Category: Chinese Restaurants

**** So, this is part 2 of our dinner. If you haven't read part 1, you can find it here.

After the "Banquet" and the "Dim Sum", the next set of items up were named "Fish".

Anhui Province Red Braised Fermented Wild Seabass, I'm thinking that this was supposed to be a homage to Chòu Guì Yú, which uses a brine based fermentation technique?

We enjoyed the textural variations within the dish. The ikura like fish roe presented a savory-brininess. The fish was tender, not overly salty.

The "Why We Don't Need to Eat Shark's Fin Soup" was interesting, subbing agar for the shark fin.

We were told to pour the soup, which had a nice gelatinous richness onto the Braised Abalone with Shiitake Mushroom and Sea Cucumber which was part of the "set". It was a bit of overkill. For some reason the abalone tasted somewhat bitter?

And then there was the Garlic Steamed Tiger Prawn, Mung Bean Noodle, with "Superior" Soy. Not sure why they needed to add the Superior Soy to the name…..I use it in my dishes all the time and think of it as a kitchen staple?

Nice balanced garlic-ginger tones in this; but the tiger prawn was over-cooked and tough.

Next up were the "Snacks".

Starting with the riff on Rou Jia Mo; something we loved during our trip to Shaanxi.

   A very interesting put it together yourself presentation. The mantou was a bit too doughy; it should be more crisp as well. The lamb had really been stewed in the juices and sauce, but was quite mild in flavor. It seemed a bit "tame"…which I think was the issue we had with many of the dishes here.

Soy Chicken with Ginger Oil and Oscietra Caviar. Man Ossetra Caviar, with Soy Sauce Chicken?

It was accompanied by some soy sauce for dipping. The caviar and soy sauce did a great job balancing out the dish which skewed sweet.

We did enjoy the texture of the Pulled Noodle Cracker with Japanese Wagyu and Shrimp Chili Oil.

But the Wagyu seemed a bit lost here. The chili oil was savory, but wasn't particularly spicy.

Next up were the "Five Flavours"; now you know how much I reference suan–tian–ku–la–xian, the sour-sweet-bitter-spicy-salty metaphor for balanced dishes.

Gong Bao Chicken, Roasted Peanuts, and Hot Pot Essence.

This was a nice bite as the ma-la (numbing spice) came thru cleanly.

We were provided with Nashi Pear edges with Sichuan Peppercorn as a palate cleanser for the final dishes.

The presentation of the Sweet and Sour Corn Fed Chicken, Thai basil, Pineapple and Candied Walnuts was eye catching.

But like many of the other dishes, the "Emperor had no clothes". It was too sweet; the chicken was not crisp enough and bland. Not enough basil to really add that anise goodness to the dish.

Not sure why the Roasted Cashew, Tamarind, Dried Shrimp and Coriander Cheung fun wasn't on the "dim sum" menu.

The Missus enjoyed the crisp youtiao that crowned the dish; it again skewed a bit sweet, though the cheong fun was nicely texture with a nice "pull" to it.

The silken tofu in the Chrysanthemum Tofu and Lemongrass Broth was beautifully silken.

The dish came with a very nice soup spoon of sauce on the side.

We were told to eat the tofu in combination with the Yunnan Seared Beef with Mint, Chili and Lemongrass.

Which was fine. As you can tell, we were getting a bit worn down by this time.

And my notepad on my phone was getting quite full.

On the bright side; the last "main dish" was quite interesting. The Young Coconut with Madagascan Black Pepper Sauce.

I know, doesn't look like much from this angle. But turn the plate around a bit……

Yes, there's more black truffle here. We were surprised that it went well with the slightly sweet and nutty coconut. The black pepper sauce really balanced the dish out with the fried shiso leaf adding in that touch of minty-anise-vegetal tones.

As you all know, I'm not much of a dessert guy, but I found the Coconut Water Ice to be quite refreshing. Especially after so many items.

The Candied Walnuts with Blue Cheese was an interesting, very non-Chinese item for dessert.

The Missus enjoyed the version of Dragon's Beard Candy provided.

We took the Petit-Fours with us. The Missus enjoyed them with coffee the next morning.

So, if you've made thru both posts, I'm sure you can figure out what we thought of the meal. The service was a bit hovering, but very nice. The presentation of the dishes were quite excellent; but we don't eat with our eyes. For a place whose owner claims to be a "Chef-Anthropologist", many of the dishes really didn't capture the essence and soul of the cuisine of the various regions of China to us. 

As for the price; it was 200£ per person plus another 200£ for the wine pairing….which the Missus liked BTW. So, all told including service charges/tips the bill came out to about $1k US!

We'll have to mark this one up to "well, at least we finally tried A Wong".

A. Wong
70 Wilton Rd.
Pimlico, London, United Kingdom

**** OK, this is going to be a two-parter, since dinner was 30 courses!

I was really excited about our first dinner in London. I'd made reservations at A Wong which has the honor of being the first Chinese restaurant with 2 Michelin Stars outside of China. I had purchased the A Wong Cookbook which is no longer printed, way back in 2016. I'd tried some recipes with mixed results. Yet, I believed eating at the restaurant would provide some insight.

The restaurant was located about a mile-and-a-half from our hotel and the Missus decided we should walk. It was a pretty nice walk as we strolled thru the Green Park and past Buckingham Palace.

I did enjoy the walk.

A Wong is located on Wilton Road in Pimlico and it's a fairly low-keyed spot, between a Mexican restaurant and a Brazilian Steakhouse. We were welcomed as we arrived and seated at the bar.

The menu is like a book, the 30 courses divided up into 6 sections with specific "themes" like the "Banquet", "Dim Sum", and "Fish". We also took the wine pairing as well. As for the Chef/Owner, Andrew Wong has quite the story, as does the location, which was formerly his parent's restaurant.

You can read the link and the page from the menu below if interested. 

 

Apparently, the Chef has travelled across China and wants his menu to reflect his travels. I don't think I need to say how difficult it would be to pay homage to all 8 great traditions as well as regional cuisine like Hakka, Yunnan, and others. Chef Wong does fancy himself as a Culinary "Anthropologist" so this was going to be interesting.

The staffing of the restaurant is kinda amazing; it seems like there's a 1:1 ratio of staff to customers. The downside is that there's bit of "hovering" going on, which can be somewhat uncomfortable at times.

The meal was brought out in "groups", the first 8 dishes, comprising the "Banquet" arrived in unison. I must say the presentation was quite good.

That's Fish Fragrant Oyster on the right and Beans with wasabi soy sauce, and Osmanthus Jelly on the left.

The Yúxiāng Qiézi (fish fragrant aubergine) Oyster was first.

The oyster was nice and briny; but things basically stopped there as the "flavoring" was quite mild. I was looking for the layering of flavors, pungent-sour-a hint of sweet-spice, but this really lacked that.

We were instructed to have the Osmanthus Jelly next.

Mild pungent tones from the wasabi soy; we enjoyed the refreshing jelly.

We found the Yunnan Sweet Potato with Tamarind and Shrimp Caramel to be overly sweet.

The sweet potato noodles were the highlight of this, great texture, not overly sweet, somewhat vegetal.

The Smacked Cucumber with Trout Roe was decent.

Crisp cucumber, the briny trout roe added a nice layer of flavor, but it could have used more garlic and assertive – refreshing flavors which to me, are the hallmark of this dish.

The "Tiger Salad" with Cumin Lamb and Split Buttermilk was too sour-tangy, though I guess if you added more cilantro you could have gotten some weird Jeera Chas, but then that wouldn't be Chinese cuisine.

To be perfectly honest, the lamb was pretty much lost in this.

I was looking forward to the Cantonese Honey Roasted Pork with Grated Foie Gras.

Loved that foie gras powder; it did provide that "soul of foie gras", liverish-offaly-savory tones. Heck, I'd sprinkle it on my toast every morning! The pork was barely lukewarm, chewy, and the marinade too sweet.

The Isle of Mull Seared Scallop and Honey Glazed Char Siu was way too sweet (it seemed a common theme here?). The "crackers" on each side of the filling was really crumbly and really made a mess.

Our favorite dish of the set was also the most interesting looking.

That's the Zhou Dynasty Cured Scallop and Stuffed Crab Claw. Within the confines of the crisp noodles resided briny-savory-pleasantly sweet scallop and a stuffed crab claw.

Balanced flavors-seasoning and great textural contrasts. I mentioned how funny it was that our favorite dish so far looked like a "palm tawashi"!

Next up were the "Dim Sum" courses. Would they be changing the course of the meal? Six dishes were delivered to our table.

First up was the "Shanghai Steamed Dumplings" (aka Xiao Long Bao) with Ginger Infused Vinegar.

The "skin" was on the gummy side, the "soup" was very "gingery" (I guess there's no false advertising here), which overwhelmed the flavor of the dumplings.

The Wood Ear Fungus acted as a good vehicle for the mild sweet-sour tones of the dish.

The slice of onion was definitely needed to balance things out.

The Dim Sum Duo was up next for us.

First off, the wrappers on both the shumai and har gow were really "rubbery". The pork cracklin' was an interesting addition to the shumai, in fact, like the vinegar foam for the har gow, both were the most interesting features of the dish, which otherwise would be very mediocre dim sum to us.

We were instructed to have the Choy Sum with Century Egg as a palate cleanser before the last two dishes.

The Missus, who loves pidan, thought this too mild.

Next up was the Raw Wagyu, Fermented Meat Paste.

Being a big fan of tartare, I was looking forward to this; but it was way too sweet in my opinion. The slices of raw pear just exacerbated things.

Another dish that caught my attention was the "Memories of Peking Duck", foie gras, and smoked duck.

Oh my, caviar on one end, truffle on the other! We were instructed to eat this in two bites, to fully enjoy the dish.

Not a fan of the pancake like wrapper, but the smoked duck was very tasty. We couldn't make out the foie gras. The "truffle bite" added a pleasant mildly sweet-earthy flavor to things. The caviar seemed to amplify the saltiness of the smoked duck and seemed like overkill.

Well, at this point we had made it thru the dim sum but were still less than halfway thru the meal! There were still 16 more dishes left!

If you're still intrigued by the dishes here, stay tuned for part 2!