The impact of A. Wong over London is tangible – all thanks to a very special chef Wine News

It has long been associated with rising house prices and gentrification, but now the “Waitrose effect” has a new phenomenon to contend with: the Wong effect.

Michelin-starred chef Andrew Wong of famous London restaurant A. Wong has acknowledged the help his restaurant has given to improve the neighborhoods of Victoria and Pimlico.

Asked about the latest episode of the Biting Talk podcast if he thought A. Wong had helped improve the neighborhood, Wong admits, “If so, then I’m so grateful because Victoria as a region has changed so much. .

“It’s a very different place than it was in 1989,” says Wong, who grew up in Victoria. “There was an abandoned bus station opposite [the restaurant]. The neighborhood has changed dramatically, footfall along the street has changed and the demographics have changed. “

The restaurant, for which Wong received a second Michelin star in January this year, was opened by his parents in the 1980s. In 2012, he reopened the establishment after six years of research and a six-month trip to across China. Abandoning the traditional Anglicized version of Cantonese cuisine, he brought to light and refined the dishes he had discovered in the provinces of China.

As a schoolboy, the family restaurant was “the place where we grew up,” says Wong. “This was where we went after school, we ate the staff food with the whole team and we were effectively locked in the office while our parents worked nights.”

Wong recalls a newspaper article in which, he says, “a food critic described [the area] like “scuzzy”. I didn’t even know what scuzzy meant, but felt like it wasn’t a good thing. “

Today, with Victoria offering sparkling new offices, new retail developments, restaurants, bars and cafes, Wong is happy to be credited with helping make this change. “If people think we’ve helped make Wilton Road a little better, then thank you.”

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Wong unveiled an augmented reality art installation by artist Gordon Cheung in partnership with Rémy Martin.

Click the audio player above to listen to Andrew Wong’s full Biting Talk interview, hosted by William Sitwell, who also this week features Corinthia Hotel London Managing Director Thomas Kochs, founder of glitzy Bob Bob Ricard from Soho, Leonid Shutov and Biting Talk mixologist Farhad Heydari.