in practice. The guide on using chef job boards explains alerts, profile setup and how to read adverts for warning signs.
Not always, but in many kitchens it helps, especially on wok, roast and dim sum stations where the team speaks Cantonese or Mandarin. You will need workable English for service, allergens and safety in every case.
Rarely. Employers hire on experience and a trial shift, though they usually expect a food hygiene certificate.
Generally yes, because the role is skilled and runs a station. Comparing the advert with the chef de partie figures above is a sensible check.
Yes. Heat control, speed and knife work carry over to other kitchens, although you may need to build experience in areas like sauces or pastry.
Browse current wok chef jobs on Only Chefs, or look at the chef de partie and sous chef pages if you run a station already. Set up a profile with your station and cuisine so employers can find you.