Dishes full of Far Eastern promise

If 2015 ushered in London’s first Chinese gastropub and Shanghai-style “dinner and dance” venue, then the capital’s favourite Far-Eastern food has already broken new ground in 2016.

Launched in January, Shuang Shuang lays claim to being London’s first dedicated “hot pot restaurant” (hot-pot cooking, pictured below, is very popular around Chinese New Year) and it’s nothing if not different. Customers pick their ingredients from a sushi-style conveyor belt, which they then cook in their own broth; the heat is controlled by using electronically-operated bowls. Futuristic dining such as this is unlikely to be everybody’s cup of, well, broth but it’s a must for those who want a complete “experience” rather than just a full stomach and a contented palate.

At the other end of the spectrum is Zhou Zhengbo. In September, the 29-year-old arrived at the Chinese Food Festival in London with what he thought was enough ingredients to make three days’ worth of Chongqing xiaomian (chow mein). But he sold out in less than three hours and – after taking over £10k in three days having restocked using ingredients from London’s Chinese restaurants – he is now planning to open shops in Birmingham and Manchester, as well the capital.

What both demonstrate is the growing sense of adventure among British consumers when it comes to Chinese food.Two decades ago, Westerners mostly ate sweetened, sanitised versions of Cantonese dishes. Now, Sichuan cooking – especially the peppercorns of the same name and its fiery chillies – has long been all the rage, while lesser-explored regions such as Mr Zhou’s Chongqing are now appearing on the culinary map.

Nobody showcases Chinese regional cuisine quite like Andrew Wong, though. The chef-patron of A Wong in Pimlico – detached from Chinatown in more ways than one – was brought up in England from the age 12, but returned to his homeland for extensive research and training before reopening the restaurant in its current guise in 2012.

While there’s no doubt that much of his food is refined, of more importance is where it comes from. “Food, especially Chinese food, isn’t from a laboratory,” he said recently. “It’s from a family environment, where a figure wants to feed their loved ones. If you understand that, then food is always going to taste better.”

And with 14 international borders spanning a vast area, it’s little wonder Wong believes that saying “I’m a Chinese chef’ is as meaningless as saying “I’m a European chef’.”