Launched last month on Crowdfunder UK, the campaign has raised £10,244 from 161 backers.
With two weeks left to go, the team has announced a new £12,000 stretch goal to help them get even closer to their actual target of £20,000.
“We’re beyond grateful for the support we’ve had,” says WANGS co-founder Sacha Watts. “Surpassing our initial goal is amazing – but the reality is we still need to get as close to £20,000 as we can to fully fund this oven, the garden it’s going in, and all the costs around shipping, installation and reward production.”
The most popular reward so far has been tickets to this Sunday’s one-off BBQ pop-up with chef Lap Fai, followed closely by the WANGS Bowlman t-shirt.
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.
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.