Your cart
Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 Menu Art
Move your mouse over image or click to enlarge
Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 Menu Art Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 menu interior Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 menu Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 menu rear Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 Bill of Fare Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 menu Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910

Mon Lay Won Co, New York, 1910 Menu Art

£20.00

Mon Lay Won was an upscale Chinese restaurant at 24 Pell Street in New York, popular at the turn of the last century.

Its owner, whose name was unpronounceable to most Americans and who was called Jimmy, shrewdly called it The Chinese Delmonico's as part of a marketing strategy to attract non-Chinese customers.

It must have been an exotic place to visit. The ceilings were adorned with lanterns, there were carved dragons on the walls and people sat on stools at tables inlaid with mother of pearl.

On the menu was Plain Fried Sharks Fins for a dollar and a half, Chow Min (not Mein) for 35 cents and raw Chinese Water Chestnuts for 15 cents. Long Suey and Suey Shin tea cost 15 cents a pot.

Mon Lay won means "ten thousand miles cloud." For Chinese people, the number ten thousand symbolizes abundance.

With its banquet hall, this was no ordinary chop suey joint and it became a destination restaurant.

Courtesy Harley Spiller Collection.

Each print is accompanied by a copy of the interior menu where available.

We make our prints with archival-quality fine art paper, using professional pigment inks. Properly framed or stored, our prints will last 70+ years without fading or discolouring.

All our prints up to A2 size are made in-house in the UK. For larger prints, we work with the best commercial giclée printers in the UK. Learn more about our printing process, borders and custom orders here.