SFchronicle: This opulent new Silicon Valley restaurant comes with a surprise: a virtual reality private dining room
Inside iChina, a two-level mall restaurant with tasting menus, a cocktail bar and multiple private rooms
Aug. 16, 2021 Updated: Aug. 17, 2021 8:20 a.m.
This week, Silicon Valley is getting an ambitious, opulent Chinese restaurant that wants to set the standard for modern Chinese food in the region.
iChina opens Aug. 20 at the Westfield Valley Fair mall, which straddles Santa Clara and San Jose. The 300-seat restaurant will serve contemporary interpretations of classic Chinese dishes, like broccoli beef made with kobe ribeye steak. Chef Eddie Lam, formerly of San Francisco’s Crystal Jade and San Jose’s Straits, says he is positioning iChina in the same category of Bay Area high-end Chinese restaurants like Empress by Boon and China Live in San Francisco.
Like those restaurants, it’s as much about impressing with the dining experience as the food. A luxurious two-story space, iChina comes with a flashy cocktail bar, virtual reality dining room with its own tasting menu and enormous, custom jade-colored lanterns hanging over marble tables…