This is probably the highest rising restaurant in town at the moment complete with a recent Michelin star. London has generally been quite poor in Asian food for me however the high end places seem to have good offerings. The now closed HKK was my first taste of this finer cuisine in London many years ago and I hoped A. Wong would be the second.
Bookings were essential on Thursday night at 5.30pm before watching Big Fish The Musical closeby. Unbooked hopers were turned away even at that early time. It was an excuse to explore the dining scene of Victoria which I'm sure benefits from shows like this and Wicked and Hamilton bringing crowds nearly every day.
- A. Wong dim sum basket £6 - the signature selection of har kau (topped with a prawn foam), sui mai and xiao long bao. Each morsel was small and tasty and just not enough. The flavours were a little more refined than standard but you really are paying for presentation;
- Xian city "lamb burger" with sesame, coriander & chilli £12 - the first sharing dish was a winner. Again a bit expensive but you create your own little sweet bun burgers with lamb and condiments. There's enough filling for 4 buns and it would be much better if they provided this as such;
- Crispy duck: Mrs. Chow's pancakes & plum sauce £12.95 - the second sharing dish was a bigger winner. A duck leg is mashed up and provides the typical fillings for peking duck with five spice salt and pickles. There were 6 pancakes (from memory) and a brush to paint the flavours on. Another table received a second helping of pancakes but I'm sure if this is to order or not. We certainly didn't have any extra brought to us and had enough ingredients to fill another 2-4;
- Dong Po slow braised Blyth burgh pork belly £10 - strong flavours but overall a bit too fatty for me. The thin shreds of meat in between the fat were very soft but the amount of wasted fat (I have my limits) was a bit sore. The sauce was excellent with the rice;
- Yunnan wild mushroom, truffles & red date casserole £10 - another dish of flavoursome sauce (was there a tiny bit of truffle flavour?) with a tofu skin cracked over the top;
- Crab & seafood filled in braised leaves, shallot powder, cockles £10 - a Chinese cabbage leaf was circled and topped with a collection of seafood and crab meat. It made it difficult to eat as once you bite through the base, the toppings all fall away. It was mild and clearly flavoured by fish and cockles;
- Egg fried rice £3.5 - a generous serve of fried rice to mop up all the sauces. Adding the salty chilli oils lifted this to another level and a dish on its own.
The food is well executed and the presentation and art are clearly designed to be different and a more interactive experience than the standard mess of Chinese restaurants or the other end of high end expensive versions. This is food designed to be cool with decent flavours (and prices) to match. Similar to many of these institutes more skewed towards the Western palate, the chilli needs a better kick. But it'll do for now for a special occasion. I wouldn't necessarily advocate it before 7.30pm theatre starts as you may feel a bit rushed even with a 5.30pm dinner, but if you are comfortable ordering and eating fast and don't expect to wait in line to pickup tickets (they are all pretty fast these days to enter anyway) then give it a shot.