Chef Andrew Wong (Image: Jutta Klee)
Whether you’re new to the unique flavours or you love the traditional cooking techniques, authentic Asian cuisine creates a culinary journey like no other.
As the 2025 Chinese New Year begins, now is the time to fully immerse yourself in the universal power that food has in bringing people together.
If there’s one thing that unites people over Chinese New Year, it’s food. Across the generations and for hundreds of years, people all over the world have come together over this period to reflect on the year that has passed and express hope for the year ahead.
Founded in 1888, Lee Kum Kee is a popular culinary brand. For 137 years, it has served Asian culinary culture and heritage to communities through its comprehensive range of more than 300 sauces and condiments.
Every Chinese New Year centres on a table, where every bite becomes a memory. Now, Lee Kum Kee is proud to collaborate with Chef Andrew Wong to showcase the role of food in connecting generations and communities.
The new faces of Chinese food
Sitting just a stone’s throw from London’s Victoria Station, A. Wong looks like an unremarkable, even modest Chinese restaurant from the outside.
Once inside, however, it quickly becomes apparent that it is home to one of the most exciting British chefs of his generation – Andrew Wong.
This year marks 40 years since A. Wong first opened its doors. Named by Andrew Wong’s parents, Albert and Annie, who ran it for years as a traditional Cantonese restaurant, Chef Wong explains how it was always ahead of its time.
It was one of the first Chinese restaurants to have a website, and Wong’s entrepreneurial late father first served hotpot – now a hugely popular phenomenon – back in the 1980s.
Fast-forward four decades, and A. Wong has innovated and evolved even more. It holds two Michelin stars and a place in history as the first Chinese restaurant outside of Asia to reach such a momentous milestone.
‘Memories of Peking duck’ (Image: James Gillies)
Speaking about his journey to becoming the chef he is today, Andrew Wong said: “My journey has been retrospective, questioning misconceptions about Chinese food.
“The idea was always to make A. Wong a category of one, making it unique for us – and also the diner. When you talk about China, hear about it, and taste it from a UK perspective, it’s very different from the moment that you hit Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Sichuan.
“It’s multi-sensory; you feel the energy, locality, culture – that was the one thing I never anticipated would have an impact on me.”
Wong started his journey in his grandmother’s home in Sichuan province in central China and enrolled in culinary school to learn the cuisine. He didn’t speak Sichuanese – and so, remarkably, he mainly relied on his senses. He said: “I was learning everything through sight and smell; I had to adapt to it without language – it definitely made it so much more interesting!”
His six months in China were a revelation, but he left clear in the knowledge that he didn’t even “touch the sides” of Chinese cuisine, saying: “If you’re lucky, you may just have a glimpse, but you soak up the energy and culture and use that as fuel more than anything.”
Preserving and evolving culinary culture for future generations
A. Wong holds two Michelin stars (Image: Murray Wilson)
Immigrants from southern China took Cantonese food to the rest of the world centuries ago when they left their homes in search of new beginnings.
Settling into foreign lands, they adapted their cooking using whatever ingredients they could find, giving us the diversity and spread of Chinese food we have today.
Lee Kum Kee has been there alongside home cooks and chefs across the world, supporting them for more than 100 years. Its sauces and condiments have enabled immigrants to cook up a taste of home and entrepreneurs to set up restaurants and flourish.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, with a rich heritage, commitment to uncompromising quality, and sustainable production practices, Lee Kum Kee positions itself as a gateway that enables cultural experiences through Asian cuisine worldwide.
Talking about Lee Kum Kee’s new ‘Flavours That Bind’ campaign, the global CEO of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group, Mr Jet Jing, said: “Lee Kum Kee has been a staple in Asian homes and kitchens since 1888.
“As the world grows more curious about and connected to Asian identity through cinema, music and culture, Lee Kum Kee is seizing this moment to champion the global prominence of Asian culinary traditions.
“Through our new brand positioning, we aim to inspire creativity, foster connections, and shape the narrative of Asian cuisine as a cornerstone of superior culinary experiences.”
Steak marinated in Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce (Image: Lee Kum Kee)
Lee Kum Kee was founded by Lee Kum Sheung, a restaurateur who accidentally left a pot of oyster soup unattended. When he returned to his soup, it had become a dark, rich, deeply flavorful creation.
What followed were decades of continuous innovation and culinary creation, expanding into new categories and setting trends. Yet Lee’s oyster sauce remains at the soul of Cantonese cuisine and continues to be Lee Kum Kee’s signature product to this day.
If you fancy dipping your fork into the world of Asian cuisine, is an incredible, flavour-packed recipe that is a perfect for beginning your cultural journey.
Merging heritage and innovation
One feature of Chinese cuisine is its versatility. It adapts depending on local conditions, ingredients, and the tastes of residents in other parts of the world. Some elements remain timeless, but others shift and evolve.
For Chef Andrew Wong, cooking has never been about precise measurements; it is more about trial and error. At A. Wong, the current evening tasting menu is a deliberate entry point to dinner in the style of Imperial banqueting and a celebration of dim sum.
Dim sum selection at A. Wong (Image: James Gilles)
Chef Wong explains: “That style of eating in Hong Kong, to me, is about texture: glutinous, crispy, fried, hot, and cold, all mixed together.
“Our har gau (shrimp dumplings) come with layers of different flavours, a sweet chilli sauce, and a light texture of rice vinegar on top. Siu mai (pork dumplings) come with black bean sauce for umami, but then pickled cucumber and crackling on top of that.
“That thinking is inspired in part by my Lee Kum Kee journey when I visited their production centre in Guangdong. There was the serendipity of Mr Lee Kum Sheung leaving the oysters to boil, making a reduction which he later turned into the oyster sauce – serendipity kicked in, and he ended up with that flavour.”
From fried rice and wonton soup, to char siu (barbecued pork) and siu aap (roast duck), Asian cuisine not only showcases the ingenuity and mastery of the cooks but also shows how adept the Chinese are at integrating into different societies.
With the help of Lee Kum Kee, they’re celebrating old traditions and creating new ones, one dish at a time.