In a collaboration that seems bound for success, Andrew Wong – chef-founder of Pimlico's A Wong, the first Chinese restaurant outside of Asia to be awarded two Michelin stars – is teaming up with Amar Radia, co-founder of Dishoom, to create Kong, a pub with a Chinese kitchen.
“The grand east London pub and the Chinese kitchen have been part of London for over 200 years,” Amar Radia said in a statement. “Kong honours that history while writing the next chapter – a Chinese public house with a warm, wide welcome.”
Fittingly, Kong will take over a pub that was first opened in 1792, the same time that the first Chinese migrants arrived in London. The concept will meld east London’s pub legacy with a Chinese kitchen, in a space that was most recently The Water Poet. The venue closed in 2019 to make way for the Norton Folgate development, of which Kong will be a tenant. It's also home to Noisy Oyster and Osteria Angelina, which both opened in the precinct last year.
“Kong is a Chinese kitchen reflecting our personality, shaped by London, the East End, China and A Wong,” said Andrew Wong in a statement. “Untraditional, instinctive, fearless, all-day cooking.”
It will span 6000 square feet, including an 800 square-foot courtyard – which means Shoreditch will score a solid al fresco dining and drinking spot. On the menu? Details are limited for now, but there’s the promise of dumplings for breakfast, noodles at lunch and grilled food at dinner. Interiors will be by London designer Afroditi Krassa (Savoy Grill, Dishoom, Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay).
Kong will open in autumn 2026.
