Food legend Kylie Kwong to close Lucky Kwong and step away from restaurants
After 30 years pioneering a new style of Chinese cuisine, Kwong is ready to move on to her next chapter. But first? A well-earned break.
One of Australia’s most influential chefs, Kylie Kwong, is closing her Sydney restaurant and stepping away from professional kitchens after 30 years at the forefront of the dining industry.
Lucky Kwong, her Australian-Cantonese eatery in South Eveleigh, will shut at the end of June, and she will take a break to “relax and reflect”.
“For all the many challenges that come with being in the hospitality industry, I consider myself fortunate for I have had far more positive experiences than negative,” Kwong says.
After three decades of standing behind the pass in a professional kitchen, Kwong says she’s ready for a new stage in her life. But she also acknowledges that inflationary pressures have made running a restaurant difficult.
“Everyone is feeling it. I have never seen the restaurant industry in such tough times as it is right now.”
Kwong, who did her apprenticeship with Neil Perry at Rockpool in 1994, can be credited with pioneering a new genre of cuisine that became internationally lauded.
Inspired by a 2010 talk by rock star international chef Rene Redzepi, from Copenhagen’s Noma, Kwong began weaving Australian native ingredients into the home-style Cantonese cooking she was serving at her first restaurant, Billy Kwong.
‘I have never seen the restaurant industry in such tough times as it is right now.’Kylie Kwong
“Integrating Australian native produce into our Cantonese-style food literally revolutionised our menu and viewpoint of the world,” Kwong says.
And so was born her distinctive style of Australian-Chinese food, one that included native saltbush being used in dumplings, and Davidson plums being served with Chinese roast duck, among many dishes. Her bold move inspired other Australian chefs to explore indigenous ingredients.
“Billy Kwong also gave me my first experience of having a business partner, which was the late Bill Granger. Bill’s belief in me, guidance and small business know-how was invaluable. He held my hand through those early days and all these years later, I see ‘Bill-isms’ throughout my Lucky Kwong eatery,” Kwong says.
They opened Billy Kwong in 2000, and it quickly became commonplace to see queues of eager diners snaking along Crown Street, particularly as Kwong’s fame grew thanks to numerous television series and six cookbooks. Granger and Kwong parted ways after a year and Kwong ran the restaurant solo, moving it to bigger premises in Potts Point in 2014.
“Moving from Surry Hills to Potts Point was a major learning curve with two main challenges: how to distil and shift the essence of the jewel-box-like BK into a space that was three times the size, and going from running a business with less than 15 staff [and 50 stools], to a medium-sized business with 44 staff and 145 seats,” Kwong recalls.
After nearly two decades – during which she wrote the specials board every night before service – she closed Billy Kwong in 2019.
“For me, running a restaurant was a deeply personal business. I love watching diners eat my food. Feeding people is my love language. I could have opened many more Billy Kwongs. But I need to be connected, to be hands-on.”
In 2021, she opened Lucky Kwong, a more casual, lunch-only eatery in South Eveleigh, still showcasing Cantonese-meets-native-Australian food. She and wife Nell lost a baby in 2012 and the restaurant, on the site of the historic Eveleigh Railway Workshops, was named after and dedicated to him.
Kwong will now focus on the many connections she has forged with Indigenous communities and charity groups such as the Wayside Chapel and Addi Road Food Pantry. That involvement contributed to her recognition last year with an Order of Australia.
“I will still cook; that is what I do. But not in professional kitchens,” she says. “First I want to take a break, regroup and spend time with the important people in my life. Travel is high on the list of priorities. After so many years of being on the pass and running a business I now have the opportunity to take stock and think about what’s next.”
As the recipient of the Good Food Guide 2024 Legend Award, she has important advice for young up-and-coming chefs.
“Always cook from your heart and take care of your staff, treat them with respect and everything will flow from there; plus for me, having a supportive business partner and landlord has been very important.”
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Ardyn Bernoth is National Good Food Editor.