Broome Street: It runs through Soho, the
Lower East Side,
Nolita, and Little Italy. But it's these
two blocks from Elizabeth to Mulberry
Street that have been attracting food
lovers. There's a case to be made that
this little strip is the most Instagrammable street in New York — but does
Instagrammable food equal good food? I talked
to Matt and Conrad from Cha Cha Matcha about the
role social media has played in their
launch. They opened less than a year ago
and have already become a fan favorite.
Broome Street being at the center
of all these neighborhoods — did you pick it for the location?
"Yeah, I mean, it's an up-and-coming
neighborhood, it's super cool. I really
think that it's a beautiful street.
The whole Instagram effect,
it's a super powerful tool. You
get to reach out to all of your
customers at one time and tell them
exactly what you want them to hear about
your brand, your company, or product. It's
also really cool because you get to
see what your fans like. They really
liked seeing photos of soft serve, and
soft serve is a big part of what
we do here, so it's kind of cool seeing
what they like and what they don't like
as much." "A lot of people come in here
and they're from out of state and they saw they saw us on Instagram.
That brings people in. We
love seeing people come from all over
the place." So what is matcha?
"Match is stone-ground Japanese green
tea. It comes from the same plant as
green tea but the matcha plants are
shaded as they grow, so all the antioxidants
and chlorophyll build up. Then they
stone-grind all the top finest leaves
into a powder, so you actually ingest the
tea leaves. One cup of matcha is the
equivalent of drinking 10 cups of green tea."
I've got a whole matcha feast right here.
I've got a coconut latte with this
beautiful latte art, a
ginger turmeric latte — I like that.
That is so great and refreshing. It's
like a tall, leaning tower of matcha.
It's just kinda begging for
an Instagram. So often you'll see people
holding it in front of their logo. The
space, even though it's kind of small,
it's very versatile. They've got
whitewashed walls, a live
green wall, they've got their Cha Cha Matcha logo
back here. The branding here is pretty on
point. They've got their "Cha Cha" logo all over. The bathroom is actually pink, too.
They've got cute little phrases like "Thank you so
matcha," "Matcha gracias," crazy palm tree seating,
they've got these wonderful pink
tables. Everything's great for photos.
So after all this matcha I think I'm ready
for my next stop. After consuming a
week's worth of matcha and froyo I headed
down to Seamore's, a casual restaurant
that specializes in seafood. Seamore's is
known for its year-round summertime
feeling. The airy dining room is great for
dining out with a group of friends.
They play hip hop all night and the
beautiful big windows let in lots of
natural light.
I've seen these dishes all over
social media and Instagram. The fish taco
is definitely calling out to me. I'm told this
is dog fish. Im gonna try a taco.
Crispy fish indeed. It's got a great crunch.
The guacamole is awesome at the bottom.
Poke is definitely having a moment right
now yo,u see it all over the city.
It's traditionally from Hawaii, usually
with some green chile, maybe
tuna. Here they add some avocado, some
ponzu, and peanut. It's got really great
textures and flavors.
The poke is seasoned very nicely. Cardinal sin: I
forgot to take a photo of my food before I bit into it, so let me do that.
I tried to save a bit of room for the
next stop: Mimi Cheng's. It's run by sisters
Mary and Hannah. I wanted to talk to them
not only because of their delicious
dumplings but also ask them how Instagram
affected their second opening. "For such a
visual generation, I for one would rather
much see a delicious looking picture or
video of a dish rather than a
description.
So I think that that's why
Instagram in particular is so great for
restaurants and companies that sell
something visual. For us you can see,
ok, if you come and eat here, this is what
you're getting. This is what the
experience is like. Sustomers are able to
see what it's like to come without even
visiting, and that makes them want to
come.
"I love the geotag part. You can just look
into a restaurant: the atmosphere, the
environment, the dishes, and it's great
to get different people's perspectives.
Some people have such an artistic eye
and take the most beautiful pictures,
and some people have more candid shots,
so that's cool."
These are the Mimi Cheng's classic dumplings.
It was a recipe from their mom, it's
zucchini and chicken. And these are the
hometown chili noodles, which look so
good, and smell great. This spread is
basically begging for gram so I might
as well.
That's really great, the spices has got
a nice kick. It's got a really nice crunch,
kind of flaky on one side and boiled on
the other side. These are the hometown
noodles. They've got bean curd noodles, some
pork, spicy chili, let's give it a try.
It's got a nice, kind of bounciness to it if you
will, and with the meat it's a great
mix of textures and flavors, a little
cold, a little hot. I'm kind of making a mess.
All the food we had today was not only
photogenic but delicious, so in the case
of Broome Street, it seems that vanity
really does equal quality. that much spoke with the company