New York Restaurant Hutong Opens in Midtown | Eater NY

"Stepping into a 19,000-square-foot, high‑ceilinged space at 731 Lexington Ave., I found Hutong’s swanky, high-end take on Northern Chinese fare: backed by Aqua and helmed by David Yeo, this is the group’s first U.S. outpost and its third location worldwide. The venue includes an elegant 140-seat dining room, an 83-seat lounge and bar, and private dining rooms, and the New York menu largely mirrors the Hong Kong and London offerings with dim sum and roast duck as central attractions; expect fried soft shell crab and a roasted Peking duck carved at the table, while a few NYC exclusives include spicy pork and salted-fish fried dumplings. There’s a robust seafood section and desserts such as a sesame-and-caramel mousse shaped like a bao on a praline sesame shell with soy milk ice cream. The big lounge serves cocktails with Chinese bents—one mixes vanilla vodka, lychee liqueur, Sichuan pepper honey, and grapefruit with dried Sichuan peppers on the rim—and the restaurant has been praised for well-executed seafood dumplings, braised squid, roast duck, and fried rice. It opens at 5 p.m. (daily until 11 p.m., midnight Thu–Sat), the bar has extended hours, and lunch service with dim sum begins July 15." - Carla Vianna