When he was born in Hong Kong on October 25th 1953, his parents, who came from north China, named him Cheung Tai Wai. He was the oldest of six brothers and sisters. He moves to Paris with his family in 1967, then enters the communal school of the rue de Beam, comes out at the age of 16 to work as a busboy, a cook then a waiter in a restaurant on rue de Varenne. He has only one obsession: to integrate himself. “I kept thinking over and over – if I don’t learn the language, I won’t get anywhere, if I don’t find a way to integrate myself, I will end up dying in Chinatown.” After a first attempt on rue Gambey at Republique, he then opens his own restaurant the 1st of June 1982 on 39 rue St Roch. The restaurant is called Dave. This is the name he also choose for himself. It is an instant success and coming the month of september, a triumph. On the 31st of December that same year, Francis Ford Coppola reserves the entire place for a party. Dave was born! Some of his clients becomes close friends, June and Helmut Newton, Bernado Bertolucci, Bill King, Antonio Lopez, Yves Saint-Laurent, Azzedine Alaïa, Grace Coddington, Thomas Walther and Leonardo di Caprio… Here is the second chapter of the four part series of his journal.

Jean-Jacques Naudet

Dave's polaroids part 3
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