Upscale restaurant YongChuan has been serving a fusion of Ningbo and Szechuan cuisines in the heart of the Lower East Side since September 2024, but this restaurant is now giving us a taste of Chinese flavors through the lens of 21st Century craft cocktails with the opening of their back bar, Async.
Created by Droveen Zhang, head bartender at Shanghai’s critically acclaimed Epic Bar, Async offers a transportive cocktail experience. Each drink is rooted in regional Chinese ingredients with a modern twist and makes you feel like you’re journeying through China–from Xinjiang’s Silk Road to Yunnan’s rainforest–without having to hop on a flight!
The roster includes some incredibly tasty sounding cocktails.
Highlights include the Silk Road Negroni, representing Xinjiang and made with red date cognac, dried grape, fig leaf vermouth, blanca, and walnut bitters, the Spicy Madame, representing Hunan and made with with cherry tomato, chili, sour soup tequila, shiso, lemon juice, syrup, tabasco, and bitters, and the Tsingtao Orchard, representing Shandong and made using black tea, peanut syrup, apple, Tsingtao beer, chocolate beer, sherry, sour apple liqueur, Maggi Verjus, and milk.
Whether you’re looking for something on the smoky side, love a bit of sweetness, or would prefer to sip on some bold heat, each cocktail tells its own story rooted in flavor, memory, and place, and there’s truly something for everyone.
Now if you know anything about us you’d know that we love to pair our cocktail with a good bite to eat, and thankfully Async has got that covered as well! Beyond the drinks, there will also be a menu of bar snacks, including Ma La Prawns, Peking Duck Tacos, and Seaweed Popcorn Chicken–we’ll take five orders of each, please!
Async officially opened its doors to the public on Monday, April 14th. It’s located in the back of YongChuan in the Lower East Side, at 90 Clinton Street. Our advice is to grab dinner at YongChuan before heading to the back to check out Async. We suggest ordering a mix of both Sichuan-style and Zhejiang-style dishes, such as the Suchuan Boiled Fish, the Ningbo Grilled Vegetables, and the Shrimp & Seaweed Fried Rice.
Keep up with both YongChuan and Async on Instagram.
📍 90 Clinton St.