In 2021, Andrew Wong’s Pimlico diner A Wong became the Chinese restaurant outside of Asia to secure two Michelin stars. Now Wong has opened Forbidden City bar beneath his fine diner, and is keen to reshape what people expect from the A Wong experience.
“I feel like when you go to two Michelin-star restaurants, sometimes you get the feeling that it’s no longer really about you,” Wong says. “I really want there to be a space within the restaurant where it really is about you.”
Upstairs at A Wong, the tasting menu runs to more than 30 courses and takes around three hours to eat. But, “this bar really allows us to give our guests that sense of a more informal experience”, says Wong.
Previously a space where guests could bookend their lunch or dinner with a pre- or post-meal drink, it’s now open to the public with its own menu of cocktails, snacks and larger dishes to share. “We just decided that we were going to give it a whole different menu and really create a different environment for our guests to spend the evening.”
It’s an intimate, cosseting space enveloped by black walls lit by the flicker of large bird cage lanterns, and sumptuous black velvet chairs take the space into living room territory – which means no, you won’t want to leave.
Several cocktails are named after Chinese regions and provinces, and they are closely tied to what the chefs prepare upstairs. “It’s a reflection of the work that we do in the kitchen,” says Wong. Those links reveal themselves in drinks like the Peking Duck Old Fashioned, washed with duck fat rendered during the roasting process.
Following much experimentation, baijiu (a clear, distilled Chinese spirit made primarily from fermented sorghum and other grains including rice, wheat or millet) features in the Henan cocktail. “For years, we’ve been working with various different people to try to find a way to incorporate baijiu into cocktails, which really is a reflection of its complexity,” says Wong. “For the most part, we’ve failed, because it’s such a strong aromatic and a very scent-forward ingredient … here we’ve paired it with raspberry liqueur, elderflower, bitters and some mint for freshness."
In terms of food, Wong describes the bar as a “third space” within the restaurant. Some dishes appear on the Forbidden City bar menu because they don’t quite suit the choreography of the tasting menu – yet. “We might work on something and it’s absolutely delicious, but we just can’t get it to fit within that experience,” says Wong. “So the bar really is the place to put those dishes on.”
Crucially, though, Wong isn’t compromising on the quality of food in the bar. “It’s the same team who look after upstairs, but a lot more relaxed,” he says. There’s no dress code and no obligation to commit to a full evening. “You can have one cocktail, or you can just have a soft drink,” he says. “You can have one snack, a few snacks, or a whole meal.”
Wong’s nostalgia informs the menu, with dishes reflecting childhood favourites and memories of old Hong Kong. Dishes including the cherrywood-smoked Memories of Peking Duck wrap, a dim sum basket and a deconstructed pulled lamb “burger” served with a lotus leaf bun are taken from the tasting menu upstairs, while others such as Cantonese wonton noodle soup and a large Staub pan of Wong’s crispy-bottomed smoked pork special fried rice are exclusive to the bar.
There’s also One Night in Hong Kong: a £55 happy meal-style menu, offering a more affordable taste of the two-star kitchen. It includes a crispy wonton dusted in prawn cocktail seasoning, Cantonese wonton noodle soup, a soy chicken and Oscietra caviar wrap and a cocktail.
Above all, Wong is excited to bring something fresh to SW1. “There aren’t many places where you can walk into a relaxed environment and just have a few drinks or a few snacks without any barriers.”
Reservations by phone or email: 0207 828 8931 info@awong.co.uk.
Forbidden City
A Wong, 70 Wilton Road, SW1V 1DE
Hours
Tue 5.30pm¬–10.30pm
Wed to Sat midday–2.30pm, 5.30pm–10.30pm
