June 4, 2025 • 21 mins
Bentonville welcomes a new Chinese restaurant—Wu Zhao—featuring elevated dim sum, sushi, fried rice, and more. Chefs Vincent Lim—AKA the Wolf of Wok Street—and Catherine Zhang have traveled the world opening restaurants and dessert shops, starring in cooking shows, and building devoted social media followings. Now, their journey brings them to Bentonville to open Wu Zhao.
Named after the first and only Chinese Empress, Wu Zhao promises a dining experience of unparalleled strength, sophistication, and exquisite flavor. Join us as we explore the arrival of Wu Zhao and taste true culinary royalty right here in Northwest Arkansas.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Biju Thomas (00:00):
Dining Out Bentonville.
Beyond the menu behind theflavor hey everybody, welcome to
Dining Out Bentonville with me,Bijou, brought to you by the
lovely folks at VisitBentonville, and today I cannot
be more excited than to presentto you one of the most
anticipated openings in all ofBentonville.
With these two lovely folks, weare standing in Wuzhou, just on
(00:25):
the west side of downtown, offthe square.
Now tell me about you.
Who am I talking to?
Who are you, sir Vincent?
Vincent Lim, Vincent Lim, it'slovely to meet you, Thank you.
Catherine Zhang (00:36):
Catherine Zhang .
Biju Thomas (00:37):
Catherine Zhang, it's lovely to meet you.
I have so many questions, but Igot to start with.
What is the name?
Wuzhou, wuzhou, okay, but I gotto start with.
Vincent Lim (00:43):
What is the name?
Wu Zhao, wu Zhao Okay, so WuZhao is the first female emperor
of China and she's the only oneever, right, what?
So?
That's why we had to name.
You know, the restaurant has tobe powerful, you know, has to
represent something strong, andthat's what.
That's what we're doing.
Biju Thomas (00:59):
And uh, speaking of female emperors, we have
Catherine.
So, catherine, tell us aboutyou.
Catherine Zhang (01:07):
Well, I'm a pastry chef, business owner,
content creator.
So basically, six, seven yearsago I was on a Netflix show.
Might have watched it.
It's called Zuma's JustDesserts, season 2.
I won that and I guess afterthat it all started snowballing,
went on social media, starteddoing content.
Nice, now we own a couple ofbusinesses dessert shops and,
(01:28):
yeah, now I'm here inBentonville doing some desserts
for them.
Biju Thomas (01:30):
So it's quite exciting, it's gorgeous, all
right, so that's how she gothere.
How did you get here Me?
Vincent Lim (01:36):
I'm known as the Wolf of Walk Street on social
media.
Biju Thomas (01:39):
Okay, first of all, I did look that up, that is a
brilliant name, the Wolf of WalkStreet.
Vincent Lim (01:45):
Okay please continue.
Yeah, so we do social media, Ido social media and we have I've
got a factory that does my ownseasoning up there.
We've got a little bit of yumyum, nice, and then we've got a
couple of dessert shops inSydney.
Barry Furaseth (01:59):
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Vincent Lim (02:01):
Yeah and yeah, that's.
That's about everything we do.
We fly around the world and doevents.
Biju Thomas (02:06):
That is brilliant.
Along the way, you've garneredmillions and millions of views
on the things you're doing, so,which means you're bringing a
little bit of firepower toBentonville, arkansas, a little
bit that we have yet to seeanything of this caliber.
So this is very exciting forall of us who love food, but
also to see what the rest of theworld is going nuts about and
what you two do, so very excitedto hear about it and actually
(02:29):
taste it.
Well, that's no pressure at all.
Oh no, it's not going to belike that, sir, please.
Vincent Lim (02:33):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Well, let's do it.
Okay, so we're here to feed you.
Today.
We're going to do a fried rice.
Okay, We've got some steamedrice here.
We do fresh rice every singleday.
Okay, there's a lot ofarguments online about this.
Fresh rice, frozen rice, sorryday, old rice.
We always use fresh rice.
Fresh rice is better.
We've got a little bit of charsiu, so Chinese barbecue pork.
(02:55):
We roasted this with a localpork that we have here.
Then we have this this is lapcheong Chinese sausage green
onions and shrimp down thebottom.
Biju Thomas (03:09):
Ah, there it is.
Shrimp was hiding at the bottom, I see it Okay.
Vincent Lim (03:11):
Yeah, so you know, since we get the best shrimp
that we possibly can here inBenville from the other
restaurant of Blue, we have thebest quality seafood here at Wu
Zhao.
Okay, then we've got a littlebit of gai lan.
This is Chinese broccoli, andthis is something that we
invented for one of therestaurants.
Secret ingredient.
This is actually breadstickthat we'll be throwing into the
(03:34):
fried rice as well.
Biju Thomas (03:34):
I've never seen that before, but I can only
imagine the textures, ExactlyBecause you know Americans love
crunch.
Vincent Lim (03:41):
That's right, we love crunchy food.
Biju Thomas (03:47):
Oh look, all right, can you see, can everybody see
back here?
I'm going to get out of the way.
I'm going to get out of the wayhere.
Also, while you're doing that,what is happening here?
That?
Vincent Lim (03:54):
is ridiculous.
Oh okay, so this is our redbraised pork belly Whoa that
we're cooking for at least 12hours.
That is incredible.
Biju Thomas (04:04):
Look at that.
Vincent Lim (04:04):
Yeah, this is literally fall off the bone,
melt off your tongue that we canjust literally break up with
your fingers, and we're going toput this into a dumpling and
it's going to be the bestdumpling you're ever going to
have Super juicy.
Super juicy, All that fat allthat spiciness.
That is gorgeous.
Biju Thomas (04:19):
I've never seen that.
Vincent Lim (04:19):
There's actually no spiciness.
This layer of oil will be usedas dressing on top.
Biju Thomas (04:24):
Nice, yeah.
What is the color coming from,this color we?
Vincent Lim (04:28):
call it capsicum.
You guys call it peppers, rightyeah, red chilies, peppers, all
those words.
Biju Thomas (04:38):
It's fantastic.
Okay, All right back to this.
Vincent Lim (04:41):
I'm going to stay out of the way.
I won't burn you, come on.
Biju Thomas (04:45):
I want to stay out of the way so that people can
see.
Vincent Lim (04:48):
So they're not looking at my back.
Sounds good.
Biju Thomas (04:50):
Yeah, I'm gonna get out of the way here so you can
cook.
Vincent Lim (04:52):
Okay, so we're gonna go wok on maximum heat.
Little bit of oil.
Right now, all I'm doing is I'musing a lot of oil to coat the
wok, to make this into anon-stick.
We're not actually putting thatmuch oil into the fried rice.
Tip that away.
Little bit of fresh oil.
Biju Thomas (05:16):
We've got two eggs into the wok man the amount of
heat that a wok these things getextremely hot.
Vincent Lim (05:31):
they get over a thousand degrees.
Look at that fire.
We're gonna throw in rice.
So with Chinese cooking it'svery fast, everything's cooked
fresh, but you have to move very, very quickly.
If you move slowly,everything's gonna burn.
(05:51):
Okay, yeah, yeah, we've got ourmeat vegetables prawn very,
very quickly.
If you move slowly,everything's going to burn.
Yeah, yeah, we've got our meat,vegetables prawns everything in
.
Biju Thomas (06:01):
Man, that is cool.
Catherine, you're doing great.
I'm going to move this out ofyour way, so I get it on your
chef coat.
Catherine Zhang (06:07):
Thank you, I'm doing so much work.
Biju Thomas (06:08):
You're doing great, thank you.
Vincent Lim (06:09):
Catherine's giving me moral support.
We need.
Catherine here.
Catherine Zhang (06:15):
Without Catherine, this is not possible.
That's right that's right.
Biju Thomas (06:16):
You need moral support.
Vincent Lim (06:18):
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm saving Catherine for thefinal dessert later.
Oh, this is gonna be the mainevent, but we've got Catherine's
dessert, which is world famous,all right, so you guys gotta
try that.
Okay.
Okay, guy on, this is Chinesebroccoli.
Yeah, chinese broccoli.
I'm sure you guys have probablynot seen it around here before.
Now, my secret magic sauce thatwe made earlier today hey chef,
(06:52):
it looks like you still likecooking.
Biju Thomas (06:53):
What's that?
It looks like you still likecooking.
What's that?
It looks like you still enjoycooking.
Vincent Lim (06:56):
Oh, I do, I do, I really do.
I mean, I've been cooking forlike 20 years now but like I
still enjoy every bit of it.
You know, I fly around theworld and I get to cook with all
these.
Like when you're a chef, youonly really get to work with the
people in your kitchen, rightyeah?
Biju Thomas (07:10):
yeah.
Vincent Lim (07:10):
But being on social media, I'm able to work with
chefs from all around the world,from different calibers.
Yeah, getting to see all thatman just gets me excited.
You know what I mean.
Biju Thomas (07:19):
Yeah, did you start cooking at home.
What was that?
Did you start cooking at home?
Vincent Lim (07:25):
No, I started cooking at my dad's restaurant.
Ah, yeah, I started cooking atmy dad's restaurant.
He taught me a lot of the basicwok techniques.
And then, yeah, I went to gowork in many different
restaurants after that and Irealized I really love Chinese
food, yeah, so I decided to openmy own restaurant at 22.
Nice yeah.
Biju Thomas (07:46):
And did your dad still have his place?
What's that?
Is your dad's place still?
Vincent Lim (07:50):
going no, my dad actually passed away in 2017.
So a lot of this stuff is justI'm doing this because, you know
, I want to remember my dad'srecipes.
I want to share it with theworld.
Yeah, that's the reason why I'mdoing it?
Biju Thomas (08:03):
Did your dad get to ?
Vincent Lim (08:03):
see you open your place, unfortunately not.
Oh man.
Biju Thomas (08:06):
Yeah, but it's okay , you know.
Vincent Lim (08:09):
I'm sure he sees it one way or another.
Absolutely Okay, brilliant,that's the fried rice done Very,
very quick.
Biju Thomas (08:16):
Did you already put the?
The bread is coming later.
Oh yeah, the bread's cominglater.
Okay, so it's significantlysimpler than one would think.
The way that you did it, theheat seems to be the major
ingredient.
Vincent Lim (08:27):
It is.
But you know, with everythingyou know like, the longer you do
it, the easier it looks.
Yeah, there's that.
So now we add the bread.
Biju Thomas (08:36):
Okay, there it is.
Vincent Lim (08:45):
Ta-da, ah, okay, so that's the fried rice.
All right, now we're going totop off the fried rice with more
crunchy stuff.
We love it.
Catherine Zhang (08:55):
Did you need garnish?
Vincent Lim (08:57):
All the crunchies.
Okay, so this is actually atyphoon shelter crunchy.
Typhoon topping right there,typhoon topping.
So we're just going to add alittle bit all around.
So you've got the nice ricethat's soft, warm, and we've got
the crunchy textures.
Biju Thomas (09:11):
Man look at that.
Is that a crunchy rice Plusbread?
Yeah, beautiful, oh no nothat's a crunchy.
Vincent Lim (09:17):
So it's a bread crumb tossed with garlic and
scallions Scallions andeverything good and fragrance.
Biju Thomas (09:23):
Love it, okay.
Okay, more toppings, moretextures, little bit of green on
top.
Vincent Lim (09:28):
That's it, man.
Beautiful buddy, that's thefried rice for you.
Look at that.
Biju Thomas (09:33):
Huh, all the smells , all the toasty smells you get
out of this.
It's pretty incredible.
Catherine Zhang (09:38):
All the different toasty smells.
I love his fried rice.
Biju Thomas (09:42):
Toasty bread.
Oh man, All right, I'm going toset it here for you.
Okay, we prepared for you twodishes.
Vincent Lim (09:49):
Oh yeah, while you weren't looking, I finished this
one off man that.
So this is our, this is one ofour signatures that's actually
coming out in my book.
We have pork and prawn wontonsokay, tossed in a light red
chili oil that's not spicy orfragrant.
Then we've got our typhoonshelter crumb again.
Then we've got black and whitesesame seeds.
(10:11):
For the fragrance, a little bitof sesame oil.
And what do you guys call it?
What do you guys call coriander?
Out here, cilantro, cilantro,cilantro and green onions
beautiful and the red, the sauce.
Biju Thomas (10:23):
I saw you pull it out.
Is it from that, from the?
Vincent Lim (10:25):
pork belly, a little bit of red pepper sauce.
It's not spicy at all, but um,it adds a lot of fragrance.
Biju Thomas (10:31):
it looks angry and looks like it would be spicy Let
me get some coloring.
Catherine Zhang (10:34):
It's not angry.
Biju Thomas (10:35):
I promise it's not angry.
That is lovely, chef.
These look and smell incredible.
I was just saying you can smellall the toastiness in here, and
for anybody watching who'swaiting for our grilled cheese,
this is this chef'sinterpretation of a grilled
cheese.
We've got crunchy deliciousnessin here.
We've got toasted bread.
See, we never said it had to bean actual grilled cheese.
(10:56):
It just needs to be yourversion of a grilled cheese, and
that's what we're going to have.
I wish you could smell this.
It's like all the toastygoodness of shallots and garlic
and this toasty bread andgetting some incredible sauces
and spices coming throughWonderful.
And then we've got thisbeautiful red pork, and I'm
gonna call it red pork.
That's probably not the name.
(11:17):
Spicy wontons, spicy wontons,but what do you call the pork
itself, though?
Vincent Lim (11:21):
Red braised pork.
Red braised pork belly.
Biju Thomas (11:23):
Red braised pork, belly and shrimp stuffed spicy
wontons Beautiful.
I feel like we need to go eatthis.
Barry Furaseth (11:29):
Yeah, 100% Shall, we head out.
Biju Thomas (11:31):
Let's go outside Then I can hear the rest of the
story, I'll bring it out.
Okay, you've done so muchalready.
Thank you, okay, look at allthis gorgeous food that just
appeared and speaking of justappeared while we're sitting
here in this super secretlooking restaurant, the windows
are all boarded up.
We're sitting under thisbeautiful tree Tree full of
(11:55):
cherry blossoms in the supersecret, hidden away restaurant,
which will not look like this ina few days.
We're joined by the founder andone of the anchor
restauranteurs here inBentonville, barry of Blue.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Catherine Zhang (12:11):
I'm going to start digging into that.
Before it melts, absolutely,put some sauce on it, wow.
Biju Thomas (12:15):
Catherine's putting secret sauce on it.
Catherine, what is that she'sbeen?
Vincent Lim (12:18):
waiting the whole time just to do that.
Biju Thomas (12:19):
That's really all you wanted to do.
Catherine Zhang (12:21):
She did that beautifully too.
Barry Furaseth (12:22):
By the way, that was amazing Strawberry
sauce Underneath.
Catherine Zhang (12:24):
We've got matcha.
We've got lychee condensed milk.
Biju Thomas (12:28):
Yeah just try it.
So it's an ice yeah.
Catherine Zhang (12:31):
It's a shaved ice, bingsu Korean style shaved
ice.
Barry Furaseth (12:42):
We were out in Portland a couple months ago and
I had this for the first timeand it was absolutely amazing.
So I can't even imagine.
Wait a minute.
Biju Thomas (12:54):
Is this one serving One order?
Is it that size One?
Order yeah, this is absolutelyamazing.
No one's going to share this.
One serving one order.
Is it that size?
One order.
Yeah, One order.
This is absolutely amazing.
It's great for sharing.
You know, no one's going toshare this.
That's one serving.
This is amazing.
Vincent Lim (13:04):
Mmm, yeah, so it comes in the middle.
So the more you dig, the moregold you're going to find, whoa.
Catherine Zhang (13:10):
It's like digging for treasure.
Vincent Lim (13:12):
And the ice is.
It's not like a granita, it'ssuper, super fluffy.
We've got this machine thatshaves it very, very fine, so
you've got to eat it quick, orelse it melts.
Biju Thomas (13:23):
And the deliciousness, the cream on top,
fantastic.
Vincent Lim (13:27):
Yeah, so Catherine's actually famous for
that.
She's got a dessert shop in LA.
We've got places in Sydney thatwe just solely focus on these
creams and these sauces.
That's amazing.
Biju Thomas (13:36):
Yeah, that's what brings it all together.
Vincent Lim (13:38):
Okay, I've never seen anybody try desserts first.
That was unbelievable All thateffort cooking this beautiful
food and you guys tried thedesserts.
Come on, we're gonna try thefried rice, purely for practical
reasons because it was melting.
Biju Thomas (13:50):
It was darn good.
Okay, barry, while I'm eatingthis, we gotta know.
So you've been here.
How long have you had Blue herein town?
Barry Furaseth (13:56):
We just had our 10th year anniversary on May
5th.
10 years with.
Biju Thomas (13:59):
Blue, Yep.
And then you decided to bringlike two of the most talented,
most talked about people in theworld to Bentonville to open up
a place right down the streetYep, how did you all even
connect?
How did you even meet?
Barry Furaseth (14:11):
That's an interesting story.
I'll make it quick becauseit'll be too long.
But we're laying in bed onenight and and when, when me and
ali really wanted to.
One of my favorite foods in thewhole world is chinese and for
the last four years, five yearsin bentonville we sat there.
We're like you know when iswhen is somebody going to open
up a chinese restaurant in inbentonville, like a real, you
(14:33):
know high-end chinese?
And so we started the wholeconcept of of wuzhou.
We're laying in bed one nightand I said to Ali, my wife over
here, and I said she, I said youknow, we need, we need, we need
a really a great Chinese chef.
And so two nights later we'relaying in bed and she says she
goes.
You got to take a look at thisguy on on social media, really.
(14:55):
And so I looked at it and I'mlike that's the guy.
I said, so I looked at it andI'm like that's the guy.
I said I go, you know, and ofcourse it was Vincent Lim, you
know the Wolf of Walk Street.
And I said, well, there's noway we can get him to come out
to Bentonville.
And so she DM'd him and fourmonths later, really, four
months later, four months later?
(15:16):
No, no, no, never mind.
Vincent Lim (15:17):
I replied four months later, four months later.
Barry Furaseth (15:19):
See that works.
And so again, we're sittinglaying in bed and she goes.
Vincent Lim replied to us and Isaid, well, just give him my
phone number.
And so she went back and he,actually I got, he gave her the
phone number.
I called him.
It took me about two, threeweeks to convince him to come
out to Bentonville, arkansas,and got him to come out here and
(15:44):
he fell in love with the townfirst and I told him the whole
concept and he just said listen,I want to be a part of it.
Vincent Lim (15:54):
And that's where it all started, so it was strictly
.
You know how he actually got mewas.
He flew me out here and he gaveme a couple of electric bikes
and he made me ride around town,got all these sightseeing spots
.
I went to crystal bridges, thenI went to the walmart, but at
the time it was building it wasa year ago.
Yeah, the first walmart wentout there.
Then we rode the bikes aroundto the dirt bike tracks and I
realized that's how he got methe weather here was perfect.
(16:16):
You know.
You ride down any street.
Everybody's like hey, how areyou doing, where do you come
from?
Because I've got thatAustralian accent yeah.
Catherine Zhang (16:22):
So yeah, that's how he really got me.
Vincent Lim (16:24):
Yeah, got me with the city.
Barry Furaseth (16:25):
Yeah, I'm the only one eating Sorry.
Vincent Lim (16:29):
No enjoy it.
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Biju Thomas (16:39):
I you know.
I hope you've got it.
You came with a big appetite.
I brought the appetite.
Vincent Lim (16:41):
Good, so they got you with the bikes?
Biju Thomas (16:41):
Yes, how long did that take?
Vincent Lim (16:42):
Four months Is that what you said?
No, no, it took me four monthsto reply because you know I'm
flying around the world Likesocial media blew up, I think
you were in.
Dubai at the time.
No, I was on a cruise ship.
I was on a cruise ship withabsolutely no reception.
That's why I replied to the guy.
He was bored Four months, fourmonths, but yeah, hey, it all
worked out.
It all worked out In the end,it all worked out.
Biju Thomas (17:04):
And, catherine, how did you get convinced to come
out here?
Catherine Zhang (17:07):
To be honest, I don't even know how I got
convinced.
He calls me.
He's riding his bike aroundBentonville, he's FaceTiming me
oh my gosh, look where I am.
You know he was still figuringout whether he wanted to come
here and open this with Barryand stuff and it was like, yeah,
it's a great, amazing place andI should just come by next time
and just check it out, see howit is.
And you know, barry flew usover and yeah, I'm here again.
Biju Thomas (17:29):
And I mean you look at this place I've walked by
here a million times between thenext door neighbor restaurant
opening and other things.
It didn't really look like awhole lot was happening inside
here, but this is incrediblewhat you've all done Like it's
just such a gorgeous place.
So my best friend's last nameis Lim, so everybody named Lim
is technically a cousin to me.
So, cousin Lim, welcome toBentonville, catherine, welcome
(17:52):
to Bentonville.
So you're known as the Wolf ofWalk Street yeah, which is
brilliant, by the way, the Wolfof Walk Street, which is
brilliant, by the way.
What is your most excitingthing that you've done, most
talked about thing you've donethat's turned into a social
media thing for you Most?
Vincent Lim (18:06):
talked about thing that I've done.
Biju Thomas (18:08):
What do you think?
Vincent Lim (18:09):
Yeah, it's been a lot.
Barry Furaseth (18:13):
If you ever see him on TED, he did a brilliant
job talking about the Chineseculture, talking about Chinese
chinese culture, talking aboutchinese food.
Um, and I think, I think thatwas for me that was watching you
on ted was pretty amazing.
Thanks, man.
Vincent Lim (18:26):
So yeah, so I've done.
I've done a number of things.
I think it's hard to pickbecause everything has been so
crazy in the last four years,but a couple of highlights is
definitely the ted talk.
I did a ted talk that, um, kindof blew up and, just, you know,
just changed my whole liferight.
Then I hopped on masterchef as aguest judge nice, uh, the
(18:48):
australian one, which is likethe, the main one and then what
else did we do?
We did a whole bunch of thingslike.
There's so many things, youknow.
Then we then we opened theworld's most viral crepe shop.
Okay, uh, we opened this, uh,this is in sydney, and we did
pop-ups in different cities aswell.
And we also opened your yum yumfactory.
So we're making seasonings andwe're selling it globally.
(19:10):
So we've just done so manythings in the last few years and
I think everything has beenvery exciting.
But I think being able totravel and do what we want and
cook and travel and hang outwith friends, I think that's the
best part to my job, that'sfantastic Catherine.
Biju Thomas (19:24):
what about for you?
What do you think has been themost exciting of this whole
journey that you two are on?
Catherine Zhang (19:29):
I think honestly it was the starting
point, Like for me.
Being on the TV show at thetime, it was when I wasn't sure
what I really wanted to do.
I was kind of still studying, Iwasn't like hadn't really set
my path in life, I guess, andbeing on that I was like, oh
okay, this is what I really love, what I want to pursue, and I
guess it just kind of ended uprolling from there and I guess I
(19:50):
attribute me here like beinghere was because of that.
So for me that was the mostmemorable.
Biju Thomas (19:55):
Well, barry, I know we're short on time for this,
but I appreciate you so muchtaking time, appreciate you
coming and you, you know thetown appreciates everything you
do and, of course, bring in thestar power.
You bring in the firepower, theincredible talent and energy
you bring into town Somethingthat we really really are ready
for.
Finally, and I think we reallyneeded, thank you all, man, this
(20:15):
is incredible.
I cannot wait for you to open.
I cannot wait for the folks intown to be able to come in and
check this out.
I appreciate it.
Do you have a date in mind yet?
First week in June.
Sometime this June.
Barry Furaseth (20:28):
Second week in June.
Vincent Lim (20:30):
All right, after trying the fried rice, let me
know when we should open.
Biju Thomas (20:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not going to cop this Do we
qualify to open in Bentonville.
Barry Furaseth (20:38):
I love his fried rice Unbelievable.
Biju Thomas (20:41):
Well, sometime in June, this place will be open.
This place will be popping thisfried rice.
You can come in and have thiswith the toasted bread and the
toasted crunchies and thedeliciousness and the Chinese
sausage.
It's incredible, it'severything.
Thank you, thank you, thank youit was wonderful.
Barry Furaseth (20:59):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It was wonderful.
Thank you so much for having us.
Thank you so much, thank you,thank you, appreciate it.
Catherine Zhang (21:02):
Catherine, thank you, thank you.
Dining Out Bentonville.
Beyond the menu behind theflavor hey everybody, welcome to
Dining Out Bentonville with me,Bijou, brought to you by the
lovely folks at VisitBentonville, and today I cannot
be more excited than to presentto you one of the most
anticipated openings in all ofBentonville.
With these two lovely folks, weare standing in Wuzhou, just on
(00:25):
the west side of downtown, offthe square.
Now tell me about you.
Who am I talking to?
Who are you, sir Vincent?
Vincent Lim, Vincent Lim, it'slovely to meet you, Thank you.
Catherine Zhang (00:36):
Catherine Zhang .
Biju Thomas (00:37):
Catherine Zhang, it's lovely to meet you.
I have so many questions, but Igot to start with.
What is the name?
Wuzhou, wuzhou, okay, but I gotto start with.
Vincent Lim (00:43):
What is the name?
Wu Zhao, wu Zhao Okay, so WuZhao is the first female emperor
of China and she's the only oneever, right, what?
So?
That's why we had to name.
You know, the restaurant has tobe powerful, you know, has to
represent something strong, andthat's what.
That's what we're doing.
Biju Thomas (00:59):
And uh, speaking of female emperors, we have
Catherine.
So, catherine, tell us aboutyou.
Catherine Zhang (01:07):
Well, I'm a pastry chef, business owner,
content creator.
So basically, six, seven yearsago I was on a Netflix show.
Might have watched it.
It's called Zuma's JustDesserts, season 2.
I won that and I guess afterthat it all started snowballing,
went on social media, starteddoing content.
Nice, now we own a couple ofbusinesses dessert shops and,
(01:28):
yeah, now I'm here inBentonville doing some desserts
for them.
Biju Thomas (01:30):
So it's quite exciting, it's gorgeous, all
right, so that's how she gothere.
How did you get here Me?
Vincent Lim (01:36):
I'm known as the Wolf of Walk Street on social
media.
Biju Thomas (01:39):
Okay, first of all, I did look that up, that is a
brilliant name, the Wolf of WalkStreet.
Vincent Lim (01:45):
Okay please continue.
Yeah, so we do social media, Ido social media and we have I've
got a factory that does my ownseasoning up there.
We've got a little bit of yumyum, nice, and then we've got a
couple of dessert shops inSydney.
Barry Furaseth (01:59):
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Vincent Lim (02:01):
Yeah and yeah, that's.
That's about everything we do.
We fly around the world and doevents.
Biju Thomas (02:06):
That is brilliant.
Along the way, you've garneredmillions and millions of views
on the things you're doing, so,which means you're bringing a
little bit of firepower toBentonville, arkansas, a little
bit that we have yet to seeanything of this caliber.
So this is very exciting forall of us who love food, but
also to see what the rest of theworld is going nuts about and
what you two do, so very excitedto hear about it and actually
(02:29):
taste it.
Well, that's no pressure at all.
Oh no, it's not going to belike that, sir, please.
Vincent Lim (02:33):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
Well, let's do it.
Okay, so we're here to feed you.
Today.
We're going to do a fried rice.
Okay, We've got some steamedrice here.
We do fresh rice every singleday.
Okay, there's a lot ofarguments online about this.
Fresh rice, frozen rice, sorryday, old rice.
We always use fresh rice.
Fresh rice is better.
We've got a little bit of charsiu, so Chinese barbecue pork.
(02:55):
We roasted this with a localpork that we have here.
Then we have this this is lapcheong Chinese sausage green
onions and shrimp down thebottom.
Biju Thomas (03:09):
Ah, there it is.
Shrimp was hiding at the bottom, I see it Okay.
Vincent Lim (03:11):
Yeah, so you know, since we get the best shrimp
that we possibly can here inBenville from the other
restaurant of Blue, we have thebest quality seafood here at Wu
Zhao.
Okay, then we've got a littlebit of gai lan.
This is Chinese broccoli, andthis is something that we
invented for one of therestaurants.
Secret ingredient.
This is actually breadstickthat we'll be throwing into the
(03:34):
fried rice as well.
Biju Thomas (03:34):
I've never seen that before, but I can only
imagine the textures, ExactlyBecause you know Americans love
crunch.
Vincent Lim (03:41):
That's right, we love crunchy food.
Biju Thomas (03:47):
Oh look, all right, can you see, can everybody see
back here?
I'm going to get out of the way.
I'm going to get out of the wayhere.
Also, while you're doing that,what is happening here?
That?
Vincent Lim (03:54):
is ridiculous.
Oh okay, so this is our redbraised pork belly Whoa that
we're cooking for at least 12hours.
That is incredible.
Biju Thomas (04:04):
Look at that.
Vincent Lim (04:04):
Yeah, this is literally fall off the bone,
melt off your tongue that we canjust literally break up with
your fingers, and we're going toput this into a dumpling and
it's going to be the bestdumpling you're ever going to
have Super juicy.
Super juicy, All that fat allthat spiciness.
That is gorgeous.
Biju Thomas (04:19):
I've never seen that.
Vincent Lim (04:19):
There's actually no spiciness.
This layer of oil will be usedas dressing on top.
Biju Thomas (04:24):
Nice, yeah.
What is the color coming from,this color we?
Vincent Lim (04:28):
call it capsicum.
You guys call it peppers, rightyeah, red chilies, peppers, all
those words.
Biju Thomas (04:38):
It's fantastic.
Okay, All right back to this.
Vincent Lim (04:41):
I'm going to stay out of the way.
I won't burn you, come on.
Biju Thomas (04:45):
I want to stay out of the way so that people can
see.
Vincent Lim (04:48):
So they're not looking at my back.
Sounds good.
Biju Thomas (04:50):
Yeah, I'm gonna get out of the way here so you can
cook.
Vincent Lim (04:52):
Okay, so we're gonna go wok on maximum heat.
Little bit of oil.
Right now, all I'm doing is I'musing a lot of oil to coat the
wok, to make this into anon-stick.
We're not actually putting thatmuch oil into the fried rice.
Tip that away.
Little bit of fresh oil.
Biju Thomas (05:16):
We've got two eggs into the wok man the amount of
heat that a wok these things getextremely hot.
Vincent Lim (05:31):
they get over a thousand degrees.
Look at that fire.
We're gonna throw in rice.
So with Chinese cooking it'svery fast, everything's cooked
fresh, but you have to move very, very quickly.
If you move slowly,everything's gonna burn.
(05:51):
Okay, yeah, yeah, we've got ourmeat vegetables prawn very,
very quickly.
If you move slowly,everything's going to burn.
Yeah, yeah, we've got our meat,vegetables prawns everything in
.
Biju Thomas (06:01):
Man, that is cool.
Catherine, you're doing great.
I'm going to move this out ofyour way, so I get it on your
chef coat.
Catherine Zhang (06:07):
Thank you, I'm doing so much work.
Biju Thomas (06:08):
You're doing great, thank you.
Vincent Lim (06:09):
Catherine's giving me moral support.
We need.
Catherine here.
Catherine Zhang (06:15):
Without Catherine, this is not possible.
That's right that's right.
Biju Thomas (06:16):
You need moral support.
Vincent Lim (06:18):
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm saving Catherine for thefinal dessert later.
Oh, this is gonna be the mainevent, but we've got Catherine's
dessert, which is world famous,all right, so you guys gotta
try that.
Okay.
Okay, guy on, this is Chinesebroccoli.
Yeah, chinese broccoli.
I'm sure you guys have probablynot seen it around here before.
Now, my secret magic sauce thatwe made earlier today hey chef,
(06:52):
it looks like you still likecooking.
Biju Thomas (06:53):
What's that?
It looks like you still likecooking.
What's that?
It looks like you still enjoycooking.
Vincent Lim (06:56):
Oh, I do, I do, I really do.
I mean, I've been cooking forlike 20 years now but like I
still enjoy every bit of it.
You know, I fly around theworld and I get to cook with all
these.
Like when you're a chef, youonly really get to work with the
people in your kitchen, rightyeah?
Biju Thomas (07:10):
yeah.
Vincent Lim (07:10):
But being on social media, I'm able to work with
chefs from all around the world,from different calibers.
Yeah, getting to see all thatman just gets me excited.
You know what I mean.
Biju Thomas (07:19):
Yeah, did you start cooking at home.
What was that?
Did you start cooking at home?
Vincent Lim (07:25):
No, I started cooking at my dad's restaurant.
Ah, yeah, I started cooking atmy dad's restaurant.
He taught me a lot of the basicwok techniques.
And then, yeah, I went to gowork in many different
restaurants after that and Irealized I really love Chinese
food, yeah, so I decided to openmy own restaurant at 22.
Nice yeah.
Biju Thomas (07:46):
And did your dad still have his place?
What's that?
Is your dad's place still?
Vincent Lim (07:50):
going no, my dad actually passed away in 2017.
So a lot of this stuff is justI'm doing this because, you know
, I want to remember my dad'srecipes.
I want to share it with theworld.
Yeah, that's the reason why I'mdoing it?
Biju Thomas (08:03):
Did your dad get to ?
Vincent Lim (08:03):
see you open your place, unfortunately not.
Oh man.
Biju Thomas (08:06):
Yeah, but it's okay , you know.
Vincent Lim (08:09):
I'm sure he sees it one way or another.
Absolutely Okay, brilliant,that's the fried rice done Very,
very quick.
Biju Thomas (08:16):
Did you already put the?
The bread is coming later.
Oh yeah, the bread's cominglater.
Okay, so it's significantlysimpler than one would think.
The way that you did it, theheat seems to be the major
ingredient.
Vincent Lim (08:27):
It is.
But you know, with everythingyou know like, the longer you do
it, the easier it looks.
Yeah, there's that.
So now we add the bread.
Biju Thomas (08:36):
Okay, there it is.
Vincent Lim (08:45):
Ta-da, ah, okay, so that's the fried rice.
All right, now we're going totop off the fried rice with more
crunchy stuff.
We love it.
Catherine Zhang (08:55):
Did you need garnish?
Vincent Lim (08:57):
All the crunchies.
Okay, so this is actually atyphoon shelter crunchy.
Typhoon topping right there,typhoon topping.
So we're just going to add alittle bit all around.
So you've got the nice ricethat's soft, warm, and we've got
the crunchy textures.
Biju Thomas (09:11):
Man look at that.
Is that a crunchy rice Plusbread?
Yeah, beautiful, oh no nothat's a crunchy.
Vincent Lim (09:17):
So it's a bread crumb tossed with garlic and
scallions Scallions andeverything good and fragrance.
Biju Thomas (09:23):
Love it, okay.
Okay, more toppings, moretextures, little bit of green on
top.
Vincent Lim (09:28):
That's it, man.
Beautiful buddy, that's thefried rice for you.
Look at that.
Biju Thomas (09:33):
Huh, all the smells , all the toasty smells you get
out of this.
It's pretty incredible.
Catherine Zhang (09:38):
All the different toasty smells.
I love his fried rice.
Biju Thomas (09:42):
Toasty bread.
Oh man, All right, I'm going toset it here for you.
Okay, we prepared for you twodishes.
Vincent Lim (09:49):
Oh yeah, while you weren't looking, I finished this
one off man that.
So this is our, this is one ofour signatures that's actually
coming out in my book.
We have pork and prawn wontonsokay, tossed in a light red
chili oil that's not spicy orfragrant.
Then we've got our typhoonshelter crumb again.
Then we've got black and whitesesame seeds.
(10:11):
For the fragrance, a little bitof sesame oil.
And what do you guys call it?
What do you guys call coriander?
Out here, cilantro, cilantro,cilantro and green onions
beautiful and the red, the sauce.
Biju Thomas (10:23):
I saw you pull it out.
Is it from that, from the?
Vincent Lim (10:25):
pork belly, a little bit of red pepper sauce.
It's not spicy at all, but um,it adds a lot of fragrance.
Biju Thomas (10:31):
it looks angry and looks like it would be spicy Let
me get some coloring.
Catherine Zhang (10:34):
It's not angry.
Biju Thomas (10:35):
I promise it's not angry.
That is lovely, chef.
These look and smell incredible.
I was just saying you can smellall the toastiness in here, and
for anybody watching who'swaiting for our grilled cheese,
this is this chef'sinterpretation of a grilled
cheese.
We've got crunchy deliciousnessin here.
We've got toasted bread.
See, we never said it had to bean actual grilled cheese.
(10:56):
It just needs to be yourversion of a grilled cheese, and
that's what we're going to have.
I wish you could smell this.
It's like all the toastygoodness of shallots and garlic
and this toasty bread andgetting some incredible sauces
and spices coming throughWonderful.
And then we've got thisbeautiful red pork, and I'm
gonna call it red pork.
That's probably not the name.
(11:17):
Spicy wontons, spicy wontons,but what do you call the pork
itself, though?
Vincent Lim (11:21):
Red braised pork.
Red braised pork belly.
Biju Thomas (11:23):
Red braised pork, belly and shrimp stuffed spicy
wontons Beautiful.
I feel like we need to go eatthis.
Barry Furaseth (11:29):
Yeah, 100% Shall, we head out.
Biju Thomas (11:31):
Let's go outside Then I can hear the rest of the
story, I'll bring it out.
Okay, you've done so muchalready.
Thank you, okay, look at allthis gorgeous food that just
appeared and speaking of justappeared while we're sitting
here in this super secretlooking restaurant, the windows
are all boarded up.
We're sitting under thisbeautiful tree Tree full of
(11:55):
cherry blossoms in the supersecret, hidden away restaurant,
which will not look like this ina few days.
We're joined by the founder andone of the anchor
restauranteurs here inBentonville, barry of Blue.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Catherine Zhang (12:11):
I'm going to start digging into that.
Before it melts, absolutely,put some sauce on it, wow.
Biju Thomas (12:15):
Catherine's putting secret sauce on it.
Catherine, what is that she'sbeen?
Vincent Lim (12:18):
waiting the whole time just to do that.
Biju Thomas (12:19):
That's really all you wanted to do.
Catherine Zhang (12:21):
She did that beautifully too.
Barry Furaseth (12:22):
By the way, that was amazing Strawberry
sauce Underneath.
Catherine Zhang (12:24):
We've got matcha.
We've got lychee condensed milk.
Biju Thomas (12:28):
Yeah just try it.
So it's an ice yeah.
Catherine Zhang (12:31):
It's a shaved ice, bingsu Korean style shaved
ice.
Barry Furaseth (12:42):
We were out in Portland a couple months ago and
I had this for the first timeand it was absolutely amazing.
So I can't even imagine.
Wait a minute.
Biju Thomas (12:54):
Is this one serving One order?
Is it that size One?
Order yeah, this is absolutelyamazing.
No one's going to share this.
One serving one order.
Is it that size?
One order.
Yeah, One order.
This is absolutely amazing.
It's great for sharing.
You know, no one's going toshare this.
That's one serving.
This is amazing.
Vincent Lim (13:04):
Mmm, yeah, so it comes in the middle.
So the more you dig, the moregold you're going to find, whoa.
Catherine Zhang (13:10):
It's like digging for treasure.
Vincent Lim (13:12):
And the ice is.
It's not like a granita, it'ssuper, super fluffy.
We've got this machine thatshaves it very, very fine, so
you've got to eat it quick, orelse it melts.
Biju Thomas (13:23):
And the deliciousness, the cream on top,
fantastic.
Vincent Lim (13:27):
Yeah, so Catherine's actually famous for
that.
She's got a dessert shop in LA.
We've got places in Sydney thatwe just solely focus on these
creams and these sauces.
That's amazing.
Biju Thomas (13:36):
Yeah, that's what brings it all together.
Vincent Lim (13:38):
Okay, I've never seen anybody try desserts first.
That was unbelievable All thateffort cooking this beautiful
food and you guys tried thedesserts.
Come on, we're gonna try thefried rice, purely for practical
reasons because it was melting.
Biju Thomas (13:50):
It was darn good.
Okay, barry, while I'm eatingthis, we gotta know.
So you've been here.
How long have you had Blue herein town?
Barry Furaseth (13:56):
We just had our 10th year anniversary on May
5th.
10 years with.
Biju Thomas (13:59):
Blue, Yep.
And then you decided to bringlike two of the most talented,
most talked about people in theworld to Bentonville to open up
a place right down the streetYep, how did you all even
connect?
How did you even meet?
Barry Furaseth (14:11):
That's an interesting story.
I'll make it quick becauseit'll be too long.
But we're laying in bed onenight and and when, when me and
ali really wanted to.
One of my favorite foods in thewhole world is chinese and for
the last four years, five yearsin bentonville we sat there.
We're like you know when iswhen is somebody going to open
up a chinese restaurant in inbentonville, like a real, you
(14:33):
know high-end chinese?
And so we started the wholeconcept of of wuzhou.
We're laying in bed one nightand I said to Ali, my wife over
here, and I said she, I said youknow, we need, we need, we need
a really a great Chinese chef.
And so two nights later we'relaying in bed and she says she
goes.
You got to take a look at thisguy on on social media, really.
(14:55):
And so I looked at it and I'mlike that's the guy.
I said, so I looked at it andI'm like that's the guy.
I said I go, you know, and ofcourse it was Vincent Lim, you
know the Wolf of Walk Street.
And I said, well, there's noway we can get him to come out
to Bentonville.
And so she DM'd him and fourmonths later, really, four
months later, four months later?
(15:16):
No, no, no, never mind.
Vincent Lim (15:17):
I replied four months later, four months later.
Barry Furaseth (15:19):
See that works.
And so again, we're sittinglaying in bed and she goes.
Vincent Lim replied to us and Isaid, well, just give him my
phone number.
And so she went back and he,actually I got, he gave her the
phone number.
I called him.
It took me about two, threeweeks to convince him to come
out to Bentonville, arkansas,and got him to come out here and
(15:44):
he fell in love with the townfirst and I told him the whole
concept and he just said listen,I want to be a part of it.
Vincent Lim (15:54):
And that's where it all started, so it was strictly
.
You know how he actually got mewas.
He flew me out here and he gaveme a couple of electric bikes
and he made me ride around town,got all these sightseeing spots
.
I went to crystal bridges, thenI went to the walmart, but at
the time it was building it wasa year ago.
Yeah, the first walmart wentout there.
Then we rode the bikes aroundto the dirt bike tracks and I
realized that's how he got methe weather here was perfect.
(16:16):
You know.
You ride down any street.
Everybody's like hey, how areyou doing, where do you come
from?
Because I've got thatAustralian accent yeah.
Catherine Zhang (16:22):
So yeah, that's how he really got me.
Vincent Lim (16:24):
Yeah, got me with the city.
Barry Furaseth (16:25):
Yeah, I'm the only one eating Sorry.
Vincent Lim (16:29):
No enjoy it.
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Biju Thomas (16:39):
I you know.
I hope you've got it.
You came with a big appetite.
I brought the appetite.
Vincent Lim (16:41):
Good, so they got you with the bikes?
Biju Thomas (16:41):
Yes, how long did that take?
Vincent Lim (16:42):
Four months Is that what you said?
No, no, it took me four monthsto reply because you know I'm
flying around the world Likesocial media blew up, I think
you were in.
Dubai at the time.
No, I was on a cruise ship.
I was on a cruise ship withabsolutely no reception.
That's why I replied to the guy.
He was bored Four months, fourmonths, but yeah, hey, it all
worked out.
It all worked out In the end,it all worked out.
Biju Thomas (17:04):
And, catherine, how did you get convinced to come
out here?
Catherine Zhang (17:07):
To be honest, I don't even know how I got
convinced.
He calls me.
He's riding his bike aroundBentonville, he's FaceTiming me
oh my gosh, look where I am.
You know he was still figuringout whether he wanted to come
here and open this with Barryand stuff and it was like, yeah,
it's a great, amazing place andI should just come by next time
and just check it out, see howit is.
And you know, barry flew usover and yeah, I'm here again.
Biju Thomas (17:29):
And I mean you look at this place I've walked by
here a million times between thenext door neighbor restaurant
opening and other things.
It didn't really look like awhole lot was happening inside
here, but this is incrediblewhat you've all done Like it's
just such a gorgeous place.
So my best friend's last nameis Lim, so everybody named Lim
is technically a cousin to me.
So, cousin Lim, welcome toBentonville, catherine, welcome
(17:52):
to Bentonville.
So you're known as the Wolf ofWalk Street yeah, which is
brilliant, by the way, the Wolfof Walk Street, which is
brilliant, by the way.
What is your most excitingthing that you've done, most
talked about thing you've donethat's turned into a social
media thing for you Most?
Vincent Lim (18:06):
talked about thing that I've done.
Biju Thomas (18:08):
What do you think?
Vincent Lim (18:09):
Yeah, it's been a lot.
Barry Furaseth (18:13):
If you ever see him on TED, he did a brilliant
job talking about the Chineseculture, talking about Chinese
chinese culture, talking aboutchinese food.
Um, and I think, I think thatwas for me that was watching you
on ted was pretty amazing.
Thanks, man.
Vincent Lim (18:26):
So yeah, so I've done.
I've done a number of things.
I think it's hard to pickbecause everything has been so
crazy in the last four years,but a couple of highlights is
definitely the ted talk.
I did a ted talk that, um, kindof blew up and, just, you know,
just changed my whole liferight.
Then I hopped on masterchef as aguest judge nice, uh, the
(18:48):
australian one, which is likethe, the main one and then what
else did we do?
We did a whole bunch of thingslike.
There's so many things, youknow.
Then we then we opened theworld's most viral crepe shop.
Okay, uh, we opened this, uh,this is in sydney, and we did
pop-ups in different cities aswell.
And we also opened your yum yumfactory.
So we're making seasonings andwe're selling it globally.
(19:10):
So we've just done so manythings in the last few years and
I think everything has beenvery exciting.
But I think being able totravel and do what we want and
cook and travel and hang outwith friends, I think that's the
best part to my job, that'sfantastic Catherine.
Biju Thomas (19:24):
what about for you?
What do you think has been themost exciting of this whole
journey that you two are on?
Catherine Zhang (19:29):
I think honestly it was the starting
point, Like for me.
Being on the TV show at thetime, it was when I wasn't sure
what I really wanted to do.
I was kind of still studying, Iwasn't like hadn't really set
my path in life, I guess, andbeing on that I was like, oh
okay, this is what I really love, what I want to pursue, and I
guess it just kind of ended uprolling from there and I guess I
(19:50):
attribute me here like beinghere was because of that.
So for me that was the mostmemorable.
Biju Thomas (19:55):
Well, barry, I know we're short on time for this,
but I appreciate you so muchtaking time, appreciate you
coming and you, you know thetown appreciates everything you
do and, of course, bring in thestar power.
You bring in the firepower, theincredible talent and energy
you bring into town Somethingthat we really really are ready
for.
Finally, and I think we reallyneeded, thank you all, man, this
(20:15):
is incredible.
I cannot wait for you to open.
I cannot wait for the folks intown to be able to come in and
check this out.
I appreciate it.
Do you have a date in mind yet?
First week in June.
Sometime this June.
Barry Furaseth (20:28):
Second week in June.
Vincent Lim (20:30):
All right, after trying the fried rice, let me
know when we should open.
Biju Thomas (20:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not going to cop this Do we
qualify to open in Bentonville.
Barry Furaseth (20:38):
I love his fried rice Unbelievable.
Biju Thomas (20:41):
Well, sometime in June, this place will be open.
This place will be popping thisfried rice.
You can come in and have thiswith the toasted bread and the
toasted crunchies and thedeliciousness and the Chinese
sausage.
It's incredible, it'severything.
Thank you, thank you, thank youit was wonderful.
Barry Furaseth (20:59):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It was wonderful.
Thank you so much for having us.
Thank you so much, thank you,thank you, appreciate it.
Catherine Zhang (21:02):
Catherine, thank you, thank you.
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