Some great news is on its way for Manhattan tea lovers. Uluh Modern Chinese Restaurant and Tea House, the popular tea house at 152 second avenue, is gearing up for their very first expansion – moving North East to a second location at 218 East 14th Street.
Uluh is a contemporary restaurant that fuses traditionally crafted Chinese dishes with a modern elegance. Highlighting pan-regional cuisine from across mainland China, Uluh also offers an array of some the finest globally sourced tea that can be found in the city.
Founded by restaurateur Richard Lam, Uluh opened up in 2018 in the former Sigmund Schwartz Grammercy Park Chapel that was renovated in 2014 and sold to Icon Realty. Uluh was one of the first tenants to move into the new space and quickly started making a name for themselves.
“Uluh” is a kind of vegetable used in Chinese cooking that is commonly referred to in English as the Bottle Gourd, or Calabash. Phonetically similar to the Chinese word for “happiness”, Bottle Gourds became popular symbols of wealth and prosperity and are often incorporated into logos and imagery to bring good luck and fortune.
Lam picked New York particularly because of its international nature. While referring to Uluh as “Chinese food” is technically accurate, it fails to paint the larger picture. China is a massive, diverse country with dozens of different regions with their own culinary traditions, and it was Uluh’s mission to bring all these different cuisines to one modern, New York restaurant. From their signature Peking Duck to Cantonese dim sum and Shanghainese soup dumplings, Sichuan dry pots and Singaporean seafood, Uluh takes the most popular dishes from across China and brings them home to New York.
Uluh’s second location will be replacing Vanessa’s Dumplings, which previously occupied the space at 218 East 14th Street. Vanessa’s Dumplings was a popular location among the local community, and your favorite restaurant reporter might have even been known to visit from time to time. They closed back in 2019, so locals are pretty excited to finally have a great place to get dumplings again. An not just dumplings! Uluh will be bringing along its specialty assortment of hot pots, seafood, and of course – tea.
