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A cook pan fries sheng jian bao\u00a0at China Live in San Francisco in 2017. Owners George Chen and Cindy Wong-Chen are bringing this and other popular dishes to their newest project, Asia Live, opening soon in the South Bay.<\/p>\n
Carlos Avila Gonzalez\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n
A rendering of the two-story, 15,000-square-foot Asia Live at Westfield Valley Fair.<\/p>\n
Courtesy Asia Live<\/p>\n
A rendering of a dining area inside Asia Live.<\/p>\n
Courtesy Asia Live<\/p>\n
An ambitious restaurant at a scale rarely seen in the Bay Area\u00a0\u2014 clocking in at 15,000 square feet, with 350 seats, 200 employees, live cooking stations, a retail store and eventually a rooftop with panoramic views\u00a0\u2014 is nearly ready to open at a mall in the South Bay.<\/p>\n
Asia Live, from owners George and Cindy Wong-Chen of the equally epic China Live \u2014 a 30,000-square-foot Chinese food emporium that opened in San Francisco<\/a> in 2017 \u2014 is set to debut on June 5 at Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara. (An opening event starts at 6:30 p.m.<\/a>) While China Live was devoted to the food traditions of its namesake country, Asia Live\u2019s menu will be more vast, spanning China, Southeast Asia, India, Korea and Japan, from dim sum and sushi to Thai boat noodles and beef rendang. \u201cIt was always a natural progression to go from Chinese food to food from Asia,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n Chen described Asia Live as a throwback to his first San Francisco restaurant, the famed Betelnut<\/a>, which opened in 1995 with personal takes on the street food dishes he ate traveling across Asia. \u201cMy dad is in Taiwan, my sister is in the Philippines and my brother is in Vietnam,\u201d Chen said. \u201cIt is reflecting my experience with Betelnut \u2026\u00a0but much bigger and more expressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Asia Live will share roughly half of its menu with China Live, including the popular sheng jian bao (pan-fried pork dumplings, $19), Sichuan blistered green beans with fermented Chinese olives ($22) and Peking duck in sesame pockets ($32). Chen will also resurrect a Betelnut favorite, minced chicken lettuce cups ($6). Naan will be cooked in a tandoor oven, and yakiniku on a robata grill. New dishes that meld cuisines will include pad banh, a crossover dish that sees a Vietnamese b\u00e1nh x\u00e8o, or thin crepe, wrapped around pad thai ($22; , tandoori butter chicken nuggets ($22); and an Isan spicy sausage tucked inside a bun as a sort of hot dog ($16).<\/p>\n \u201cMy cuisine tends to be based on the history and culture of the country. It\u2019s not fusion, but we do take a modern interpretation based on the fact that we\u2019re in the Bay Area,\u201d Chen said. \u201cIs it authentic to some place in China or your grandma\u2019s recipe? No. Food is always evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n Asia Live\u2019s \u201chot dog\u201d with an\u00a0Isan sausage and Vietnamese slaw.<\/p>\n Courtesy Asia Live<\/p>\n Chen said he \u201cspent a lot of money designing China Live\u201d with open kitchens to spotlight Asian cooking techniques. At Asia Live, diners will be able to watch cooks hand-pull noodles, shape dumplings and roll fresh sushi at open cooking stations through the two-story space. Asia Live will open with dinner first and lunch will follow in a few weeks.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n On the first floor, a grab-and-go counter called Asia Live on the Go will sell Dutch crunch pork buns, dumplings, shaved ice and soft serve. The restaurant will open for dinner first, with lunch to follow.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Three bars will highlight Asian spirits, sake and tea. BarLucy, on the second floor, will have its own entrance and be more of a nighttime destination, decorated with black tile that Chen designed to look like a computer chip. Also on the second floor, near the retail area, is a \u201csip while you shop\u201d bar. The more casual Terrace Bar, with seating inside and on a pergola-covered outdoor patio, is on the first floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asia Live will serve food spanning all of Asia, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and India.<\/p>\n Courtesy Asia Live<\/p>\n Like China Live, there will be a retail section where customers can buy specialty products selected by Wong-Chen, such as teas and cookware, plus house-made items such as chile crisp, Peking duck fat popcorn and XO sauce with cognac. There will also be weekly tastings in a wine room, tea tastings, cooking demos and other events. \u201cWhat George and I are doing is trying to translate culture and sharing what we love,\u201d Wong-Chen said.<\/p>\n Despite Asia Live\u2019s scale and location, \u201cwe\u2019re trying to not be like a food court,\u201d Chen said. The design\u00a0\u2014 created by Chen and Wong-Chen with the help of an architect and design consultant\u00a0\u2014 is inspired by Asian history and culture, with features like a blue-and-white Ming tile wall (that also depicts the headquarters of Nvidia, Meta and other local tech companies), a bronze frame wall of 1930s original \u201cChina Doll\u201d posters, and Japanese sugi-inspired charred timber, and basalt and hand-finished terrazzo meant to evoke teahouses. The rooftop terrace will open next year.<\/p>\n Chef-owner George Chen\u00a0is known for the\u00a0now-closed Betelnut and China Live in San Francisco.<\/p>\n Carlos Avila Gonzalez\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n Chen is a food industry veteran who, by his estimation, has opened 16 restaurants in the United States and China, many of them with Wong-Chen. Locally, he was long best known for\u00a0Betelnut, which was nominated for a James Beard Foundation best new restaurant award in 1995 and operated for two decades before closing in 2015<\/a>. The couple\u2019s palatial China Live was inspired by Eataly, which will be one of Asia Live\u2019s neighbors at Westfield<\/a>. (Chen filed for bankruptcy last year<\/a> after losing a lengthy legal battle over rental payments<\/a> at China Live.)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Westfield reflects a broader trend in shopping centers using food to draw in customers<\/a>. High-profile openings at the mall in recent years have included Eataly, Din Tai Fung and Baekjong, a popular Korean barbecue chain from Los Angeles<\/a>. Asia Live moved into the former iChina space, a Chinese restaurant with a virtual reality dining room<\/a> that closed in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project came about through Chen\u2019s friendship with David Ruddick, an executive at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the commercial real estate company that owns the mall. Chen said he was drawn to Westfield, which sits at the border of San Jose and Santa Clara and is now home to many luxury stores, as a \u201cvery, very busy high-end shopping center (with) lots of traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n It will potentially serve as a template for future Asia Lives: The owners plan to open more locations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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