Located between Grand Central and Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, Hue House is a drinking, dining, and creative hub with food, cocktails, wellness, and cultural programming that span the Asian diaspora—all under one roof.
“We wanted to create a destination where you can spend all day or night in the middle of the city,” says Haoran Chen, Hue House’s cofounder and head of marketing. We checked out the space in December—here’s what you can expect.
Many of the vinyls at speakeasy-style bar and lounge, 929, within Hue House, are from the cofounder’s personal collection.
Courtesy of Hue House
Taiwanese street eats and a vinyl-inspired lounge
Currently, the headlining feature of Hue House is its expansive food and drink offerings. On the ground floor are Gulp, a grab-and-go eatery, and a train-themed bistro named Traveler. The design of Traveler is decidedly retro, with chrome and metallic accents like those on vintage locomotives. Both pay homage to Taiwanese night markets, featuring similar items to what’s available on the streets of Taipei. Gulp has your classic beef noodle soup, popcorn chicken, and braised pork rice, while more playful fusion dishes like arancini sticky rice and a “drunken” chicken soup with rice wine are available at Traveler.
Traveler also features a sure-to-be-viral hit—a coin-operated vending machine that dispenses tea-infused vodka shots with the press of a button. It’s supposedly the only one of its kind in New York City. Chen said he and his cofounders were inspired by similar automated sake kiosks in Japanese train stations.
Upstairs on the second floor is a speakeasy-style bar and lounge, called 929, with Cantonese and Mandarin vinyl records displayed on consoles throughout the space. The memorabilia-studded room feels part bar, part living room, and part time capsule. Even the drink menu is printed on CDs in slim, clear cases. (Remember those?)
For Chen, who also DJs and is a curator of Asian pop music culture, this space is personal. “Most of what you’ll find here is from my own music collection that I wanted to share with anyone who enters,” Chen adds.
Like the rest of Hue House, the beverages are all Asian-inspired, like the Shanghai Summer Fling, a concoction of vodka, sauvignon blanc, jasmine green tea, lychee, and kaffir lime leaves. Don’t skip the bar bites, especially the sweet and savory fried shrimp topped with rainbow sprinkles. Formerly located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens as a standalone venue, 929 will now find a permanent home within Hue House.
Drink menus in the second floor speakeasy are printed on CD cases at Hue House.
Courtesy of Hue House
Upcoming wellness and community spaces
Later this spring, Hue House will unveil its third- and fourth-floor venues, which will round out the space. Apt.Hue, a coffee and tea bar by day and event space by night, will include bespoke retail, spotlighting Asian lifestyle goods and design-forward finds. Finally, a top-floor wellness spa inspired by Chinese medicine, called Puyu, will offer services like gua sha facials and Chinese herbal consultations.
For both out-of-towners and locals, Hue House is an unusually convenient way to engage with contemporary Asian New York without needing to hop on a train to another borough or neighborhood. This slice of Asian diasporic culture is easily within walking distance of hotels, offices, and marquee sights like Grand Central Station and Bryant Park. “We’re taking up space and creating a community, which is important to do,” says Chen.
