A Colorful, Award-Winning Chinese Eatery Comes to Brickell

High-end, Hong Kong-based restaurant Hutong (600 Brickell Avenue) has debuted its second U.S. location, this time right here in the Magic City. It serves up Northern Chinese fare in a bright and colorful setting. The brainchild of Aqua Restaurant Group — which boasts an international portfolio of award-winning restaurants with locations in Hong Kong, Beijing and London — it brings plenty of the restaurant’s most well-known dishes to South Florida.

Hutong offers dinner with a menu organized by starters, fish, seafood, meat, barbecue, tofu and vegetables, and rice and noodles, all made to be shared. Guests can dine on its popular peking duck that is created using a recipe said to have been developed over one hundred years ago for the Emperor. Its well-reviewed dim sum also makes it to Miami and will be the star of the lunch menu starting on November 18. The updated takes feature dumplings filled with everything from rose champagne, to lobster, to prawn and black truffle, and mushroom and spinach. Dishes that are specific to Miami also can be found like the Sichuan king scallops topped with red chili, peanut and sesame pieces, and the ma la chocolate mousse, a chocolate mousse infused with Sichuan chilies.

Upon entering Hutong, guests are welcomed in front of a row of copper Zhejiang teapots displayed among columns of stacked Chinese clay roof tiles. Around the walls are 35,000 grey antique bricks that are from a 1930s Chinese building. At the end of the dining room stands wooden dynasty hand-carved lattice screens while the dining room is filled with bright chairs painted fuchsia, turquoise, and lime green. But the pièce de résistance — and something unique to the Miami location — is the “Great Wall,” a 70-foot long wall of hand-carved Chinese wood doors and panels that pulsate at night time with various colors.

“Each Hutong restaurant shares the same DNA but offers a slightly different menu and design. For Miami, I was inspired by the amazing art scene here so vibrant pop-art colors offset traditional Chinese design elements creating a real feeling on Chinese ‘yin’ meeting Miami ‘yang’,” says David Yeo, founder of Aqua Restaurant Group.

Hutong is open for dinner Monday to Thursday from 6 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday until midnight, and Sunday until 10 p.m. The bar is open daily until 2 a.m. Lunch will be served daily from noon to 3 p.m. and brunch will be served from noon to 4 p.m. starting November 23. Call 786-388-0805 for more information and reservations.