Uncle Seven Chinese Re-Opens in South Norwalk & Launches Peking Duck Service — CT Bites (2024)

Chef Alan Lee, owner of Uncle Seven in SoNo, is no stranger to the Connecticut food scene. He and his family have owned the highly successful Ching’s Table in New Canaan for over thirty years. So what was next for Chef Lee? A new venture, a modern twist on traditional Chinese cuisine in the SoNo Collection Mall. This new spot is called Uncle Seven, and you’ll be happy we told you so.

Uncle Seven was an immediate hit when it first opened its doors in early 2020, with Chef Lee recalling that the restaurant was “very busy for the first few months” before the March shutdown. The restaurant has just reopened post pandemic, and we think it should be on your list of dining spots to check out this holiday season. Why, you ask? In addition to a truly delicious authentic Chinese menu, we’ve got two words for you: PEKING DUCK.

Uncle Seven is one of only a very few restaurants in the state that offers diners a proper Peking Duck service. Peking Duck is one of the most celebrated dishes of Beijing, or Mandarin Chinese, cuisine, with a history of over 400 years. The complicated cooking process requires that air is forced between the skin and flesh of the duck to puff out the skin, allowing the fat to be rendered out during roasting, while the skin, the choicest part of the dish, is cooked to crispy perfection. The duck is painted with a sweet sauce, hung up to dry, and then roasted suspended in a special oven. The ducks served at Uncle Seven are among the freshest and best sourced, in Connecticut, as the two brother chef team roast their ducks daily.

Customers are able to order the peking duck in a variety of ways that best suits their party. Served with either wheat flour pancakes or fluffy buns, the duck is nestled between hoisin sauce, thinly sliced cucumber and scallions, and well…you just have to try it. Whether you’re visiting with just one friend or four, the experts at Uncle Seven will be able to customize your experience so you can enjoy everything from peking duck dumplings to an entire roast duck — every level of appetite is catered to.

Uncle Seven’s mission is to blend Chinese tradition with a modern flair for a new generation. The chefs have trained in China, and if you’re still hungry after the duck, Uncle Seven offers a beautiful lunch and dinner menu with everything from soups and salads to dumplings and wok dishes.

Chef Lee highlighted that the dishes that have quickly grown in popularity are the Heritage Cantonese Clay Pots, yet another way Uncle Seven brings traditional cooking methods to its menu. These pots can be ordered with a number of different proteins, from coconut curry chicken or salmon to short rib or Japanese eel. The way that the dish is prepared gives a nice crisp to the jasmine white rice, which serves as a base in the clay pots for the other ingredients.

Other highlights from our meal included favorites such as spicy Sichuan Dumplings, Roast Pork, a delicious General Tso’s Chicken, Coconut Crispy Shrimp with Mango Glaze, and Five Spice Short Rib Spicy Noodles.

Chef Lee also emphasized the idea of “seasonality” with Uncle Seven; that throughout the year the goal is to have new ingredients and flavors emerge to give customers something to look forward to every time they return. We’ll gladly return for the peking duck alone, but we are certainly lucky to also have a rich variety of cuisine to choose from on top of it.

Uncle Seven is located on the rooftop level (level three) of the SoNo Collection Mall, 100 N. Water Street, Norwalk, CT 06854. The restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday 11AM - 9PM, and Friday through Saturday 11AM - 10PM.