Wickenden Street recently welcomed its newest, spicy addition: Chinese restaurant Rong Chic. The eatery opened its doors for food tastings earlier this month, featuring dishes like tofu cheesecake, three pepper chicken and Mapo tofu.
The restaurant is yet to host an official grand opening. It plans to train kitchen staff and implement customer menu feedback before launching later this spring, according to Yao Liu, the manager and co-founder of Rong Chic. The Sichuanese restaurant is currently open for dinner every night except Monday, with additional lunch hours on weekends.
The food tastings are a way to “communicate with the customers,” Liu said. She hopes the menu will incorporate customers’ ideas, highlighting customer-suggested menu items like the Brown Sugar Chinese Rice Cake.
All of Liu’s comments were provided in Mandarin Chinese and translated by The Herald.
Planning for the restaurant began last July and Liu secured the location on Wickenden Street in late November.
Lieyah Dagan, a repeat customer and first-year graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, brought her friends to try the restaurant.
“I wanted to bring them here because the Jajang noodles were really good,” Dagan said. “I was really excited about it because there’s not that many spots over here. It’s really convenient.”
Given that her team is not currently focused on advertising the restaurant, Liu is surprised by the attention Rong Chic has received so far.
“I’ve received a lot of positive feedback and gotten a lot of confidence from their reactions,” she said. “Everything (we’re doing) is to get ready for the grand opening, especially the quality of food.”
The restaurant has also found ways to engage with nearby schools, especially students at RISD and Brown, Liu said. They plan to leave a wall empty for RISD students to display their artwork and hope to use the empty restaurant on Mondays as an event space for student organizations.
Working at Rong Chic “doesn’t even feel like working,” wrote Nan Thiri Oo, a waitress at Rong Chic, in a message to The Herald. “I get to meet new people every day and share our story. It feels like home.”
During the day, Rong Chic provides take-out lunch boxes for Brown and RISD students Liu added. She currently delivers the lunches herself to the corner of Cushing and Thayer streets, where RISD and Brown students who placed their order in advance can pick up their meals.
Though the restaurant is not officially open, Liu has “already felt a sense of community,” she said. Liu hopes that Rong Chic can collaborate with nearby schools to provide meals for students, staff and faculty.
The restaurant is still waiting on a logo, website and interior decorations before their official grand opening, Liu said, which is expected to take place in April at the earliest.
“If people like our food and they want to come in and have a conversation with us, that will make us very happy,” Liu said.
