"Tucked away within Chinatown is Doyers Street, a historic alleyway home to legacy restaurants like Nom Wah Tea Parlor. And it's where Annie Shi, one of the restaurateurs behind King and Jupiter, chose to open her Chinese American wine bar Lei this summer. It's so picturesque that three wedding photoshoots took place outside on a late fall evening. One couple even posed in front of Lei's red-tiled entrance."
"I was taken by the eight-treasure pudding ($16). The server poured the sticky toffee sauce onto the vanilla ice cream and a mound of sweets - it's an adventure figuring out each ingredient - I identified black rice, bits of ginger, beans, and some sort of citrus peels, which all melded into a sweet but not sugary concoction that was both warm and cold."
Lei occupies a red-tiled entrance on Doyers Street in Chinatown and offers a Chinese American wine bar experience. The menu features inventive small plates such as chilled celtuce with kombu jelly and cat's ear noodles with cumin-laced tomato-stewed lamb. The eight-treasure pudding combines vanilla ice cream, sticky toffee sauce, black rice, ginger, beans, and citrus peels for warm-and-cold contrasts. The staff provides confident wine recommendations and several affordable by-the-glass options. The space is tiny and picturesque, suited for solo dinners or small groups, with music ranging from Chinese pop to R&B to jazz and a mischievous crane wallpaper in the bathroom.
Read at Eater NY
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