Cover An interior rendering of Auntie Ayi (Source: NCDA)
An interior rendering of Auntie Ayi (Source: NCDA)
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The new food and drink destination comes from the team behind last year's dining pop-up, 888 Fatfatfat
Spaceships and stir-fries, nannies and next-gen design, all these elements and more can be found when multi-concept dining venue Wellwellwell opens in Pacific Place come November 29. The venue is the latest venture by Amanda Cheung, the frenetic driving force behind last year's sold-out pop-up restaurant 888 Fatfatfat, who brings the same zeal for regional Chinese cuisines back to underpin Wellwellwell's culinary offerings.
Opening under the umbrella of the Maxim's Group, the ideas behind Wellwellwell are sprawling, with two separate and overarching brand stories through which to understand the concept. In the first instance, it is a vessel from outer space, carrying a crew of nostalgic spacefarers returning to Earth to mine the history of Chinese cuisine for posterity—a nod to one of Cheung's major inspirations, Chinese novelist Liu Cixin's seminal sci-fi title The Three-Body Problem. Then there's the more grounded version, which centres each of the three concepts around the Chinese character 井 (zeng2)—which by itself means a water well, but when combined with the characters for city (市井, si5 zeng2) or village (鄉井, hoeng1 zeng2) can mean 'market' or 'hometown' respectively.
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Above Sesame candy chicken (Source: Wellwellwell)
Sesame candy chicken (Source: Wellwellwell)
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These dual storylines guide the look and feel of the different concepts: Auntie Ayi is the formal restaurant space whose name pays homage to the amah, or nursemaids who tended to noble households and their kitchens in southern China; Teahouse is a café serving cha chaan teng classics by day, that at night transforms into Barhouse, a cocktail bar and yakitori joint; and Remedy Me is a juice and deli bar that emphasises healthy grab-and-go offerings inspired by the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar.
What Wellwellwell is not, as Cheung is at pains to point out, is a food hall. "It's a concept space—we go beyond just the food. It's all about sparking curiosity, inviting diversity and getting conversations flowing. And I think it's important because our mission is really a platform for chefs and artists." To this end, Cheung details the core pillars of Wellwellwell as traditional craftmanship, cultural rituals, wellness and sustainability.
Auntie Ayi is the first to open with a focus on southern Chinese comfort food as well as Chinese regional favourites. Designed by Nelson Chow of NC Design and Architecture, the dining room features a futuristic, curvilinear chrome ceiling that echoes a spaceship's interior, while patterned velvet banquettes and lush purple carpets evoke the electric visuals of Wong Kar-wai's 2046. On the walls hang framed Chinese artifacts by emerging interior designer Vinki Li, who painstakingly sourced antique utensils, kitchen tools, beauty implements and other sundry to populate 43 "windows" that the passengers of the spaceship might admire in the same vein as a natural history museum.
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Above Sichuan mapo tofu lobster noodles (Source: Wellwellwell)
Above Silky egg custard with fresh lobster (Source: Wellwellwell)
Sichuan mapo tofu lobster noodles (Source: Wellwellwell)
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Meanwhile, the menu features a plethora of time-honoured dishes that have fallen out of favour over the years due to their labour-intensive cooking processes, and which head chef Michael Wu is looking to bring back into the spotlight. Among Auntie Ayi's many signature dishes, the most impressive is the sesame candy chicken, which takes inspiration from the nostalgic childhood sweet. To achieve the effect of crisp, candy-like chicken skin, the skin must be removed and fried independently according to precise timings, then replaced atop the chicken meat, and finally plated in old-school banquet fashion to resemble a phoenix taking flight.
Other technically challenging standouts include the a selection of cheong fun rice rolls made using the traditional technique of ‘hand-pulling’ rice sheets with a steam-permeable cloth; silky egg custard with fresh lobster, infused with 20-year-aged Huadiao wine; and two-way stuffed crab claws, wrapped in lacy caul fat and deep-fried with breadcrumbs. In a nod to Hong Kong's indigenes, the menu also features a salt-baked daily catch inspired by the cuisine of the local Tanka boat people.
With Teahouse/Barhouse and Remedy Me scheduled to launch in the coming weeks, Cheung is looking forward to fully encapsulating the breadth of Chinese cuisine within her latest project. "I want it to be a very inclusive space where people can really explore the different infinite possibilities of food."
Book now for November 29 onwards.
Auntie Ayi, Shop 002, LG1, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong; +852 28037881, instagram.com/wearewellwellwell
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Gavin Yeung is a Hong Kong-based writer and was the editor at Tatler Dining. He has written across the realms of F&B, design, fashion and travel, with a focus on in-depth profiles and experiential features. Previously, he held editorial positions at Hypebeast, Soho House and Vogue Hong Kong. He’s also a keen photographer and aspiring home bartender, and is constantly thinking of original, Cantonese-inflected (and occasionally questionable) cocktails to shake up. Follow him on Instagram at @gaviny.
