A. Wong has held its title as the UK’s only two Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant for four years, and ever since Hakkasan lost its star in 2024, is now the only single-starred Chinese restaurant in the country, too. Chef-patron Andrew Wong lies, quite literally, at the heart of the restaurant, standing front and centre at the pass as he marshals a laser-focused kitchen brigade.
Despite building a covered, outdoor terrace off the back of the pandemic, the restaurant is small, and an open kitchen comprises a large proportion of the space. The sounds of one of the country’s finest dim sum kitchens pour into the dining room – whirring extractor fans and the clatter of chefs wielding red-hot woks – to the point of almost noisy. These guys prepare a 30-course tasting menu for dinner alone, plus a 15-course lunch menu, and an a la carte offering. One can forgive them a little noise.
Dishes are small, often just single bites, but they arrive thick and fast, sometimes in multiples, which gives the experience a sense of structure. The menu is built around the concept of Cantonese dim sum, but inflected with a myriad of influences across China, and crucially Andrew Wong’s own unique creativity. This we see in dishes like pyramid-shaped Iberico pork croustades flavoured with sweet liquorice and dusted with dehydrated raspberry. While one of his signatures, a rabbit ‘puff’ in the shape of a carrot, is an intriguing glutinous snack that blurs the line between sweet and savoury.
Andrew grasps every opportunity he can to take a nostalgic idea and make it his own. A crisp ‘souffle’ spring roll sees deep-fried pastry filled, somehow, with air, and shatters into thin shards as we attack it with a fork. Another favourite is the 999 layered scallop puff with XO oil - beautifully soft scallop encased in paper-thin pastry, it’s a marvel of a bite. Another A. Wong staple - fluffy steamed buns filled with duck yolk custard - are so delicious they deserve their own bakery.
This experience is delivered by relaxed, well-trained staff armed with anecdotes about the history and technical skill behind certain dishes. All of this, naturally, comes with a price tag, even when dining a la carte (the restaurant enforces a £100 minimum spend), but there’s bags of value to be found here, both in its uniqueness and commitment to exploring the nuances of Chinese cuisine.