How do romance and timelessness come through in the space?

ES- My family’s from Hong Kong. Well, my mom is from Hong Kong. I grew up speaking Cantonese. I grew up eating Cantonese food and cuisine. Eva’s family. They’re from China. So we kind of touched upon a lot of their experiences. I asked my mom a lot about her childhood, about her growing up when building this space, and we worked with interior designer Jeremy Son to bring it all together. I think that when walking through this space, we’ve tried to pay a lot of attention to detail. The green grids, it’s a Hong Kong tram green, the wood tones are all kind of reminiscent of this film that we love. It’s this Hong Kong film named In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai.

EZ- I think that we drew a lot of inspiration from that film in general. Something that we don’t talk about often is kind of like our family histories-mine from China, her’s from Hong Kong. And that tension in between those, how Hong Kong wants to be independent. China wants to claim them. But I think the beauty is that our family histories and where they come from, that historical conflict doesn’t matter here. Us being in America and bringing our two different cultures here. It’s kind of a beautiful thing. Like we’ve started a fresh new kind of relationship.

What was your home like growing up? How did it smell? How did it sound? How is it echoed in this space?

EZ- Why did I automatically think of my mom yelling?

ES- Yeah, right? No, I felt like Mahjong tiles shuffling, smoke in the air-type vibe. Yeah, yeah. I grew up with my dad chain-smoking. I remember, whenever we would have family parties, I would fall asleep to the sounds of like Mahjong tiles because all the adults would be up gambling. I grew up in South Brooklyn, in New York. So we would go to these big parlor-style Chinese restaurants. And people would be yelling and screaming, but there would be tables of like, 15 with shared family-style dishes. And more than anything, I think those moments were defining, like food is so communal, you know. Food is what I define my childhood with.

EZ- I used to eat pork floss buns as a kid-we have them in the shop-but it’s dried pork on top of like a sweet cream in between one bread but has like a slit on the side and it’s sweet and savory. It’s really, really good.

ES- Yeah, my mom used to with the bolo baos that we have. She used to, like poke holes into them and stick a chunk of butter in it and , give that to us as a snack. As a kid, my grandma would do that for me up until it’s like 15 years old. So it was really beautiful to see my mom do it, and my grandma do it. It’s kind of like something passed down, and I get to do it for a wider audience now, which is really cool. We opened at a very strange time, right, we opened right at the end of what felt like a very long prison sentence for everyone. And we kind of had built land to see after being isolated for several years at that point. So everything for us is about togetherness. Our original plan was to do, and what we’re back to starting to do now is one art one food pop up a month. Currently, we have an art exhibition. So kind of being able to be a platform for the small creators that maybe not don’t have access to have their own.

EZ- We also are trying to do more workshops. But we are expanding like in terms of what kind of mediums we want to host so we do want to do more film screenings, maybe poetry nights. We’re working on that one for the summer, after outdoor barbecues. Yeah, we’re maybe planing on putting on a bunch of different things. Just to make it, whatever it needs to be. We want to keep it fluid.

How did you select the space, and make it your own?

ES- We’ve done the work to make it feel like home. When we first signed the lease and got the keys, we had my mom in here to cleanse the space like spiritually to make it ours. Since then, I don’t know personally, I just feel like ever since then I felt at home here. Yeah. And you know, even when we were building the shop and it was dirty and disgusting, I still felt at home in here.

EZ- Yeah, we got lucky though. Because we inherited a lot of components like the drop down ceilings, the wood flooring, the brick wall, but it just feels completely different with how we did it. Yeah, this door, this back area here was like their back room. So it was separated by a barn door but we made it public facing. It’s interesting how just a few little things like light fixtures and just who we are, can completely change the space. And everyday I’m surprised by the kindness of our neighbors and the people that are in here and like we’re so happy you’re here and like just our regulars we know their names. We know their orders, we know their dog’s names. It genuinely feels very close and warm here.

How does that big family feeling you had at home translate here?

ES- This whole space is just about kind of coming together. I mean, even when, you know, a lot of these artists, we didn’t know them beforehand. They’ve become part of the fantasy collective. So it just feels like a constantly growing family. I grew up with in a house with like, 10 different people. So, you know, this connection, it’s like a tree that keeps on growing.

EZ- In Chinese culture, even if you’re not related to someone, you call someone by “Auntie, Uncle, Big Brother, Big Sister” kind of thing. We don’t call our customers like “Hey Auntie” but we always make sure that we’re friendly and that they feel warm and welcome here, whoever they are. Also like seeing some people come in and being like, it’s really nice to see some of the pastries I grew up with being displayed here gives me a sense of hope. Removing myself, I feel like other people come here and feel that sense of family. They bring their friends here.

Like they have their own sense of family here outside of us, which I think is really beautiful. With space being such a commodity in New York, how have you made the shop feel big in intimate ways? I think it’s mostly like a mindset. If you accept it as like a fluid space, it can be that in however way we have limits. We have so many limitations here too. But we work with what we have.

ES- The openness, in a more technical sense, really comes through in the “portal” we have to the second room. A lot of times people will come in and be like, I thought that was a painting bag. They’re like, I didn’t know this was a space you can explore and go into. I created an alternate universe type of coffee shop, because people don’t immediately see the space and think of it as a coffee shop energy. But like we are designer and good friend, had a lot of really good ideas to kind of make this immersive experience that we’re working to build this like Portal to this night market, Temple St., Wong Kar Wai film type space, is something I think that we intentionally did to open up the space.

EZ- I think this main space definitely gives off a warm kind of like at home feeling. Kind of like the romantic vibe of like “In the Mood for Love.” This corner specifically has the most reference to that. This red curtain is actually a direct inspiration from one scene where it’s like they’re walking down this hallway and it’s like red curtains. And then just like the intimate pendant coming down, and then the back is more like the night market. There’s this really famous night market in Hong Kong called Temple Street. And it’s just like booths and booths and different clothing, food, all these different things. And people are all seated on like little red stools. And it’s also reminiscent of all the China towns we grew up in.

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