Career
In 1999, Kwong opened her first restaurant, Billy Kwong, in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. 'Billy' in the restaurant's name derives, not from the name of a family member, but from the partnership with Sydney celebrity chef Bill Granger under which the restaurant was founded. Kwong has since become the sole owner of the restaurant, which retains its original name.
The restaurant made a commitment to use organic and biodynamic food: "We now use only organic and biodynamic fruit and vegetables, poultry, meat and noodles. All the soy sauces, sugar, vinegar and oils we flavour our food with are organic, and we serve Fair Trade tea, coffee and chocolate." The restaurant made this transition in 2005.
Kwong is quoted as saying "I wanted my work and social life to reflect my Buddhism. Offering my customers healthy, life-giving, precious food is the best way for me to help them. Whether it's my books, restaurant or TV show, I'll always ask, Is this sustainable? Is this about uplifting and elevating the energy rather than depleting?".
Billy Kwong received the inaugural Sustainability Award in 2009 from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, in recognition of Kwong's environmental initiatives, including the option for diners to donate to a renewable energy credits program, purchased from a wind farm in the Chinese province of Hebei. The restaurant serves only filtered Sydney tap water, offering no bottled water.
At a public lecture by the Dalai Lama on 3 December 2009 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Kwong acted as master of ceremonies.
On 1 October 2011, Kwong's first ever tableware range went on sale in Oxfam shops around Australia. The range, which includes a soup bowl and rice bowl with matching plates, soup spoon, teapot, teacup and coffee cup, is a joint project with Oxfam Australia and is hand-crafted by one of Oxfam's fair trade producer partners in Vietnam, Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts.
Read more about this topic: Kylie Kwong
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