Today we’d like to introduce you to Diego Ng.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Temple Street Eatery opened in 2014 by Chef Diego Ng & Chef Alex Kuk. Our fast-casual concept is an ode to the popular street in Hong Kong (Temple Street), Which boasts street comfort food. We wanted to highlight global street food from our upbringing and thus, our Asian American Comfort Food restaurant was born. Chef Alex comes from generations of restaurateurs as his family has been in South Florida’s restaurant scene since 1966. A graduate from Florida International University. Alex grew up in the hospitality industry. His work experience prior to opening TSE includes working at Hillstone Restaurant Group. Upscale hotel, the Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Chef Diego is of Chinese/Venezuelan background. He is also a graduate of Florida International University in the hospitality industry. Prior to opening TSE, he worked in upscale kitchens such as Morimoto Sushi Bar inside the Boca Raton and Resort and Blade Sushi inside the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to success is similar to a roller-coaster. It always has its ups and downs and sometimes loops and turns along the way. Learning the other aspects of the restaurant such as managing people, paying the bills, repairs and maintenance, all of that and more, has been learning as we go. The most important lesson is to always strive to keep learning and to not set limitations in terms of growth.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
It took us some time to understand what type of concept we were leaning towards. Our upbringing definitely had a big role in our work as we wanted to showcase how immigrants adapted our cultures to our new surroundings. Our food speaks of that journey as we slowly started to integrate the flavors of all the people that have been part of our restaurant in our recipes. Our food started with Asian style street food and now we have evolved into different global food such as our edamame falafels with curry aioli or our signature mini beef arepas with feta cheese, Shichimi togarashi and cilantro aioli. We aim to keep pushing by introducing new recipes where we aim for our guests to try new flavors while still feeling the comfort of eating something reminiscent of home.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The best of our city is how diverse we are. We are a melting pot full of flavor in all the cultures that have migrated here over the years. We hope that we can embrace each other culturally and ethnically and to be more united so that our city can grow and blossom.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@templestreeteatery.com
- Website: www.templestreeteatery.com
- Instagram: @templestreeteatery
- Facebook: @TempleStEatery
Image Credits
Magovisual
