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You Need To Try This Chinatown

“Sai Woo” Staff Tasting On The Night Before Opening

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by Andrew Morrison | The long awaited Sai Woo restaurant opens at 158 East Pender St. in Chinatown this evening at 5pm. I was there last night as the staff were being schooled on co-owner/chef Douglas Chang’s food and barman Justin Anello’s cocktails.

I won’t go into detail about the many dishes and drinks I tried, save to mention a couple things of special note: the “cola” wings are insanely good (use the lime provided); puncture the tea egg and let the yolk run over the tea smoked albacore; and be sure to order the sweet and oaky smoky lapsang sauchong-inflected Smoking Gun cocktail.

The 188 seat restaurant (main floor and basement lounge) has been a very long time coming, so it’s nice to see it finally ready for prime time. Last night showed that the kitchen and bar have their shit together. Now we’ll see how they and the floor staff handle the bumrush. We wish the entire team the best of luck. Break a leg!

  • Crew going over service protocols
    Crew going over service protocols
  • Freshly shucked oysters with Jamaican mignonette
    Freshly shucked oysters with Jamaican mignonette
  • The kitchen team doing a few finishing touches
    The kitchen team doing a few finishing touches
  • Justin prepping The Smoking Gun
    Justin prepping The Smoking Gun
  • Plating
    Plating
  • Crisped rice chips with nori and cured yolk
    Crisped rice chips with nori and cured yolk
  • Laying down some parm on carpaccio
    Laying down some parm on carpaccio
  • Carpaccio with mustard greens
    Carpaccio with mustard greens
  • Information session
    Information session
  • Tea smoked albacore with wilted greens and a tea egg
    Tea smoked albacore with wilted greens and a tea egg
  • Chef Chang, explaining
    Chef Chang, explaining
  • Tamarind glazed sweetbreads with smoked potatoes
    Tamarind glazed sweetbreads with smoked potatoes
  • Downstairs looking sexy
    Downstairs looking sexy
  • Sai Woo Sour cocktail
    Sai Woo Sour cocktail
  • Sausage Not Sausage - vegetarian sausage with charred eggplant and crispy tofu
    Sausage Not Sausage - vegetarian sausage with charred eggplant and crispy tofu
  • Back bar
    Back bar
  • Baked sablefish with lotus root and burdock brother
    Baked sablefish with lotus root and burdock brother
  • Salt cod fritters with lemon cream
    Salt cod fritters with lemon cream
  • Spring pea agnolotti with guanciale in jinhua ham broth
    Spring pea agnolotti with guanciale in jinhua ham broth
  • Beijing Sling cocktail
    Beijing Sling cocktail
  • More planning
    More planning
  • Downstairs
    Downstairs
  • Cola wings
    Cola wings
  • Details
    Details

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