There’s no doubt about it, Southeast Asian food is definitely the flavour of the moment - not just in the number of top-end restaurants that have opened, from Nobu to Hakkasan and Zuma, but also in terms of the direction some of the most established chefs are going. If you look at Guy Savoy, Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Ducasse, Jean-Georges Vongerichten… all have taken on a huge amount of Asian influence, introducing, say, lemon grass to a fish dish or star anise to poached fruit. It’s been a great way for chefs such as myself, brought up in the modern European tradition, to introduce new flavours, to move things forward a bit.

But, beyond that, Asian cuisine lends itself perfectly to the way we like to eat now - a kind of oriental tapas where you decide what shape your meal takes. There’s no one there dictating that you have a starter, a main and a pudding. You can order just a few bites to accompany your drinks, or a full-on meal with everyone having little tastes of everything. It’s a very relaxed, social way of dining - one I’m a great fan of.

So the other day, just ahead of Chinese New Year, I spent a few hours wandering around London’s Chinatown, soaking up the atmosphere with chef Ian Pengelley, who’s heading up my new Asian restaurant, opening in Knightsbridge later this month. He’s massively talented, is Ian. I first came across him when he launched E&O with Will Ricker in Notting Hill. I was blown away by the cooking - not fusion food as such, but taking the best elements of Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Malay, even Australian cooking. When I asked who the new Japanese chef was, out came this blond-haired Brit. I was amazed.

Alongside the sushi, spider-crab rolls, jungle curries and caramelised pork hocks with chilli vinegar, dim sum will be an important part of Ian’s menu at Pengelley’s, so we’ve come to see how they make it in some of the best Chinese restaurants.

Chinatown can be a bit of a closed community, but Lily Yeung, managing director of Zoneast Chinese magazine, has kindly agreed to smooth our way. She’s set up a tasting at two celebrated restaurants on Lisle Street - Fung Shing, the favourite of chefs Michel Roux and Michael Caines, and Hong Kong, which has been famed for its dumplings for 25 years.

As we make our way downstairs to see the dim sum being prepared at Hong Kong, Ian tells me about his first experience of a Chinese kitchen. He has worked his way around Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and China, but he was brought up in Hong Kong and that was where he had his first taste of kitchen life. “It was at the Conrad hotel. There were 136 chefs and only six westerners. They stuck me in the Chinese section to acclimatise me. The first thing I saw was a guy chopping up orange frogs. It was quite bizarre. The head chef had a loud-hailer to call out orders to number one wok fryer or number one chopper. I was about number 27 vegetable chopper - that was all they allowed me to do.”

The kitchen here is a much smaller affair, but they still have 14 wok burners, controlled with the knee, and up to 50 chefs at busy times. In the only quiet corner is the dim sum chef, delicately crafting prawn dim sum - called hargau. First he makes the pastry by pouring wheat-flour paste on to a cloth inside a steamer. He closes the lid, and a minute later out comes the most delicate batter, so thin you can see through it. Then he puts a sausage of prawn mixture in the middle and the artistry begins. He makes it look so easy, shaping the dumplings into a crescent and concertinaing the edges to seal them, but Ian knows not to be deceived. “When I was working at the Dorchester, the dim sum chef went out for a cigarette and asked me to take over. I was pretty proud of my efforts, but when he came back he scooped the whole lot into the bin.”

Dim sum chefs are among the most valued staff. Ian’s going to have three or four. “Effectively, we’ll get experts from each culture to cook their own style of food,” he says. “It will be like Hakkasan, Nobu, Nahm and Zuma all under one roof. My job will then be to guide them to suit western tastes. For example, we might put some chive purée or saffron through some of the dumplings, bringing flavours on without affecting the core integrity of the dish. That will come from doing everything from scratch - cracking our own coconuts, making our own curry pastes or galangal and chilli jams. I’m even creating my own duck oven.”

Just as well he’s got the dim sum chefs signed up, because neither he nor I have passed muster. Still, plenty of time to practise before Ian’s big night.

Pengelley’s opens on February 24
(020-7750 5000)

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