Wu’s Wonton King, the Cantonese restaurant at 165 East Broadway, has been popular with both locals and food critics since it opened in 2016. A year-and-a-half after its debut, The New York Times published a glowing review, which noted, “Derek Wu, a native of Guangdong Province in southern China, runs the restaurant with three chefs… Derek suavely handles the floor and the restaurant’s Instagram account, which includes shots of guests (including celebrity chefs)…” So when Derek announced on social media recently that he had left Wu’s to open a new restaurant on the Upper West Side, longtime customers wondered whether the food and service at Wu’s would be changing.
In his Instagram post (since deleted), Derek wrote,”the restaurant had been sold and is under new ownership.” After The Lo-Down posted about Derek’s announcement, we heard from the team at Wu’s Wonton King, who emphasized, “the restaurant has not been sold and is not under new ownership.” We have now heard directly from both Derek Wu and representatives from Wu’s Wonton King, who clarified what has and has not happened at the Lower East Side/Chinatown restaurant. For this reason our original story has been replaced with this new version.
For his part, Derek acknowledged that Michael Wu (no family relation) is and has always been owner of Wu’s Wonton King. Derek explained to us that he sold his interest in the restaurant. In an email from Michael Wu (also known as Yongzan Wu) and Wing Wu, they stated that Derek sold, “a small minority share – not the restaurant.” They also wanted to highlight that the, “core kitchen team is unchanged — the same chefs for our dim sum and Cantonese roast meats… and “the food and quality our guests know remain exactly as before.” The team at Wu’s shared a portion of their lease, and stated that it was signed by Yongzan Wu (Michael’s legal name), president of the corporation that owns the restaurant. They indicated that the lease runs through 2027.
In our original story, we noted that the Instagram account (@wuswontonking) appeared to have been created just last month. After Derek’s departure, Michael Wu explained, “the existing content was removed and the handle was renamed, which is why the restaurant had to reclaim its name and set up a new official account.” In the past several days, Wu’s has been actively posting content.
Meanwhile, Derek Wu’s social media can be found at @wusdynasty. In part of that deleted post, he wrote, “I want to thank each and every one of you for your support, loyalty, and friendship over the past ten years. Whether you visited us once a week or once a year, you became part of our story. The memories we created together, the conversations we shared, and the trust you placed in me and my team mean more than words can express.”
