Xo Brasserie brings modern Chinese cuisine to NoMo

deleciousfood | March 10, 2024 | Asian Food | No Comments

Xo Brasserie, a restaurant serving Cantonese and Sichuanese-influenced cuisine, will soon open at 1090 Morrison Drive.

Xo Brasserie owner Herman Ng, who has previously worked with Indigo Road Hospitality, said he is excited to introduce Charleston diners to the food he grew up eating.

“My family owned (Chinese) restaurants throughout the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s,” said Ng, who grew up in Colombia. “I was the Chinese kid running around in the back.”

Owner Herman Ng and Chef Michael Chanthavong have created a modern Chinese menu meant to be shared with friends and family | Andrew Cebulka

Growing up in a restaurant, Ng worked his way up the kitchen ladder from washing dishes to preparing meals and then learning to cook with a wok. He admitted that as a child he wanted to fit in – “we wanted to eat burgers and pizza” – but as he grew up he yearned for the kind of international cuisine often only found in big cities .

“I feel like Charleston is missing the food that you see in New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco,” he said. “So (Xo Brasserie) was born from this thought: ‘Man, I would love to be able to bring the type of cuisine that he’s missing.’

Partnering with executive chef Michael Chanthavong, Ng created a modern Chinese-American menu, with dishes like vegetarian Ma Po Tofu, salt and pepper shrimp, and crab rangoon. “I worked in steakhouses for Indigo Road and this (Xo Brasserie) has more of me,” Ng said. “I learned a lot working for them. It’s more reflective of my upbringing, culture, and heritage.

A question of taste

Ng said that although Xo Brasserie’s menu is inspired by the food he ate as a child, he has worked hard to “take it from 1990 to 2024”. He said the plate and presentation are important, as is the blend of flavors, which range from Cantonese to Szechuan to Laotian (Chef Chanthavong is Laotian).

“Personally, I love dumplings and I feel like there’s nothing like it here in terms of the type of dumplings that I grew up eating and making at home,” said Ng. Incorporating Sichuan flavors — often considered very spicy — won’t “blow your palate,” he added. “I don’t want people to come here and take one bite of a dish and not be able to taste anything afterward. This defeats the very purpose.

In addition to choosing flavors from the menu, Ng and his team carefully created a vibrant space inside the new multi-use building on Morrison Drive. The brewery’s interior features clean lines, soft lighting, leafy plants, and special touches, like a large custom wine rack. Local art group Girls Who Paint Murals painted a large, colorful mural that covers Brasserie Xo’s bar and part of its open kitchen.

A look inside Brasserie Xo | Photo by Andrew Cebulka

Some of the larger tables feature large lazy Susans that fit Ng’s goal of family dining. “That’s how I grew up,” he said. “You order a bunch of different dishes and you all get to try a bunch of things.”

Ng wants guests to be able to try a variety of dishes, and he wants people with dietary restrictions to feel like they have a variety of choices, too. “I want it to be accessible to vegetarians and vegans. I want us to have gluten-free options,” he said, adding that his time with Indigo Road helped him understand how to, well, understand it.

“It’s about hospitality,” Ng said, adding that he is both honored and grateful to the team members who joined him at Xo Brewery, with whom he has previously worked for a lot at Indigo Road.

This is Ng’s first time opening his own restaurant, and while he credits his past professional experience with preparing him for many trials and tribulations, no one can really know until he does. do not know.

“It’s heavy, you know, in terms of weight on the shoulder,” Ng joked.

“But I think it’s going to be very rewarding.” I have a very, very strong team.

Share this:

Related Posts

Leave a ReplyCancel reply