A. Wong

A. Wongis aMichelin-starredChinese restaurant, located inPimlico, London. It serves modern British retake ontraditional Cantonese dishes. It is owned by Andrew Wong, a third-generation London restaurateur who is also the restaurant's chef de cuisine.
In 2012, Andrew Wong, a third-generation restaurateur, opened A. Wong, named after his parents, in Pimlico and became itschef patron.The site was previously the location of his parents' Cantonese restaurant Kym.Wong's wife Nathalie manages the restaurant.
Among notable guests of the restaurant were brothersFerranandAlbert AdriàofEl Bulli.
The restaurant has providedtraditional Cantonese disheswith modern British twists.The menu has been seasonal and includedPeking duck,guotie(pan-fried dumpling) andxiaolongbao(Shanghai pork dumpling) with ginger-flavoured vinegar foam.It has also offered the "Taste of China"tasting menu, which included "soy chicken, ginger oilosetracaviar wrap",Shaanxishredded lamb 'burger' "withXinjiangpomegranate salad",char siu"with gratedfoie gras", "Chengdustreet tofu", "Anhuifermentedseabass", and "Wuweismoked duck" (无为熏鸭).
A. Wong also offered a Xinjiang-inspired dish of deep-fried beef strips with chili and a sauce; "'1,000 chili' chicken withsnailsandSichuan pepper";Kung Pao chicken; "searedwagyu beefwithmint, chili andlemongrass";auberginewithSichuan sauce; and crispy noodles with brown gravy.It also has offereddim sumdishes, likeprawn crackerwith deep-fried seaweed and "pork and prawn dumpling" with "a citrus foam", and desserts, likeduck eggcustardand "poached merengue with fruit textures".
A. Wong also offered "Why We Don't Eat Shark Fin Soup", a soup dish containingagarand chicken broth with oil extracted from steamed ham "rolled in sugar". Derived fromshark fin soup, Wong's dish substituted agar for shark fins becauseshark finningis banned in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. A. Wong also offered "Why The Buddha Didn't Jump Over the Wall" ("barbecuedsweet potatowith some fermented, salted black-bean relish"), inspired by theColumbian exchangein the 1500s and based on a popular Cantonese dish of "pumpkin andblack bean sauce".
Wong wrote a 2015 cookbook,A. Wong: The Cookbook.
The restaurant earned its firstMichelin starin October 2017.It then earned its second star in January 2021, becoming the first Chinese restaurant outside Asia and in the United Kingdom to hold two stars.To this date, it has been the only two-Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant outside Asia.
Ben McCormack in November 2018 called A. Wong "the best restaurant inVictoria" and "possibly the best Chinese restaurant in Europe".
Wong was born in early 1980s into a family that operates Chinese restaurants, including his parents Albert and Annie.Wong's grandfather, a Chinese immigrant, owned someEast Endpubs and a restaurant inChinatown, London.Wong initially did not aspire a career in hospitality, and his father wanted him to pursuefurther education.
Wong attended theUniversity of Oxfordfor a bachelor's degree inchemistrybut did not finish after one year and a half.He then studiedsocial anthropologyat theLondon School of Economics.In 2003, due to his father's death, Wong decided to help his mother Annie run the family's four remaining Chinese restaurants, including oneCantonese restaurant, Kym's, opened in 1985 by Wong's parents and named after his grandmother.Wong then took cooking classes atWestminster Kingsway Collegeand spent six months inChinastudying varieties ofChinese cuisine.
Wong opened another Chinese restaurant Baoshuan inNew Delhiin 2018.He also operated another Chinese restaurant Kym's, which lasted from March 2019 to late 2020, in Bloomberg Arcade of London.He became a research associate at the SOAS Food Studies Centre of theSOAS University of Londonin May 2020.
Wong also co-hostsXO Soused, a podcast exploring the cultural history of Chinese food, with Dr Mukta Das, food anthropologist at the SOAS Food Studies Centre.
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