At Chez Wa, Chinese Flavours Find Their Place at the Wine Bar
At their new Little Italy wine bar, Kevin Guo and Tia Zhang pair Chinese small plates with wine and sake.
The Cheat Sheet
Chez Wa
928 College St., Little Italy
Chinese-inspired wine bar
Price: $$
Best for: sake, low-intervention bottles, and small plates
“We want to showcase that Chinese flavours can be paired harmoniously with wine and sake,” Kevin Guo says.
Chez Wa is the permanent expression of that idea: a brand-new 25-seat Chinese-inspired wine bar in Little Italy, opened by Guo and Tia Zhang, with a tight menu, fun bottles, and a playful approach to what a wine bar can be.
“We’re creating a new take on Chinese food,” Guo says. “We [aim to] make it more delicate with small plates people can drink with.”
Guo sees Chez Wa as a shift away from the larger-format style of many traditional Chinese restaurants. “When you go to a dim sum restaurant or a traditional Chinese restaurant, it’s usually big plates, big portions,” he says. “People share three or four plates, and that’s it. They’re full.”
At Chez Wa, the idea is smaller and more drink-led. “We [aim to] make it more delicate with small plates people can drink with,” Guo says.
Perhaps the most visually striking dish is the Hongsuantang mackerel that’s served with a fermented tomato and chili sauce, a sharp pairing that cuts through the richness of the fish. Next is a black tiger shrimp dish that’s a play on drunken shrimp, lightly cooked and marinated with Shaoxing wine and sherry, then served with pickled cherry tomatoes.
The beef tartare is the closest thing to a classic wine-bar dish, but Chez Wa pulls it in a different direction. Porcini mushrooms add depth and umami, burnt green chili brings smoke and heat, and egg yolk gel adds richness. It is served with baguette from Bakery Pompette down the street.
Campanelle might be the clearest expression of the restaurant’s point of view. Guo says they originally tested the dish with udon and Chinese noodles before landing on campanelle, whose shape reminded them of a regional Chinese noodle sometimes called “cat’s ears.” Inspired by mapo tofu, the dish uses silken tofu for creaminess, then tops it with stir-fried ground beef, Sichuan pepper, and green onions.
During the day, Chez Wa also functions as a bottle shop, with a list that leans toward smaller producers, low-intervention wines, and sake. During the soft opening, Guo says the restaurant quickly moved from friends-and-family nights to a proper waitlist, with wait times exceeding one hour.
For Zhang, the goal is simple. Chez Wa is “a place where you can chill, and enjoy food and wine.”
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