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A clear tiki glass sits on a table near an empty plate. Blurred small lights, as if on a Christmas tree, are visible in the background.

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Escape Into a World of Tiki at Wusong Road

The new Harvard Square restaurant boasts a beautiful interior, and there’s roasted duck and cocktails galore

by Rachel Leah Blumenthal
Restaurant photography by Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater; food photography by Lauren Hallion/Wusong Road
A tiki glass at Wusong Road in Cambridge.
| Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater

Wusong Road, an American Chinese restaurant co-owned by Menton alum Jason Doo, features one of the most stunning interiors in recent local restaurant memory, an intricately built and decorated ode to Doo’s memories growing up in his family’s American Chinese restaurant in Malden.

View of a tiki bar with basket lamps, colorful glassware, and a gong with the restaurant’s name, Wusong Road, painted on it.
The basket lamps hanging above Wusong Road’s bar were made by hand in Morocco.
View of the dining room at a tiki-themed restaurant, including tropical wallpaper and big glass dome lighting, as well as a thatch overhang with brass monkey lamps dangling.
Part of Wusong Road’s dining area features tropical wallpaper.
Interior view of a tiki bar and restaurant, decorated for Christmas with a large tree. A thatched overhang is visible over a service bar section.
Wusong Road’s upstairs section first opened around Christmastime, decorated festively for the occasion. The lights visible above the high tops were Indonesian fish baskets that Doo converted into lamps.
Two wooden peacock-style chairs sit in front of an intricately carved wooden table in a tiki-themed restaurant.
Wusong Road’s two peacock chairs are originals from the 1970s.

The multi-level Harvard Square restaurant — which took over the Les Sablons space in the uniquely skinny Conductor’s Building at 112 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge — has been slowly rolling open since late December 2021, starting with the upstairs tiki bar. The downstairs section, which is focusing on affordable Hong Kong deli-style rice plates to start, debuts February 1, in time to ring in the Lunar New Year. The downstairs section will also heavily feature roasted duck in the future; for now, it’s only available in limited amounts and requires notice 24 hours in advance.

Closeup on a tiki-style mask hanging on a wall in bold red, black, and white tones with feathery embellishments.
A mask hangs on a wall at Wusong Road.
A resin monkey painted to resemble brass holds a light bulb and wears a tiny red fez.
Several monkeys like this dangle from the thatch overhang; they’re resin lamps from Italy that Doo painted to resemble brass. He worked with a dressmaker for dolls to make the mini Shriner fezzes they’re wearing.
A red decorated fez sits on a small wooden sculpture.
A Shriner fez (this one is human-sized.)
An entryway sculpted to look like a stone face leads into a tiki-themed restaurant.
The entryway to Wusong Road’s upstairs space is a replica of Bali temples; it was sculpted by Massachusetts-based Pygmalion Elements & Sculpture. The helmet in the background, one of several at Wusong Road, is a Navy Mark V diving helmet.

Growing up in his family’s restaurant, Doo fell in love with “the classic tiki mugs, the neon red cherries, and the food,” he says, adding that he loves crab rangoons and Peking ravioli. His connection to the tiki aesthetic also comes from his wardrobe when he was younger: “The only nice shirts I could buy and fit into without being super self-conscious were Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts,” he says. “I loved the colors and patterns [in contrast to] what is a typically neutral-colored New England fashion sense.”

Two shelves of tiki glassware in a variety of skulls, including Chinese takeout containers, a skull, and more.
Wusong Road has an extensive collection of tiki glassware in a variety of styles, some of which is quite pricey. As such, customers are served drinks in retro Chinese American-style tiki mugs by default but can request use of a special mug. In those cases, a credit card will be held and a customer will be charged market price for breakage or theft.
Three different tiki mugs sit on a glass, including a traditional tiki mask, a man in a hat, and a grim reaper holding a surfboard.
Tiki mugs, one featuring a hula girl, sit on a bar shelf among bottles of Peychaud’s.
Small traditional tiki mugs, some green and some yellow, sit on a wooden shelf.

But it’s not just about childhood memories. “Tiki to me is just a sense of welcome, relaxation, escapism, and discovery,” he says. The pricing is meant to be welcoming, too: “We wanted to ensure everything was affordable and approachable,” Doo says. “When I got fired and money was tight, I realized I couldn’t afford to eat at the restaurants I loved anymore, so we wanted to create a space where everyone could enjoy and not just a select few.”

A large fake tree and dangling vines, plus a stone wall, decorate a restaurant stairwell.
The main stairwell between Wusong Road’s two floors is a replica of the monkey temple in Japan; it was crafted by Tiki Rancher.
Three stone monkey sculptures are stacked atop each other doing “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” poses. They’re partially obscured by fake greenery.
A brass monkey lamp hangs in a tiki-themed restaurant stairwell with a stone wall and dangling green wines.
A large Chinese dragon in shades of blue, green, and red is over a doorway in a restaurant, with a flight of stairs visible next to it.
A large dragon welcomes diners into the downstairs space.

As Wusong Road continues to work toward a full opening, the best place to find updates on hours and more is on Instagram, and diners can peek at a takeout/online ordering version of the current menu, which includes to-go tiki cocktails and classic American Chinese staples like Peking ravioli and a take on General Gao’s.

Here’s a peek at some of the food.

A chicken bao sits on a steamer basket, with the bao bun colored bright yellow and decorated like a chicken.
Wusong Road’s chicken bao: crispy fried chipotle chicken breast, Southern-style, with chipotle aioli sauce, Sriracha dressing, and slaw.
A pork bao sits on a steamer basket. The bao bun is pig-shaped and decorated.
Wusong Road’s pulled pork bao: chipotle char siu pork with slaw and pickles.
A rectangle of rice is topped with egg and spam, wrapped in a thin slice of seaweed, and presented atop a steamer basket.
Wusong Road’s spam musubi: a slice of spam atop a crispy slice of tamago (egg omelet) on a bed of sushi rice, mixed and glazed with teriyaki sauce.
Six pan-fried dumplings, connected with a crispy skirt, are arranged on a white plate atop a steamer basket.
Wusong Road’s Peking ravioli: pan-fried pork dumplings with scallion, cabbage, and spices, served with soy ginger dipping sauce.
A roasted whole duck sits on banana leaves on a bamboo tray; it’s garnished with orchids.
Wusong Road’s roasted duck.

Wusong Road is currently open for dinner and drinks Tuesday through Sunday, dine-in and takeout, starting at 5 p.m. Reservations accepted only for parties of eight or more.

Wusong Road

112 Mount Auburn Street, , MA 02138 (617) 528-9125 Visit Website
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