**** 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!
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