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Food & Drink

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong’s kitchen

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Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
Hover over or tap red dots for annotation. (Image: Gabby Frank)

Craig Wong and his wife, high-school sweetheart Ivy Lam, bought their Alexandra Park condo back in 2006. They’ve outgrown the one-bedroom, but house hunting is not a priority right now. “Before I opened Patois, we were always having friends over for dinner,” says Wong, whose fridge is rammed with a mix of international goodies. These days, the couple is lucky if they can grab five meals a week together.

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
Wong, carving up a pineapple in his kitchen. (Image: Gabby Frank)

To make up for their lack of alone time, the two travel together whenever possible. They recently spent two weeks in Japan. “We always bring back edible gifts for people,” says Wong, “and they do the same for us.” If friends or family are headed to Hong Kong, Wong asks them to bring back shrimp paste. “It looks like what I imagine a brick of heroin looks like,” he jokes. His Jamaican cousins always bring him fresh pimento leaves and seeds, which he uses for jerk paste. “I don’t like to make jerk chicken at home because we have it so often at the restaurant. Instead I’ll make jerk pork jowls or jerk pork belly on the barbecue.” 

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

The fridge door is covered with over 50 food-themed magnets, which Wong and Lam collect on their travels:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

Just like the fridge, the neatly organized (and labelled!) cupboards are full of international dried and canned goods:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

Both Wong and Lam used to work at Williams-Sonoma (mostly for the 40 per cent discount) and they stocked up on All-Clad cookware. The five-foot wire shelf holds all their extra pots and pans. “The kitchen is spilling out into the living room,” says Lam.

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Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

There are two knife blocks on the counter, but Wong keeps the good ones in this knife bag:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

When Wong spied these antique ice tongs at a Paris flea market they were blackened with tarnish. He loves the bear paw details:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

Wong has three bookshelves dedicated to his collection of 400 cookbooks, and many of them are signed. This book by Alain Ducasse was signed by chef Christophe Moret, who was responsible for the recipes inside:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

Lam and Wong don’t drink a lot at home, but they like to pick up premium bottles when they travel:

Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

These apples were a gift from a friend for Chinese New Year:

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Inside Patois chef Craig Wong's kitchen
(Image: Gabby Frank)

 

More chef kitchens

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A look inside celebrity chef Susur Lee’s kitchen (and his fridge)

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Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.

Correction
February 11, 2016

Previously, this post listed an incorrect author for the cookbook. It has since been updated.

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