Welcome to Chinese Club.
It’s where you’ll find a special brand of Desi-Wallah Chinese cuisine: a unique blend of Indian-Chinese comfort food made popular in Mumbai. So you know, “Wallah” is Indian slang for someone who has mastered a particular trade. In this case, and to your mouth’s benefit, that trade is Indian-Chinese cooking: which consists of dishes like spicy coconut milk Bengali fish, these delightful tangy potato snacks and the like.
Anyways, yeah. Welcome.
Step inside the cozy, attractive space: all wood paneling and contemporary Indian art and memorabilia borrowed from the first Chinese Club location, still open in Brooklyn. The couple behind this spot is also behind LAUT, in Union Square, which was one of the first Malaysian spots to receive a Michelin Star in New York. But we digress.Â
By this point, you should already have a complimentary cup of Darjeeling masala chai tea in your hand. Maybe a bowl of house-made wonton crisps in front of you. You may even be led to a back table, where you can settle in with gin-yuzu-grapefruit cocktails and order off the menu full of perfected family recipes handed down for generations—from the sizzling Hakka Chili, to the Manchow soup with crispy noodles, to unique interpretations of Chinese rice dishes like black sesame ginger fried rice, to the many, many other delightful-looking things you’ll find right through here.
Chinese Club New York, now open, 102 Lexington Ave (between 27th and 28th), see the menu and the slideshow
