No matter where you go, chances are high that there’s a Chinese restaurant operating nearby that has adapted to local tastes, even in Ireland. At the Manhattan location of Pecking House, chef and owner Eric Huang has tapped into Irish-Chinese food with the Spice Bag, a mixture of fries, chicken nuggets, onions, peppers, and a peppercorn spice blend shaken in a paper bag and served.
“I have a friend who is Irish, and he was saying what Chinese takeout counters are like in Ireland, and he told me about this dish that seemed like an easy and harmonious combo,” Huang said, adding that the spice bag also had a brief social media moment on TikTok.
“It takes a little time to explain [the Spice Bag], and get people into it, but it’s been something we have had fun making, and it’s delish,” he said.
The Spice Bag at Pecking House. Photo credit: Pecking House
The Spice Bag at Pecking House. Photo credit: Pecking House
In fact Huang said the Spice Bag has been so popular that he is considering adding it to his other location, in Brooklyn, and making the limited-time dish a permanent menu item. It’s easy to do: Everything featured in the $14 bag is something Pecking House already stocked up.
The spice bag isn’t something easily found in the United States, but since around 2010 it’s been a viral dish on Ireland’s Chinese takeout scene. Overall, the spice bag blends Western fast-food with classic Chinese cooking techniques and flavors. At Pecking House, the Spice Bag includes the restaurant’s signature Sichuan peppercorn seasoning to give it a tingly essence. Huang also adds a drizzle of house-made Japanese curry sauce and a Taiwanese-style sweet chile sauce.
“Our whole model here is combining a southern fried chicken restaurant with a Chinese takeout counter,” said Huang. “I think we run a unique and interesting restaurant here, and for the Spice Bag we like to serve it here fresh.”
Chef and owner Eric Huang. Photo credit: Pecking House
Chef and owner Eric Huang. Photo credit: Pecking House
In true Irish-Chinese style, Pecking House sells the Spice Bag in a brown paper bag, but that’s only for show, said Huang, emphasizing that it’s better to eat it onsite so the food doesn’t steam in the bag and get a little mushy.
Pecking House opened in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood in September of 2022, though originally the idea for the concept launched at the chef’s parents’ restaurant in Queens, called Peking House — without the ‘c’, another name for China’s capital city, Beijing. Huang had recently left his high-profile job at fine-dining Manhattan restaurant Eleven Madison Park with a plan to open his own high-end restaurant in early 2020. Then, the pandemic hit and killed that original plan.
He launched Pecking House as a virtual concept out of his parents’ restaurant, using their friers. It got a quick following as he introduced a Nashville-style fried chicken for which the usual cayenne-based hot sauce was augmented with mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns.
After the popularity of his first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Brooklyn, Huang opened the Manhattan location in Chinatown almost exactly two years later in 2024, serving the same menu. The fried chicken comes doused in a choice of sauces, including chile, homestyle, garlic and herb, salted egg, and extra hot. Prices start at $9 for a quarter chicken, $15 with a side; or a half-chicken for $17 and $23 with a side.
Garlic & Herb Half Chicken. Photo credit: Pecking House
Garlic & Herb Half Chicken. Photo credit: Pecking House
Pecking House also serves vegetarian cauliflower nuggets with the same sauce choices. The smaller portion runs $14 and the larger is $20, and both come with a side. Options for sides ($6 à la carte) include dirty fried rice, glazed turnips with miso butter, charred cucumbers with ginger, and more.
On the sandwich side, Huang showcases his global influences. You’ll find the Japanese-style Chile Chicken Sando ($14) with duck fat chile oil, Kewpie mayo, and bread-and-butter pickles on milk bread. The Oyster Mushroom Po’Boy ($14) taps into New Orleans culture and offers a vegetarian sandwich. Then there’s the Blackened Chicken Sando ($14), a Mexican-themed item with Oaxaca cheese, pickled jalapeño peppers, and salsa macha.
The Spice Bag is just another way Huang has tapped into the global Chinese market, showcasing just how well these flavors and techniques blend with other cultures. It also reveals how beloved fried chicken has become for everyone, no matter where you’re from.
