Origin Stories: Woon Kitchen

Photos by: Justin Chung/Faculty Department

“A person wanders the earth, searching for their true self.” 

So begins Winona’s journey through Winona, Minnesota—the town she was named after and where she was born, and the town to which she has returned to find the true Winona. Her website WelcometoWinona.com showcases the people and places she discovered in her namesake, the local luminaries, storefronts, rugged bluffs, and expanses of the frozen Mississippi that make Winona, Winona. 

While we all may be wandering the earth, searching for our true selves, the places we come from shape us: our work, our perspectives, our values, even our aesthetics all reflect our points of origin. This plays out in a myriad of ways:—explorers offering tours of the landscapes they roamed as children, restaurateurs serving up cuisine inspired by the unique cultural communities in which they grew up, fashion designers who start out selling their clothes to their neighbors, authors whose memoirs are love letters to the hills, valleys, or streets where they were raised. This month on Making It, inspired by Winona’s visit to Winona, we’ll be exploring what home means to some of our customers, and how the places they’ve come from have shaped the projects they’ve brought to life on Squarespace.

We’re kicking off this series with a conversation between Mama Fong and Keegan Fong, the proprietors of Woon Kitchen, a family business “born from a desire to share our mother's (Mama Fong) original Chinese comfort food. We offer a simple menu influenced by Shanghainese and Cantonese recipes. When we moved away it was always Mama’s cooking that we craved.”

Keegan Fong: What’s a smell that reminds you of home?

Mama Fong: Incense. Because I honor the Buddha every morning.  

KF: What three words would you use to describe Woon’s menu?

MF: Love, Comfort, Freshness

KF: What would you recommend a first time customer at Woon during their first visit?

MF: Try everything family style so that you can get a bit of the entire menu. For first timers I always recommend the noodles and pork belly bao since they are our staple and how we started as a pop up. Actually, I would recommend everything.

KF: How would you describe the atmosphere at Woon?

MF: Home-y, casual, approachable, comfortable—like you feel at home—that’s what I’m trying to say, okay?

KF: What’s one piece of advice you’d like to pass down to me?

MF: Follow your passion, whatever it is. Sometimes take advice, and listen to your mom.

Mama Fong: What’s a sound that reminds you of home?

Keegan Fong: I always remember the sound of you putting dishes away in the morning. The pots and pans clanging and plates stacking. That can also be said for taking the dishes out to start cooking. 

MF: What was your favorite meal to eat at home growing up?

KF: This is so tough because you literally made us so many favorite meals growing up. If I had to choose my most comforting and nostalgic meal, it’d have to be the Fried Tofu Fishcakes and Soy Veggie Wraps which we serve at Woon. Growing up, they never had a name, but we had to make names for the restaurant. I told myself I’d keep these on the menu even if people didn’t like them because it defines my childhood so much. We used to make enough so that we could put some in the fridge overnight and eat them cold the next day. It was like a cold pizza thing.

MF: What has the transition from fashion marketing to food been like?

KF: It has been a huge learning curve, but at the same time also very natural. I love marketing, but I think I started to realize it’s only fun when you’re able to talk about something that you’re passionate about. Towards the end of my life in fashion marketing I felt like everything was too contrived. With Woon, I knew I’d go broke and work 5 times as hard, but at least it would be for something that meant a lot to me and hopefully to others. Real food, real stories, and real people. It has been challenging figuring out how to operate a restaurant though.

MF: What was one unexpected challenge when it came to starting the restaurant? 

KF: I think every challenge has been expected, but also unexpected at the same time. Before going into this I knew everything would be an extreme challenge, but you can’t really expect it until it actually happens. I’ll give an example of a bad day to paint the picture: you come to work, all the refrigerators are not working which means you have to toss a bunch of food, re-prepare all that food and figure out how to keep the good stuff cool until the weekend is over so someone can come fix your fridges for $1,200. At the same time, customers are lining up and asking why their food is taking so long, all while the rice decided to be too soggy so the fried rice is coming out mushy. Oh yeah, didn’t mention that our wok cook texted me 5 minutes before his shift that he can’t make it. Man, my girlfriend hates me.

MF: What or who was your inspiration for Woon’s aesthetic and branding? 

KF: It’s definitely a reflection of who I am today…somewhere in between contemporary and traditional. Trying to move forward, but also not forgetting about my roots. I knew I wanted the restaurant to be a combination of my home and your home. The tables, chairs, ceramics and some of the paintings are exactly what I'd have at my home, but some of the furniture and photos on the wall are literally taken from your house and your parents’ house growing up and donated from my uncle’s antique showroom, JF Chen.

MF: What is the feeling you hope to evoke from customers when they come to Woon?

It’s not about blowing their minds and trying to be a restaurant that wins awards. All I hope to evoke is some sense of comfort and a peak into our home growing up. Every customer is treated like a guest in our home. You always entertained my friends growing up, so I hope to do the same for our customers.

MF: How has an online presence been beneficial for Woon?

KF: I think we all know that it’s almost impossible to survive now-a-days without an online presence. Coming from a marketing background, I was lucky to learn how to strategically use all the online and social platforms that exist today. When it came to a website, I wanted something simple, manageable and customizable where I needed it to be. Squarespace provides me with all those things. Although most restaurant websites are mainly informational, I still needed something a bit more robust to house our e-comm business which has been a breeze to manage on top of the restaurant.

Does your home inspire a passion project you’d like to share with the world? Get started building your digital presence today.

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