Chef Andrew Wong’s latest restaurant Kym’s is set to open its doors September 2018 – date to be confirmed.
Located in Bloomberg Arcade, at Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in the City of London, Kym’s will be a modern premium casual Chinese restaurant with a relaxed and comfortable interior.
Andrew explains, “My food has always been about the journey: the history of China and the cultures of its gastronomic regions. Kym’s will be no different really but this time it’s about my community and my own journey. The name is actually something very personal to me and my family.”
Kym’s had been the name of Andrew’s parents’ restaurant in Victoria in 1985, where the family worked for 27 years and Andrew spent his childhood.
Andrew with his wife Nathalie reopened it as A.Wong in 2012.
The food at Kym’s Bloomberg Arcade will feature a selection of dishes based around Andrew’s interpretation of classic Chinese dishes. He will also call on select craftsmen from Soho’s Chinatown, championing their specialist creativity and artisanal produce linking the landmark trading areas of London’s Chinese community with the heart of the financial Square Mile.
The menus will feature a selection of small bites such as Yunnanese lemongrass salad, peanuts, lettuce, chilli, lime, sharing platters of Crispy duck, pancakes, plum sauce and classics such as Slow poached soy chicken, ginger relish, rice. Desserts too will feature such as ‘Chinatown’ pineapple bun with custard.
Kym’s will also offer a smaller ‘grab and go’ menu during lunch service.
Andrew says, “Some of the flavours will be instantly recognisable and even hark back to the nostalgia of the original Kym’s menus, with sweet & sour elements and more rice-based dishes. Like so much of Chinese gastronomy, it’ll be deceptively simple food with a big emphasis on the ancient craft of Chinese ‘roasting’ meats – and that includes poaching. For me though, it’s also about celebrating and paying my respects to the contribution the Chinese community has had over the past 100 years on British gastronomy. I think we’ve all evolved and I want to offer casual Chinese food that is something away from what guests have come to expect.”
The restaurant will seat 120 guests over 2 floors with access from street level via a statement circular entrance bar that will accommodate up to 30 guests. Beer, both on tap and bottled, will be available as well as a selection of cocktails influenced by China’s diverse food traditions and will reflect the capital’s contemporary and classic cocktail culture. Wine too will play a part with a dynamic and carefully selected list that will offer harmony to the vast array of textures and flavours Chinese cuisine has to offer.
Interior design has been created by Michaelis Boyd, featuring a soft colour palette of pale pinks and greens, with accents of copper, deep blue and plum and a mix of dark wood and terrazzo flooring.
A bespoke, 5 metre high cherry blossom tree will be installed through the gently curved staircase linking the bar and restaurant with the upper mezzanine level. Signifying female beauty and power in China, the tree will represent the yin element to the yang of the present day corporate city, helping to harmonise and balance the interiors.
A private area will be available for groups up to 50 and will be located on the mezzanine level.
Disabled access will be at ground level.
Kym’s will be open Monday to Saturday lunch from 12 noon to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm for dinner. On Sundays, Kym’s will open with a Chinese Sunday Roast Menu from 12 noon to 9pm.
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For further media information, contact Elaine Spooner at Lotus on 020 7751 5812
Notes to the editor:
Andrew Wong • Born and brought up in London, Andrew Wong has been immersed in the world of restaurants since childhood. Despite spending a large proportion of his younger years at his parents’ restaurant, where he worked both in the kitchen and front of house, Andrew was encouraged to pursue a more academic career and left school to study chemistry at Oxford University and then Anthropology at the London School of Economics. However by 22, Andrew had chosen a career in hospitality and enrolled himself in a London culinary school where he specialised in French cookery and culinary science. Technically accomplished but dissatisfied with his knowledge of true Chinese cuisine, he left London in 2010 and set out on a working tour of China. His first move was to Qingdao in Shandong province studying at the Sichuan Culinary Institute, before gaining more practical experience in banqueting and the specialized techniques of Chinese roasting. Then onto Beijing to the ancient skill of traditional Peking duck, before heading to Hong Kong and its famous Cantonese dim sum. Fascinated by the cross-cultural and incredible variety of Chinese cuisine, Andrew opened A. Wong with his wife Nathalie in 2012 with a menu that celebrated all regions of China. In 2015 he released his debut book, A.Wong -The Cookbook and in 2017 was awarded a Michelin star in The Michelin Guide Great Britain|Ireland 2018.
White Rabbit Fund • White Rabbit Fund is a British based hospitality development platform providing capital and support to early stage chefs and restaurants. Founded by Chris Miller, former Commercial Director of Soho House Group, the fund also backs Indian small plates and cocktail concept Kricket, Italian heritage brand Lina Stores and Hawaiian poké operators Island Poké.
Bloomberg Arcade
• Bloomberg Arcade is a new culinary and cultural destination in the heart of the Square Mile. The covered pedestrian arcade runs through the site of Bloomberg's European headquarters and brings together independent restaurants from some of the biggest names in food. Curated by Bloomberg’s Chief food critic Richard Vines, the line-up includes new locations of food favourites Koya, Caravan, Vinoteca, Homeslice, Bleecker Burger, Ahi Poké and EKTE Nordic Kitchen (by Soren Jessen). A new restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Andrew Wong will also open in autumn 2018.
Michaelis Boyd • Michaelis Boyd is a global architecture practice with offices in London and New York. Founded in 1995 by Alex Michaelis and Tim Boyd, the practice has earned a reputation for their creative design-led approach and award-winning sophisticated architecture and interior design, with emphasis placed on sustainable and environmentally-conscious materials and building techniques. Michaelis Boyd’s portfolio encompasses high-end residential and commercial projects for clients in the UK and around the world ranging from new build urban sites and the renovation of British heritage buildings, to hotels, luxury private members’ clubs, restaurants and bars. Key projects include Sandibe, a sustainable safari lodge in the Okavango Delta in North West Botswana; 254 luxury loft-style apartments within the 1930s built Battersea Power Station in London; the iconic London Groucho Club; Soho House Berlin, Soho House LA and Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire; the Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn, New York; and the Kimpton De Witt Hotel in Amsterdam. Most recently, Michaelis Boyd has designed five new residences at the prestigious Sugar Beach Resort in St Lucia; an outpost of the Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurant Duddell’s in London; Hotel Indigo’s latest London opening located at 1 Leicester Square; Clubhouse by ZO. – a co-working, wellness and lifestyle space in the iconic Rockefeller Center, New York; and the RYSE in Hongdae, Seoul. www.michaelisboyd.com