Dan Hong, of Sydney’s Mr Wong, will be the first of four chefs to headline the contemporary Chinese restaurant’s new programme in 2018
Hong Kong’s dining scene has no shortage of impressive guest chef stints, but here’s a series that has a story to tell: Duddell’s new Chefs-in-Residence programme, which kickstarts in January 2018, is an initiative that aims to celebrate the contemporary Chinese diaspora and the wide-reaching influence of the Cantonese repertoire by inviting chefs who are dedicated to Chinese techniques or flavours in their restaurants. During their time in the Central restaurant, they’ll be showcasing a menu that has been crafted exclusively for the event.
First up on January 16 and 17 Dan Hong, the executive chef of Mr Wong and Mrs G’s in Sydney, restaurants he co-founded with Ho Lee Fook’s Jowett Yu. At Mr Wong, Hong’s playful take on Cantonese classics results in dishes such as lemon chicken karaage and char siu-roasted toothfish—the latter dish will be featured on his menu for Duddell's, paired with pickled radish. Other intriguing dishes such as steamed soymilk custard with flower crab, kaffir lime and onion oil. Culinary genre-bending seems to be his forte—Vietnamese-Chinese by heritage, Hong kickstarted his culinary career working at his mother’s Vietnamese restaurant before moving onto a string of lauded venues, from Marque to Tetsuya and WD-50.
The Chefs-In-Residence series will feature three more chefs, with names yet to be disclosed. We have a few on our wishlist: Dai Jianjun, the cerebral chef behind Hangzhou’s truly farm-to-table Dragonwell Manor; Angela Dimayuga, the outspoken former executive chef of Mission Chinese Food in New York City; newly Michelin-minted chef Andrew Wong of A.Wong in London (even if he did already do a stint already in Above & Beyond earlier this year); or Adeline Grattard of French-Asian restaurant Yamtcha in Paris (with tea pairings by her Hong Kong-born husband, Chi Wah Chan, of course). Stay tuned as we bring you more confirmed names throughout the year.
Duddell’s, 3/F-4/F, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong; +852 2525 9191