Profile | Meet Wang Yong, the chef putting Hangzhou on the culinary map and enhancing Jiangzhe cuisine with great ingredients and technique
- Wang Yong, who is from Jiangxi, trained in Shanghai, then moved to Hangzhou to work at Jin Sha, where he is now executive Chinese chef
- He talks about the wealth of ingredients in China and how the produce available around Zhejiang province drives his tasting menus
Hangzhou may not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking of China’s growing gastronomic footprint. The city is often overshadowed by neighbouring metropolis Shanghai.
But ask any Chinese food lover worth their salt and they will tell you that one of China’s hottest chefs currently lives and works in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.
Once described as “the finest and most luxurious city in the world” by Marco Polo, it is the adopted home of Wang Yong, chef of Jin Sha at the Four Seasons Hangzhou at West Lake.
“I admire chef Wang for maintaining a clear and diligent spirit in this rapidly growing global trend of celebrity chefs,” says Amy Wong, an independent food writer with a Weibo following of 1.4 million. Wong has been following Wang’s cooking evolution over the past decade.
“He integrates domestic and international influences in his cooking,” she says, adding that his flavour profiles and cooking methods are becoming “more sophisticated and diverse, with a clear showcase of aesthetics”.
