16-02-2017
Andrew Wong, 35, British of Chinese origins, chef at restaurant A Wong in London. With a classic French cuisine background, he left for a 3-year-long tour of China. Today he sums up all the very different traditions of an immense country in the tasting menu (photo by Zanatta)
The neighbourhood near Victoria Station in London is certainly not one of the most popular in town. What with business hotels and restaurant chains catering for offices it’s hard to find Londoners discovering the neighbourhood or strolling in search for restaurants. There’s an exception: a restaurant quietly opened on Wilton Road in the spring of 2013. The story of Andrew Wong prior to the opening explains why people in town are increasingly interested in the cooking evolution of this 35-year old talent. Born to a family of restaurateurs, Andrew had been living in London since his childhood. As he didn’t have any contact with China, where his parents were originally from, he decided he didn’t want to remain in the family business, an ordinary Chinese restaurant in the same location now hosting his restaurant. He spent the first year at university studying chemistry at Oxford. He then decided to move to the London School of Economics, where he graduated in Social Anthropology. All of a sudden, an episode changed his life completely. His father passed away. This made a very young Andrew feel responsible, so he decided to reconnect with his family and even more so with Hong Kong, his mother’s hometown. So at 23 he went on a 3-year-long tour of China, with the aim of adding as much as he could of the infinite culinary culture of a “continent” to his classic French cuisine training.
The specialty? The brimming Dumplings in the lunch menu
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A media professional divided between Paris, London and Tokyo. He writes about restaurants as an excuse to speak about many more things