Welcome to The Chinese Club Restaurant!

The Chinese Club Restaurant is located at 208 Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and is a beyond divine restaurant with a beyond divine dining experience!  The restaurant opened in 2016 by married couple Chef Salil Mehta and Stacey Lo.  This young couple, both under 30 are also famous for their Michelin star and Bib Gourmand designated Malaysian restaurant Laut which is otherwise located at 15 E. 17th Street in the Union Square area, in Manhattan.

Now before I share with you the banquet and I mean banquet that was bestowed upon a group of us as part of a press event, I want to give you some background on the type of food that is served at the restaurant and the history behind that choice.

So the food which is served at The Chinese Club Restaurant is called Hakka Cuisine and is a type of cuisine which marries Indian spices and Chinese techniques.  The restaurant was set up to serve Hakka Cuisine to pay homage to Lo Fung Sho, Stacey’s great grandfather who was an immigrant worker in Darjeeling, India and who at the turn of the century, founded the “Darjeeling Chinese Club” , a place for Chinese immigrants living in India to find safe refuge.

So now I’m going to share with you what this banquet looked like, so hold on tight and get ready to see foods which were prepared on the spot and served as they were actually made.  Nothing but nothing is preprepared, nothing.

PS.  Here’s their very transparent kitchen…

 

Alright, so now let’s begin our banquet journey…

First, we were all served a cocktail called The Big Bass.  It was made out of three types of Sake with mango and mango pulp.

Then we were served Organic Butter Salt and Pepper Mushrooms.  So scrumptious.  They tasted like fried shrimp to me-not like mushrooms…  Simply divine!

Oh and did I mention that with that we also got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc!

Then we were served Allo Chat…

Allo means potato and Chat means street so that this is an Indian street food with Chinese flavors.

Awesome!  Very spicy but so extremely texturally symphonic and so worth that moment of “OMGoodness, this is so hot!”

Then we were served Wings on Fire with a sauce which was called Spicy Mayo.

Let me tell you that it gave new meaning to the word yummy and coupled with the Spicy Mayo sauce, it was beyond description.

And last but not least we were served Bhel Salad.

Bhel Salad is an Indian Street food which is made from puffed rice, avocado, Chinese sauces, and pomegranate seeds.  It was crunchy and again…all around fabulous.

Now as if the above appetizer dishes weren’t enough-then came the main dishes.  OMGoodness-it was truly amazing…

So the first main dish that was brought out was Hakka Chili Chicken.

Again, the chicken was spicy but sooo tasty and again it was worth that initial OMGoodness-this is sooo hot thought and by the way the dish came with three types of rice, white rice, cumin rice and jasmine rice.

 

Then Hakka Noodles were served.

So by now, I’m in love…

Then yes, out came the Vegetable Manchurian.

So the love fest continues…Here we had little dumplings in a Manchurian sauce which was again sooo amazing.

Then the last two dishes that were served were Fish with Hot Garlic Sauce and Mixed Vegetables with Paneer.

Did I think that I could have any more food.  No-but when the dessert came out I was OMG.

So the first dessert served was Fried Ice-Cream wrapped in Noodles.

The noodles were fried and tasted coconuty and the ice-cream inside added the perfect blend and partnered textures.

And last but not least (and did I add that we also were served a glass of Reisling Wine and a bottle of 1947 (an Indian beer)) was The Fortune Cookie Waffle Cake-No words.  An experience for sure.

So what can I say that I haven’t already said:

I felt very honored and privileged to have been invited to this dining experience to help get the word out about Hakka Cuisine and The Chinese Club Restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Chef Salil Mehta and Stacy Lo’s passion for Hakka Cuisine and the love with which they treat and prepare the food is something that I have never encountered before and was really moved by!!!!!

So I’ll leave you with these thoughts as posted over their transparent kitchen…

and Hakka Cuisine!!!!!