Dickson Wong, Co-Founder Gyuden Yakiniku

Dickson Wong

Dickson Wong, Co-Founder of Gyuden Yakiniku, shares some stories about life in the food and beverage industry.

What do you do?

Currently, I am managing the operations at Gyuden Yakiniku and sourcing the best ingredients to serve our customers.

How did you get into the industry?

I always had a passion for food as my family used to operate food and beverage businesses. I practically grew up in the kitchen.

Share with us a story from behind the scenes.

I have been working in the corporate world for more than 10 years and always wanted to start my own restaurant. However, I always felt that the time was not right. It’s really risky for me to leave my stable income job to start something so uncertain. When I had the courage to do so, the pandemic started and everything was put on hold. I’m really thankful I did not start before the pandemic. After two years, my business partners, who are also good buddies, convinced me that now is the right time and supported me in every way they could. That is how Gyuden Yakiniku started.

What food memory from your childhood or travels stands out?

I travelled to Japan in 2015 and fell in love with the wagyu as it was the first time savouring such a delicious meat. That first taste was so memorable and that it still lings in my mind. Other than wagyu, taiyaki also makes me drool. The soft and buttery pastry full of red bean filling is what I’m craving for right now.

What’s the best/ worst part of your job?

The best part is I get to eat as we create new dishes for the menu and worst part is working on the weekends.

What’s one of your favourite food and beverage pairings?

French fries and milkshakes

What’s one of the craziest things you’ve seen behind the scenes?

Setting up a yakiniku restaurant is not easy as we imported the tables all the way from Japan as we wanted the best for our customers. While importing the tables, we assumed the grilling table would be sent to us fully assembled. Little did we know, the table and grill were not assembled and we had to assemble them ourselves. The first table took us four hours, while looking at the manual. Once we had it mastered, we installed the rest much quicker.

The perfect day off…

would be spending time with my family.

A day in the life of a Dickson Wong…

is a little different as I wake at 7.30 am and send my wife to LRT station as she works in KL. Then I send my 15-months-old daughter to the nanny. Then my day starts from the morning market as I want the get the freshest ingredients. Then I will be at the shop around 12 pm. Once my staff come in, I do a short briefing on last night’s session so we can constantly improve ourselves. The kitchen and floor crew start prepping for the dinner session. My day end after all customers leave.

What does Dickson Wong do for fun?

I used to game on PC but I prefer resting and spending time with my family now.

What’s something you’d like guests to know about Gyuden Yakiniku?

Check out our ventilation system! It’s different from other barbecue places. We have a perfect ventilation system so you leave the place without smelling like grilled meat.

How has the pandemic changed your perspective or the way you operate?

We had to learn to improvise to deal with different situations and we were lucky enough to start our business after the pandemic.

What’s something you’d like people to know about being a restauranteur as a profession?

Get as much rest you can and whenever you can.

What’s your view on the food and beverage scene in Petaling Jaya?

There are many eateries in PJ but parking is always an issue for the customers as they want to park as near to the shop as possible. Sometimes good food is worth walking an extra few steps for and it can also burn some of the calories you are going to eat.

What practices do you currently implement or hope to implement to work towards social responsibility and sustainability in the future?

In the restaurant, we used a lot of ingredients and those items usually comes in packaging form which consist of plastic, aluminium and glass. We always recycle those packages as part of being a responsible consumer.

What can guests look forward to in the upcoming months?

We will be opening for lunch soon!

Read more interviews similar to this one with Dickson Wong here, and stay up to date with the latest gourmet and travel recommendations here and here.