Austin Chinese language Restaurant Zoe Tong Opens on Barton Springs in November

by razezibaie · 1 November 2023

Austin’s latest upcoming restaurant is a contemporary Chinese language eating vacation spot within the Zilker neighborhood coming this month. Zoé Tong will probably be opening at 1530 Barton Springs Highway beginning on Wednesday, November 8.

Co-owners cooks Simone Tong and Matthew Hyland come from notable New York eating places themselves. Tong ran the beloved Little Tong Noodle Store and continues to be the co-owner of acclaimed Chinese language American wine restaurant Silver Apricot. Hyland co-founded very talked-about pizzerias Emily and Emma Squared. The couple moved to Austin in 2021, making the Texas metropolis their dwelling for them and their household, the place additionally they needed to open their very own restaurant. And with Zoé, the 2 wish to serve what Tong describes as “fashionable Austin Chinese language” meals.

The 2 acquired to utilize the inherited smoker on the property (again from the handle’s days as Uncle Billy’s). This implies dishes like sticky barbecue pork ribs made with a char siu sauce atop puffed vermicelli, smoked duck spring rolls made with a netted rice sheet, or the smoked hamachi crudo.

A square plate of white fried rolls. — The duck rolls.

A round white plate of sliced fish. — The smoked hamachi.

Meat ribs on top of crunchy white noodles. — The sticky barbecue ribs.

One of many stars of the menu would be the Zoé Tong duck, the place the cured-and-dried entire hen’s legs will probably be confited and the breast lacquered, served alongside sides like smoked duck bone broth (served from a duck-shaped ceramic teapot), an apricot sauce, scallion hominy bings (Chinese language flatbreads), apples, cucumbers, and pickles.

Per Tong’s noodle roots, there will probably be pastas. There’s the chilly sesame noodles with fried shallots (a favourite of Hyland’s). After which, as a special tackle the basic dan dan noodles, she’ll pair mafaldine with a wild boar meat sauce.

There’s additionally a collection of chuan chuan skewers, the place the meats or greens are roasted or deep-fried whereas on the skewers. Choices embrace kabocha squash, shimeji mushrooms, head-on shrimp with sambal, and lamb shoulder.

A blue-and-white bowl of noodles and greens. — The chilly sesame noodles.

A shallow blue bowl of sliced fish, puffy seaweed, and a brown-ish broth. — The black cod with seaweed crackers and miso-hoisin.

Cooked greens in a blue-and-white shallow bowl. — The sauteed pea shoots and inexperienced soybeans.

A bowl of brown nuts and a plate of fried dumplings. — Appetizers embrace spicy nuts and dumplings.

Different dishes embrace spicy pecans and cashews; dressed cucumbers with silken tofu, scallion puffed rolls topped with dabs of seaweed butter; a deboned spatchcocked rooster made with an orange sesame glaze; and entire quails full of sticky rice and Chinese language sausage.

For sweets, the primary gentle serve taste is the black sesame served with raspberry pearls. The couple needs to experiment with different choices sooner or later, reminiscent of milk tea and matcha. Then there’s a milk tea creme brulee and the gui hua gao (aka osmanthus royal jelly on the menu) with pumpkin mochi.

Cocktails tackle pan-Asian flavors, such because the Si Child Margarita with tequila, shishito pepper ice, and a Sichuan spiced rim; the Cin-groni with shochu, amaro, and bergamot liqueur; and the Keefer-madness with rum, rye whiskey, an oat milk matcha latte, and pineapple. The nonalcoholic Toody Time is a strawberry-Thai basil lemonade with a citrus soda and glowing water.

Several cocktail glasses with different drinks. — The array of cocktails.

A black cast-iron pan of rolls with two dabs of butter on top of it. — The scallion puffed rolls with seaweed butter.

Two bowls of desserts. — Desserts embrace milk tea creme brulee and a royal jelly with pumpkin mochi.

Zoé Tong’s giant Barton Springs area had beforehand been Austin Eastciders’s second taproom within the metropolis, from 2020 to 2023. Earlier than that, it was brewery and restaurant Uncle Billy’s Smokehouse from 2006 to 2019.

The eating room consists of a number of kinds of seating from giant spherical tables made for communal group consuming, lengthy tables and four-person tables. Outdoors, there’s a shaded patio. The constructing is adorned with cartoonish murals depicting creatures enjoying music and cooking with meals and out of doors options.

The restaurant previewed a small collection of its menu throughout Austin Metropolis Limits Music Pageant pop-ups, the place it had served the ribs, sesame noodles, lamb skewers, and black sesame gentle serve.

A restaurant dining room with an octopus mural. — The entryway.

The eating room consists of bigger spherical tables.

Tables and seats at a restaurant. — A eating nook.

Rounding out the Zoé Tong staff are chef de delicacies Dimitri Voutsinas (previously of Present Me Pizza and had really labored with Hyland at Emily again within the day) and normal supervisor Travis Vergara (beforehand of Terry Black’s in Austin, Z’Tejas, Cantina Laredo, and Blue Corn Harvest).

Zoé Tong will serve will probably be open for dinner beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday by Monday. Brunch and lunch hours will probably be added later. Reservations will be booked now on-line.