24-04-2025
Exclusive: Wing wins The World's 50 Best Restaurants hospitality award, leading a new era of Chinese fine dining
Vicky Cheng's Wing puts Chinese hospitality at the centre of global fine dining, and the world is finally paying attention
Wing, the Hong Kong restaurant helmed by chef Vicky Cheng, has been named the recipient of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award 2025, presented by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Announced today, on April 23, ahead of the official awards ceremony in Turin on June 19, the accolade celebrates Wing's exceptional service and steadfast commitment to hospitality. This win follows Wing's No 20 ranking on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024 list, where it also claimed the Highest New Entry Award.
Yet for all the global acclaim, Wing's origins were far more unassuming. The story began somewhat unexpectedly during the pandemic, evolving from an invitation-only, midnight-supper test kitchen at Cheng's debut venue, VEA. 'The whole concept of Wing started when COVID-19 happened,' Cheng recalls. 'I needed the information, I needed the knowledge to learn more about Chinese cuisine so I could continue our Chinese-French concept at VEA.'
That pursuit of knowledge transformed an underutilised bar space (below VEA) into Wing, a name symbolising hope, tenacity and perseverance. The original vision, Cheng admits, was more relaxed. 'Believe it or not, it was meant to be a casual Chinese restaurant,' he confesses. The idea of stacking two fine dining venues, one atop the other, felt counterintuitive—until it wasn't. 'It turned out to be the best decision we could have made.'
Above Wing's story started as a midnight test kitchen and grew into one of the world's most celebrated Chinese fine dining restaurants
What sets Wing apart is the architecture of the experience itself. Cheng has coined his approach 'temperatured hospitality', a philosophy that reaches beyond service choreography to something more elemental: emotional temperature. 'What stays with my guests is a sense of warmth,' Cheng explains. His team's task is to cultivate that warmth, an atmosphere where guests feel anticipated and well looked after. 'We know that we have roughly three hours to make you feel like you're in our world. And you're here to feel welcomed and pampered. You're here to feel like you're in our home.'
Delivering that level of comfort requires more than training. It requires the right people. Cheng's 'red apple, green apple theory' governs hiring. 'Thankfully, my team are all red apples,' he says, referring to those who naturally embody Wing's culture of care. The 'green apple' hire will either 'turn red' or simply won't last. 'We'd rather work a little bit harder to keep the red apple mentality than to hire a whole bunch of green apples just because we're short [-staffed].' This shared sensibility creates a like-minded team that can anticipate guests' needs instinctively, whether that means reading body language or preparing an alternative, off-menu dish before a guest even asks.
Above Oma abalone and South African abalone
Above Sea cucumber spring roll with spring onion
For Cheng, such attentiveness is inseparable from innovation. He's wary of tradition calcifying into dogma, a mindset that helped him push forward, even in the face of scepticism when launching both VEA and Wing. 'Traditions are meant to be made, rules are meant to be broken,' he says, drawing comparisons to corporate complacency. 'Nokia, for example, didn't do anything wrong. Except that they failed to do anything at all.' For Chinese cuisine to remain vital, it must evolve. 'People change, our palates change, our ingredients change, climate has changed. So, it's not wrong to look at the possibilities of change while fully respecting cultures.'
Part of pushing boundaries involves seeking out and sharing the lesser-told stories of Chinese heritage through its vast and diverse ingredients. Recent trips have fuelled this passion. 'I recently went to Yunnan and I just came back from Guangzhou,' Cheng shares. He finds immense pride in featuring exceptional produce from China itself, often finding it more compelling than imported luxury items. 'I feel more proud, and I feel people are more interested when we present fruits that are from China, more so than the expensive Japanese fruits.' He mentions discovering 'the freshest blueberries from Yunnan and the most delicious mangoes from Sanya.'
His Yunnan trip yielded a particularly fascinating discovery: Mu jiang zi , or tree ginger seeds. 'It's kind of like this tender green Sichuan peppercorn', he describes excitedly. 'The pods themselves are soft and floral,' while the bark, intriguingly, is shaved tableside like zest over noodles. 'I've never seen it in Hong Kong. This is just one of the things that I encountered and found very interesting.' For Cheng, discoveries like this aren't just curiosities, they open up a world of possibility. 'I want to learn more, showcase and use more Chinese ingredients and herbs'.
This award feels particularly significant in a global dining landscape where French service standards still dominate perceptions of refinement. Cheng hopes this win signals a broader shift. 'I hope we're just the beginning. The ones opening the doors, not only for Wing, but for Chinese cuisine to gain the recognition it deserves.'
In Cheng's eyes, true success isn't measured solely by awards or full dining rooms, though he's grateful for both. For him, these accolades are affirmations of a larger mission: to act as a cultural ambassador. He sees Wing as a platform to showcase the depth, warmth and evolving narrative of Chinese cuisine and its inherent hospitality to a global audience. He speaks of this responsibility not just as a goal but 'almost like a duty. It's like an obligation for me to continue'.
Above At Wing, Vicky Cheng continues to push the boundaries of Chinese fine dining, blending heritage, innovation and heartfelt hospitality on a global stage
Through its warm, 'temperatured hospitality', Wing is serving more than an exceptional dining experience; it's fostering understanding and rewriting perceptions. As Cheng passionately declares, 'It's time for us to shine. It's time for us to express ourselves on a stage where people will listen.'
