The Montpelier-based restaurant, which opened in July 2024, is aiming to raise £10,000 through Crowdfunder UK to pay for half of the oven’s purchase, shipment, and installation, as part of its mission to elevate the profile of Chinese cookery in the South West.
At the time or writing (8 July), WANGS has raised 37% of its target amount (£3,739).
The oven is a cylindrical, charcoal-fired roaster, often referred to as a ‘siu mei’ oven in Cantonese kitchens.
It allows chefs to hang whole cuts of meat – typically pork, duck, or
goose – vertically inside the chamber where they are basted in their own fat and roasted over hardwood charcoal.
If successful, WANGS believes it will be the first Chinese restaurant in the UK outside London to use the kit.
The restaurant’s co-founder Sacha Watts says the oven will help anchor the restaurant in a deeper culinary tradition while opening up exciting creative potential.
“We want to push what modern Chinese food can look like in the UK — not just in London, but in the heart of a neighbourhood like Montpelier.
This oven is a serious piece of kit. It’s used in some of Hong Kong’s best roast meat shops, and it will give us a new level of depth and intensity – especially for char siu and crispy pork belly, but also for duck, goose and veg-forward specials. This is about expanding the flavour language of WANGS.”
The team at WANGS includes head chef Emily Xin Xin Chan, whose background spans both Chinese takeaway kitchens and restaurants.
The crowdfund offers a range of tiered rewards including restaurant merchandise, dumpling masterclasses, private dinners, and collaborative events with other Bristol businesses including Left Handed Giant and Ruby Hue chocolatiers.
If successful, the oven will be shipped from Hong Kong and installed in September, with rewards fulfilled beginning in August.
The restaurant also plans to use the oven for seasonal specials, menu development, and collaboration nights, with vegan-friendly fire-cooked menus already in the works.
“WANGS was founded in 2024 by couple Sandy Or and Sacha Watts, who met in Hong Kong and began the project through supper clubs and pop-ups.
They later converted an old fruit and veg shop in Montpelier, just north of Bristol city centre.