Kylie Kwong: Biography, Age, Wife, Restaurant, Son, Cookbook, Parents
Kylie Kwong (born 31 October 1969) is an Australian chef and author. She has run her restaurants, Billy Kwong and Lucky Kwong, for over 20 years and has been cooking professionally for over 30 years.
As an author, Kwong has published five books to share her love for cooking. She launched her meal range at Woolworths. She was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours.
| Kylie Kwong | |
|---|---|
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| Quick Facts | |
| Name: | Kylie Jane Kwong |
| Born: | 31 October 1969 (age 54 years old) |
| Place of birth: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality: | Australia |
| Parents: | Maurice (father), Pauline (mother) |
| Occupation: | Chef, author, restaurateur, television presenter |
| Restaurant: | Billy Kwong, Lucky Kwong |
| Relative: | Kwong Sue Duk (great-grand father) |
| Spouse: | Nell |
Early life
Kylie Jane Kwong was born on 31 October 1969 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She and her brothers grew up in the north-western suburbs of Sydney in North Epping with their parents. They are the third-generation Australian and 29th-generation Cantonese.
They were the only Asian children at their school and the only ones in our neighborhood for the first 13 years of her life. Her mother taught her and her brothers to cook Chinese food when she was five. Her parents were devoted to food and family.
Kylie Jane started feeling confused about her sexuality at 15. She knew she grew obsessed with all her girlfriends at school. She opened up to her mother and her father about her sexuality at 19.
Kwong and her siblings were well-known because of their mother’s beautiful home-style Cantonese food. They are a Chinese family. They lost their father, Maurice, to prostate cancer. Her mother, Pauline, remarried to Brian. She has known her stepfather since childhood.
Her great-grandfather, Kwong Sue Duk, moved to Australia in 1875. He acquired four concubine wives and 24 children.
Education
Kylie Kwong studied at Epping North School and Cheltenham Girls High School. She served her apprenticeship at Neil Perry’s Rockpool and Wockpool. She also served at Restaurant Manfredi.
Career
Kylie Kwong had her first full-time job in advertising and was a junior graphic designer. She launched her first restaurant, Billy Kwong, in the Surry Hills, a suburb of Sydney. She moved her restaurant to a spacious space at Potts Point in 2014.
The restaurateur was honored with an inaugural Sustainability Award from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide in 2009. She was the master of ceremonies at Dalai Lama’s public lecture at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on 3 December 2009.
Her first tableware range was on sale in Oxfam shops around Australia in October 2011. She became the Ambassador for food, culture, and community for the South Eveleigh precinct in November 2019.
The trailblazing chef participated in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney in 2020. She opened an eatery, Lucky Kwong, named in honour of the stillborn son she had in 2012 with her partner, Nell.
After over two decades, Kylie announced in May 2024 that she was quitting the restaurant business and closing the doors to her restaurant. The last day of service at the restaurant Lucky Kwong will be 26 June 2024.
Kwong cemented her celebrity chef status with many television cooking programs and cookbooks. Penguin published her first cookbook, Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories, in April 2003. A 6-part TV series, Kylie Kwong: Simply Magic, aired on the LifeStyle Channel and Discovery Home in 2006.
The year 2006 saw a new Kylie Kwong book – Simple Chinese Cooking. She was a guest chef in the fourth series of 2012 MasterChef Australia. She returned as a guest chef in the sixth series of the MasterChef Australia. In the eighth series, she appeared as a guest mentor.
The restaurateur appeared on Anh’s Brush with Fame in July 2019. She launched her meal range at Woolworths. She plans to launch further into using food as a catalyst for positive change.
Personal life
Kylie Kwong has never had a boyfriend. She has always been attracted to the company of women. She married her partner for long, Nell, on 17 March 2019.
Kwong and Nell met in 2006. In 2011, Nell fell pregnant, using a Tibetan donor. Nell’s waters broke early, and she gave birth to their son, Lucky, who was stillborn in 2012. She embraced Buddhism after a trip to Tibet in 2005.
References
- Robyn Doreian (26 July 2015). “Kylie Kwong: ‘I am surrounded by remarkable women’“. SMH.
- Kylie Kwong (30 December 2023). “Kylie Kwong: ‘Nothing prepared me for when my father looked me in the face and said, ‘I do not accept you for who you are’“. The Guardian.
- Sarah Grant. “Chef Kylie Kwong quitting restaurant business and closing Lucky Kwong after a 30-year career“. ABC News.
- Leisa Scott and Sarah Grant (26 May 2024). “How Chef Kylie Kwong channeled the ‘overwhelming energy’ of grief into a brilliant culinary career“. ABC News.
