Kylie Kwong

Career

Kwong opened her first restaurant, Billy Kwong, in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. The name 'Billy' derived from a partnership with Sydney celebrity chef Bill Granger, not from a family member; she later became sole owner under the original name. In 2014 she relocated the restaurant to larger premises at Potts Point, co-owned with chef Andrew Cibej and seismologist and businessman David King. The restaurant made a commitment to use only organic and biodynamic fruit, vegetables, poultry, meat, noodles, soy sauces, sugar, vinegar, oils, and Fair Trade tea, coffee, and chocolate, a transition made 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.' Billy Kwong received the inaugural Sustainability Award in 2009 from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, recognizing initiatives including a diner donation program for renewable energy credits from a wind farm in Hebei, China; the restaurant served only filtered Sydney tap water, offering no bottled water.

On 3 December 2009, Kwong acted as master of ceremonies at a public lecture by the Dalai Lama at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. On 1 October 2011, her first tableware range went on sale in Oxfam shops around Australia, hand-crafted by a fair trade producer partner in Vietnam. In 2019 Kwong announced the closure of her restaurant, citing a desire for change in her fiftieth year. In November 2019 she was appointed Ambassador for food, culture and community for the South Eveleigh precinct.

In 2020 she participated in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, originally planning a behind-the-scenes event on 'true nourishment'; with COVID-19 restrictions, she refocused on cooking and delivering weekly meals over two months to seven community and health leaders, documented under the title True Nourishment. In May 2021 she opened Lucky Kwong, a cafeteria-style venue named after the son she and her wife lost in 2012; it closed in June 2024 with Kwong retiring from being a restaurant proprietor.