Back in 2012, Executive Chef Dan Hong was once again given the opportunity to open up a new Merivale restaurant in a prime inner city Sydney location.
Dan’s newest venture Mr Wong is tucked away in Bridge Lane in the heart of Sydney, the laneway once crowded with party goers of the former Tank Night Club. The restaurant’s entrance is an arched doorway framed by rustic brickwork and an understated sign in Chinese calligraphy.
The Cantonese-style menu took 6 months of planning and testing; it pays homage to classic Chinese dishes but transcends with the use of European cooking techniques and modern interpretation. Spread over two levels, seating 240, Mr Wong is one of the largest restaurants on the North end of Sydney’s CBD. Even at this scale, the restaurant is packed night after night with queues of diners all hoping to score a table and get a taste of Dan’s latest creations.
With a venue this size, Dan knew he needed a kitchen to match. After contacting Comcater, Dan quickly was provided with the information he needed to fit out his kitchen with high performance cooking equipment capable of working as long and as hard as the chefs!
In the kitchen is the Garland 6 burner commercial cooktop range, which has the largest cooking surface on the market and exclusive Pro Burners for concentrated heat and power – enabling Dan’s Chefs plenty of room to multitask at peak hour. Then there’s the line-up of Frymaster world class commercial fryers which are always busy with the ever so popular Salt and Pepper Calamari.
The RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® combi ovens also get a workout with endless orders of the classic steamed fish fillet with ginger and shallots.
“We mainly use the RATIONAL’s for steaming, the steam from the RATIONAL is very powerful, resulting in shorter cooking times,” explained Dan. “RATIONAL ovens are also really easy to use, we have over 40 chefs at Mr Wong, so what better way to ensure consistency but to program it in the oven! Then it’s just a case of press and go.”
