Kylie Kwong was born into a third generation Australian-Chinese family, in Sydney. She learnt the fundamentals of Cantonese cooking at her mother’s side, and then went on to hone her skills with several of Australia’s most respected chefs. After working at some of Sydney’s finest restaurants – Rockpool, Wockpool and Restaurant Manfredi – Kylie realised her dream of pouring her heart and soul into her own restaurant, billy kwong, in Sydney’s Surry Hills.
Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul was published by Penguin Viking/ABC Books in October 2003 to coincide with her first TV series which screened in Australia and around the world. Her first cookbook Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories, was published by Penguin. Simple Chinese Cooking, Kylie’s new cookbook for Lantern Imprint of Penguin Books was published in March 2006, and the accompanying television series, premiered on the Lifestyle Channel in January, 2006. Simple Chinese Cooking is sold throughout the USA and UK and the television series airs internationally on the Travel and Discovery Channel. Kylie’s fourth book, My China was published in October 2007. An accompanying television series currently airs on the Lifestyle Channel. In July 2010 Kylie’s fifth book, It Tastes Better - which celebrates Australia’s most sustainable food and wine producers, will be published.
Kylie is an avid supporter of all things pertaining to ethical eating and sustainable living, serving only locally grown, organic and biodynamic produce in her restaurant. Kylie is the ambassador for the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, and Billy Kwong was the first restaurant in NSW to become carbon neutral. In 2009 Billy Kwong won the inaugural Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide ‘Sustainability’ award.
For Kylie, food is both a way of life in the present and a link with the past and her family heritage - especially her extraordinary great-grandfather Kwong Sue Duk, who was lured to Australia from his ancestral village in China by the promise of gold. As she says ‘...by sharing the experiences of my family, I hope to enhance the understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture, particularly...within Australia, and to express my pride in my Chinese heritage’.
