Chef Andrew Wong didn’t plan on being a restaurateur. After school he went to Oxford University where he studied chemistry and then he pursued social anthropology at the London School of Economics. But the pull of the family business proved hard to resist. His grandfather who moved to London as a Chinese refugee owned a restaurant in Chinatown, and Andrew’s father Albert was the first Chinese publican in the UK. In 1985, his father and mother, Annie, opened a Cantonese restaurant in Pimlico, now the location of Andrew’s restaurant, A. Wong.
“Growing up, my parents taught me about hospitality, how to build a sense of community within a restaurant and the way to run a business and look after it through tough times,” Andrew adds, “But, in terms of gastronomy I was completely self-taught.”
Recipe for success
Andrew began his journey to become a Michelin starred chef at the age of 22. He took a course at culinary school and then did a working tour of China where he was exposed to the vast cultural and regional differences throughout the country. He says, “People have a preconception that there is this thing called ‘Chinese food’ as a single entity, but of course China is such a massive country there is no one definition.”
Given his Oxbridge education it is no surprise that Andrew took an academic approach to his menu, using China’s culinary heritage to inform his recipes. After a chance meeting with food anthropologist Dr Mukta Das in 2014, he added Chinese poetry, art and literature to the mix.
Andrew says, “Mukta came into the restaurant and was a fountain of knowledge about Chinese food. One thing led to another and then before I knew it, we were working together. As a chef, there comes a time when you want to stop copying other people’s dishes and try to find a direction, and the amazing work that Mukta does with me is about finding that direction.”
Helpful histories
It has been a fruitful pairing: A. Wong was awarded a Michelin star in 2017 and a second in 2021, the first Chinese restaurant outside Asia to achieve this. Last year also saw the launch of Mukta and Andrew’s podcast, XO Soused, in which they discuss techniques and dishes from a professional Chinese kitchen. This year a new menu was released, The Five Movements, which takes inspiration from their research into imperial banqueting. Based on the Confucian ritual of grouping in fives, the menu is presented in five servings to mirror the banquets which became famous during the Qing dynasty who ruled from 1644.
Over the years, Andrew has cooked for many celebrities and politicians and his dim sum is particularly sought after. “It is a lunchtime offering with lots of small plates which are steeped in history and are very popular.”
All consuming
Like most London chefs, Andrew’s work-life balance is less than ideal. He says, “A typical day starts at 8am when I begin preparing dumplings for lunch service and we finish about midnight. It is a long day, but we go into this business with a clear understanding of what we want to achieve and, unfortunately, it takes time.”
His situation is helped by the fact that his wife, Nathalie works with him at A. Wong and the couple live with their eight year old daughter and six year old son in a property just behind the restaurant, which is five minutes away from Victoria station.
“I don’t leave Victoria much: I work and live here, my kids also go to school nearby. My mum still has a house in the area. We have been part of Victoria for a long time now,” he says, adding “The area has changed a lot since we first moved in, when even the street that this restaurant is on was derelict. Now the people who live here are very different to those who were here in the eighties.”
Magnificent makeover
Under Andrew’s stewardship, A. Wong has also had a complete facelift. “My parents ran a neighbourhood restaurant and the decor was gold and wood. In 2012 I wanted to change the atmosphere. I wanted people to come for lunch by themselves and experience something gastronomic, which is why we opened the kitchen and put in counter seats. Over the years the restaurant has evolved, and we have installed artwork and beautiful jade chairs to offer guests a real sense of luxury. We have also built an outside terrace.”
That said, Andrew still looks after the locals, supporting the church, food bank and his children’s school. “Nowadays guests fly in from the US and all over Europe because we are a culinary destination but, at the same time, I’ve always maintained that I want to keep a level of homeliness. I grew up in a family run restaurant and community is important. We try to integrate the restaurant into the fabric of our community: we’ll offer to cook for special events and help when the food bank say they are running low. It’s an ongoing thing.
Over the last decade, Andrew has applied academic research to the development of delicious food and established a Michelin starred restaurant that remains firmly rooted in the local area. For the former chemistry student, it’s been a winning formula.
Andrew's London
What is your favourite London memory?
Going to Chinatown every weekend for dim sum on a Sunday.
Where do you like to eat in the capital?
As a family we regularly go for a curry in Aldgate East. If we are going to splurge we might visit friends like Clare Smyth at Core or Karan Gokani at Hoppers who does delicious Sri Lankan food. The important thing is that my kids embrace London and its diversity and try different cuisines. When I grew up in the eighties, school dinners were my only interaction with western food.
London’s best kept secret is…
In Chinatown there are secret cocktail bars. If you see a doorman standing in front of a door where there doesn’t appear to be anything happening, ask him what’s going on and he may let you in.
Who is on your radar?
An artist called Gordon Cheung. He has incredible ideas. We did a project together for Chinese New Year where he vinyl wrapped the restaurant and designed this interactive lion dance which people could view through an AR app. If you held your phone against the front of the building you would see lions everywhere.
