Davina Chang’s Paris cafe Bing Sutt was a tribute to Hong Kong – so what’s next for the cookbook author?
The @thecolordiet content creator moved to Paris and built a thoughtful space serving Hong Kong favourites; she’s since authored a cookbook, A Taste of Hong Kong
Hongkonger Davina Chang has called a cosy corner of Paris’ 3rd Arrondissement hers for the past three and a half years, along with the many customers from near and far who have stopped by her cafe, Bing Sutt. They come in search of a slice of life – and a warm pineapple bun – from her home city.
Chang’s cafe is inspired by the old-school bing sutt, or “ice rooms”, which have offered generations of Hongkongers respite from the brutal summer heat with Western-influenced snacks and drinks. It’s also created a new kind of safe space for Paris’ cosmopolitan, well-travelled community – one that reflects her own multicultural upbringing and the growing demand for diverse, meaningful food and beverage spaces.
Long before starting a restaurant of her own, Chang was just a fan of frequenting them. She launched her food page, @thecolordiet, on Instagram while living in New York, just as the city was experiencing a colourful food trend prompted by viral rainbow bagels and doughnuts. “The fact that I was too lazy to cook is why I always ended up in restaurants,” she said as we caught up ahead of Bing Sutt’s closure earlier this month.
Though it took some time for her account to gain traction, the network she gradually built eventually paid off. “Everything was very organic,” she said of the cafe’s opening and growth. “I didn’t really work with press or media, they came to me. I had my Instagram so I had a lot of influencer friends, and they would support and naturally post about it without me telling them to.”
Having acclimated to different cities several times throughout her career – perhaps unsurprisingly so, given that she grew up in one of the most international places in the world – Chang is a true Hong Kong kid and third culture individual at heart. She first moved to New York as a university student, then Singapore as a young professional before landing in Paris for business school. Also like many Hongkongers, Chang previously lived a fast-paced life with little time to cook at home, and even less time to reflect on what she truly wanted to do.