With its many accolades, including most recently being named one of USA Today’s Restaurants of the Year, Harvard Square’s Wusong Road has been on my drink list for quite a long time. Even the entrance was distinct from across the street, adorned with lush tropical leaves and flowers. Inside, Wusong Road is perpetually in bloom.
Wusong Road leans in unwaveringly to the kitsch of a Tiki bar, embodying everything that is so appropriative of the nightlife tradition. There are posters for the film “South Pacific,” Tiki cups and statues galore, and the waitstaff wears floral tropical shirts. Though I can’t say a drink called Love Meow Long Time served in a Neko cup is appropriate in any circumstance, I can respect the incorporation of the cuisine in unexpected ways via a cocktail menu.
I first tried the Mango Sticky Rice Colada, which was as delightful and sweet as it sounds. It includes Tanduay white rum infused with mango sticky rice, carabao mango puree, mango nectar and lime. The rum infusion – like all Wusong Road’s juices and infusions, made in-house – is perfect: milky, sweet and tropical. It pairs nicely with the rum and the flavorful mango puree, making for a dreamy, lush beverage that invokes crashing waves and the sticky humidity of a hot, sandy beach.
The bartender recommended I try the Pandan Express, served in a ceramic panda cup with a metal straw and made up of Roku Japanese gin, pandan liqueur, honeydew melon and cucumber syrup, coconut water, dry vermouth and oloroso sherry. I’m not a frequent gin drinker, but the combination of the melon, cucumber, coconut and liqueur – made from a fragrant plant sometimes called the “vanilla of Asia” – was a good complement. The drink was light and summery, uniquely refreshing.
Wusong Road is extravagant, to say the least. It is as outrageously kitschy as a Tiki bar can be, but it backs up this commitment with an authentic and creative cocktail menu that isn’t afraid to use all the spices and flavors of Asian and pair them smartly with popular liquors to create drinks perfect for any flavor palate. The liquor menu features infusions I have yet to try, such as grilled pineapple-infused Espolon tequila, hibiscus grenadine and Thai chili vodka.
The ethos of the restaurant is complicated. Wusong Road commits so emphatically to the Tiki aesthetic that as I sipped I struggled to discern whether it was earnest or ironic. Chef Jason Woo is passionate about American Chinese food, and the food and cocktail menus undoubtedly illustrate that love and a keen knowledge of the history of Asian America and Tiki bars. This is an exceptionally creative cocktail menu, but I’m still left wondering – who is this aesthetic version of paradise for?
Wusong Road, 112 Mount Auburn St., Harvard Square, Cambridge
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