My Birthday treat was a visit to A.Wong – a High Class Chinese restaurant in Victoria that had been on my radar for some 6 months or so. Giles Coren of the Times had fawned over it and if he says it’s good who am I to disagree ! Other friends of mine had also been sending me photos of what they were eating – always a gastronomic pain in the stomach !
Andrew Wong has been one of the Hot Chefs in London over the past year or so, and this restaurant gained its first Michelin star in October 2017. It only takes 70 reservations in the evenings and 40 at lunch, and apparently can have upto 60 people on the waiting list even mid week. Mr.Wong is a busy man, presently soon to be opening his second restaurant in the City at the Bloomberg Centre. It will be larger, rumoured to accommodate 150 covers, and the concept will be a little more casual with faster moving food and clientele. In the meantime Andrew spends most of his life in Victoria and says ultimately, even with the new location, Victoria will be his home.
Like many or most Chinese restaurants the decor in A.Wong is modest – think wood/ clean lines and a few brightly coloured chairs thrown here and there to break things up.
There exists a “Taste of China” Tasting menu for £75 and an A La Carte for the evenings. At lunch they focus on Dim Sum, whereas in the evening the only way to try the Dimsum is to order an A.Wong Dimsum basket which we promptly did. 2 of them to receive 3 pieces each. This included a wonderful Shangai steamed dumpling with ginger infused vinegar.
Shanghai dumpling – Eat it in one !
It simply exploded with flavour in your mouth with a broth bursting out of the delicate “pastry” as it literally disintegrated in your mouth – just don’t cut into it on the Steamer – Please ! You will lose all of its beautiful innards!
The other components of the basket were a Pork and Prawn Dumpling topped with Pork Crackling- can’t go wrong there in my book – and a clear shrimp dumpling with a citrus cloud ? I wondered what the cotton wool ball on top of it was supposed to be !
Next up we ordered a Crab Claw with cured scallop and wasabi from the snack menu (£9) which was a beautifully presented Crab Claw and on the side a clump of basically raw scallop in a spicy sauce, both of which were a hit.
Difficult to share the Crab Claw but somehow we managed. Lovely compacted crab meat with a crisp breadcrumb coating on the outside, which when cut into exposed the white crab meat inside.
As mains we selected the Garlic Steamed Lobster with Mung bean Noodles and Superior Soya which at £15 represented the most expensive Main dish. I did not get a look in here as my wife declared it was the softest lobster she could remember eating and quickly polished the lot off. In the meantime I had ordered Crispy Chilli caramelised, Beef Tartare And carrots.
Left – Crispy Beef – not what you maybe used to !
Right – Garlic Steamed Lobster – I did not get to taste !
You will be familiar with crispy chilli beef from your local Chinese, a glutinous – if not enjoyable – dish of sticky beef sticks ! This was a whole new ball game – almost like a light tempura surrounding the beef, only just crispy then, swimming around in the dish were its friends – petit brunoised tartare, crunchy carrots,and some yellow flowers – provenance unknown.
The 2 textures worked well together but was I missing a sauce of some kind ? Maybe ?
Another main course followed which I chose as it was on the tasting menu- Anhui province red braised fermented fish belly – upon arrival I established it was Cod fish belly. It was served with a little paintbrush and some sweet chilli sauce which we were told to paint onto the belly under the nasturtium leaves on top. Delicately prepared, with the cod difficult to pick up being so silky and soft. But delicious.
2 more courses followed before we could go on no more. The incredible looking “goldfish” dumplings with seared foie gras, crunchy bacon/ pork on top with chive flower oil, and finally a crab and seafood filled braised leave, shallot powder and cockles.
The goldfish looked too beautiful to eat and was the most instagramable dish so far. It actually contained minced prawn which when eaten with the melting foie gras and crunchy salty pork was one of the highlights of the menu for me.
Dont know about chive flower oil, I think it was lost amongst all the other strong tastes.
The seafood dish was also quite excellent and quite a large portion, but the braised leaves difficult to cut for sharing. Please don’t eat me sir ! please !
Could we do dessert – but of course , not 1 but 2 ! In fact there are only 3 desserts on the menu. We chose their iconic Tea smoked banana, nut crumble and slow cooked pineapple and chocolate and also the Coconut Water Ice , blackberries, Xinjiang mulberries yoghurt and Mochi. Wow that is a mouthful just to type ! The tea smoked banana involves a golden half sphere being melted by pouring on hot chocolate and is an impressive sight. However I could not understand where the tea came in and also was confused by the different textures on the plate. Maybe my taste buds or brain had given up on me by then !
Having said that I really enjoyed the refreshing Coconut Ice and my wife loved the Mochi hiding within. My palate was cleansed now and the ice and berries had woken my taste buds anew.
I have not mentioned drinks , we had chosen to bypass wine as the evening had turned Chilly, and preferred some warming Sake and therefore chose some kind of a Red Dragon branded liquid with Almond undertones (if I recall correctly) but I am not the worlds greatest expert on Sake. Just know how to drink it !
A.Wong does not represent the Chinese food you will necessarily be familiar with but is fine dining haute cuisine excellent value Michelin starred quality cooking. With a couple of small exceptions I believe the food we enjoyed was the best Chinese I had experienced in London, but appreciate it is still Western styled and not representative of the food you would eat in China. But I have visited China – been there, seen that, done that, and I prefer this – and Victoria is that much closer !
Rating
Food – Blazingly Hot Pan 5
Service – Very Hot Pan 4 ( although our Waitress was helpful and efficient again experienced a long wait for the bill )
£150 for 2
A.Wong, 70 Wilton Road, Victoria, SW1V 1DE ( 5 mins walk from Victoria Station)