Chef Eric Wan remembers well the experience of growing up in a family restaurant. Wan was born to a father from Hong Kong and a Vietnamese mother of Chinese heritage, and the family ran a pan-Asian restaurant in Sheffield that came to play a huge part in Wan’s future. Despite the long hours and grind, looking after the restaurant’s regulars was something that always stayed with him – and he’s bound to start doing the same at Tempo, his debut restaurant and wine bar, on Paradise Row in Bethnal Green.
Wan was working a white-collar nine-to-five, but took a leap of faith and pursued cooking after the pandemic. La Lot’s pop-up dinners and residencies saw the chef serve a menu informed by the Canto-Viet cooking he adores, and he undertook stages at Kol and The Clove Club, as well as a full-time role at Dinner by Heston. But perhaps the most important residency was at Ken’s in Exmouth Market (now known as 51). “They opened their doors to me,” Wan says. Word of the residency spread quickly – “things just started to snowball” – and the chef eventually popped up in Paris, Edinburgh and Shanghai. And it was with Ken’s founder Dan Long (who is also behind Dan’s in Dalston) that he opened Tempo in December.
Over the years, Wan has evolved his own cooking style and fine-tuned the dishes that form the opening menu at Tempo. For example, an opening dish of slow-cooked aubergine cradled by whipped tofu now arrives with wonton crisps after guests kept asking for something to scoop up the silky dip.
Meanwhile, a riff on Vietnamese sate, typically made with chicken and lemongrass, evolved after Wan tweaked the original to fit a tasting menu at Carousel. Grilled Swaledale chicken thigh and sweet basil are punctuated with plump chicken hearts and caramelised red onion. Elsewhere on the menu, Wan’s take on prawn toast features a green chilli emulsion slathered on crisp toast with prawns, plus there’s a version of nem nuong (pork sausage) with lemongrass that’s grilled over open fire. Joining Wan in the kitchen are chefs Norine Chu (ex-Singburi, The Water House Project) and Mina Nguyen (ex-26 Grains), who have both led pop-ups of their own.
The dining room is dominated by a sleek stainless-steel dining counter that wraps around the open kitchen. An accent wall in deep red highlights the day’s by-the-glass offerings (poured by front-of-house duo Izzy McFadden and Olivia Corrigan). Shelves stacked with wine and a handful of larger wooden tables – perfect for small groups – add warmth and cosiness.
Long’s influence is most evident in the wine (his wine retail business, Parched, operates out of the venue during the day). The list leans towards low-intervention styles and rotates frequently.
Wan admits that he occasionally worries about his cooking being compartmentalised. “Initially, when I was starting to offer pop-ups, I labelled it as a modern Vietnamese pop-up,” he says. “Then I would get people coming in and being like, ‘Oh, where’s the pho?’”
His cooking might best be compared to that of progressive Southeast Asian chefs like Budgie Montoya (Sarap) and Abby Lee (Mambow), whose food is an expression of their individuality.
“With Tempo, it’s my style of cooking,” he says. “It’s food from my memories, my travels, things that my parents have cooked for me, things I’ve eaten with my friends. Places that I’ve worked at, things I’ve seen on menus and eating at different restaurants – they’ve all influenced things on the menu. It’s an accumulation of my experiences.”
Tempo
252 Paradise Row, E2 9LE
07719322317
Hours:
Tue to Sat 5pm–11pm
