A Wong
70 Wilton Road
Pimlico
London SW1V 1DE
Nearest tube: Victoria
4.6 Yummy Stars
Price £££ £2-£8 per piece of dim sum; Snacks £3-£1; Sharing dishes £12-£15; Evening dishes £8-£20 (at time of writing)
☏ 020 7828 8931
Duck yolk custard buns at A Wong
Buzz Factor 4.6/5 stars
Food 4.9/5 stars
Value for money 4.4/5 stars
I have been a fan of this restaurant for some time and was thrilled to see that it has been recently awarded 1 Michelin star.
An exciting and accomplished young chef who took over the site previously occupied by his father’s restaurant a few years ago. He initially studied Chemistry at Oxford University and then switched to social anthropology at LSE in London. Following the death of his father, he managed his father’s restaurants and studied at Westminster Kingsway College culinary school. He toured round China, learning about the different regional cuisine, resulting in an eclectic mélange of dishes at his own restaurant in Victoria.
A Wong gives Chinese dishes a modern twist, at times introducing Western ingredients eg foie gras and truffle. They are stylishly presented, using tasteful European crockery.
You can find some of the usual dim sum fare here but unlike most other dim sum restaurants, you can order dim sum by the piece instead of 3 or 4 pieces in a portion. For the curious like me, I wanted to try all sorts and so, ordered numerous single pieces of all different kinds of dim sum, probably much to the kitchen’s annoyance….
There are numerous delicious dishes but with 2 standout ones that I would go back time and time again. One is Chengdu street tofu, with chilli soya sauce, peanuts and preserved vegetables. A fantastic combination of flavours – just the right amount of heat in the sauce added to the smooth tofu, with saltiness from the preserved vegetables and then finished off with the crunchiness of the peanuts. The other one is A Wong’s signature dessert, steamed duck yolk custard bun. The custard oozes out as you bite into the bun. I found it a little bit on the sweet side but others just loved it. Plenty of fun dishes to try including the 63 degree “tea egg” with shredded filo. The beef ho fun (rice sticks) was skillfully fried in the wok, giving it a lovely smoky flavour.
The restaurant is simply decorated with wooden tables and chairs. At the time of my visit in 2017, the chairs had a rather bare back, which encouraged you to sit upright or if you were a small child, to climb right through … However, at the beginning of 2018, A Wong announced that he was going to get rid of these cool-looking chairs and have new ones with cushions instead. Service was adequate with no fuss.
Lastly, I like the fact that a number of tables are reserved for walk-ins. Great for people like me who like to eat spontaneously and do not always book well in advance. Some tables outside allow you to gawp at passing public. However, I strongly suggest that you do book ahead.
If you are interested in learning more about dim sum, do take a look at my Dim Sum Guide under Yippie Blog.
2017
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