About Team & Chef Dong
Welcome to the first U.S. restaurant by one of China’s most famous and influential Chefs, simply known as DaDong. Located in the world’s most prominent location, just east of the heart of Times Square.
The restaurant has two main dining rooms with the second floor offering an energetic, stylish, sexy, and slightly gritty atmosphere and the third floor offering a more refined and elegant dining room. Designed by George Wong Design, it also includes an outdoor garden on the second floor and an outdoor terrace on the third floor, along with a few private dining rooms. The entire venue accommodates over 400 guests.
With nine restaurants in Beijing, and two in Shanghai, DaDong is world famous for his Roast Peking Duck, which is a main feature in the New York City restaurant. In addition, a full menu of Chef Dong’s refined Chinese offerings are served, such as the Braised Sea Cucumber, Snowflake Wagyu with Sichuan Preserved Vegetables, Braised Abalone with White Truffle, and White Chocolate with Cream Cheese, to name a few.
Various prime ministers, presidents, princes, and First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as Chefs Feran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, and Alain Ducasse, are counted among many of DaDong’s loyalists.
Bar
With an expansive thirty-two seats, the bar offers our guests the opportunity to have the luxurious tasting menu featured on the third floor or any al la carte item on the menu. The menu is accented with over twenty wines by the glass such as Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne, White Burgundy and a number of selections from all around the world. We have also curated a cocktail program featuring numerous local spirits and Baiju as well as seasonal cocktails.
Garden
Like an oasis in the middle of Manhattan, The Garden at DaDong features an outdoor bar, dining and lounge spaces. Enjoy a delicious lunch under one of our wooden pergolas or visit us for a lovely cocktail and our sunset menu.
The Garden showcases a water feature with beautiful art piece by Chinese artist Zheng Lu.
THIRD FLOOR
The third level is our Chef’s Tasting Floor. On this floor, we serve a la carte menus and multi course Chef’s tasting menus (full table participation required for tasting menus). This floor provides a more subdued upscale environment and features art from Beijing and other parts of China. Here you may choose to join us in the dining room or retreat into one of our private dining rooms. And for those beautiful warm nights, enjoy dinner al fresco overlooking 42nd Street and Bryant Park.
Chef Dong
The Beijing-born chef, DaDong, has travelled far and wide in pursuit of what his menu proclaims is his “artistic conception of Chinese cuisine,” also known as DaDong YiJing cuisine. While global culinary trends went from authentic to fusion, from traditional to molecular, DaDong proceeded further to involve the mental and spiritual pleasures in dining with his Yijing cuisine. DaDong’s Yijing or “transcendental” culinary creations are the visual metaphor of poetry on the plate, embarking the senses on a gastronomic journey from the table to the landscape of farms and nature from where the ingredients are gathered.
“I’m a Chinese chef, so my philosophy is to always focus on Chinese food,” Chef Dong says. “But, I draw upon other places and peoples, ingredients and techniques to make my food great.”
Indeed, cuisine from various Chinese regions and even classic French and Italian cooking are all part of the chef’s repertoire in a food career that has spanned 35 years.