The story behind Mimi Cheng’s Dumplings particularly adorable: sisters Hannah and Marian Cheng, working in business and fashion, respectively, decide to open a dumpling shop in honor of their mother. Named Mimi Cheng’s (their mother’s nickname), the shop serves chicken and zucchini, pork and cabbage, and vegetable dumplings, made with local and organic ingredients with their mother’s secret sauce.
Of course, the romance only extends so far — the realities of a kitchen are much more difficult to master. Working with plenty of oil and high demand, after hours often includes plenty of cleaning, not to mention prepping, wrapping and labeling. And that doesn’t even include the managerial duties.
“It’s definitely a steep learning curve,” Marian says. “I spend a lot of time putting out fires, not literally, but there’s something new that happens everyday.”
We dropped by right around closing time to see what happens after you’ve eaten your fill of dumplings.
9:28 p.m.
The restaurant closes up, with a few stragglers slowly finishing up their meal.
9:32 p.m.
In the kitchen, the last batches of dumplings are fried up so workers can eat before moving on to cleaning.
9:40 p.m.
Group meeting in the kitchen to go over the day’s work, plus what might need to be done in the future. Marian catches up on some computer work. “There is a lot of scheduling, lists, figuring out recipes, like how much you need to prepare for the next day,” she says. “I have to schedule, do payroll, paperwork, ordering and inventory. There are lots of logs and forms and checklists you need to do.”
9:40 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Cleaning up includes sweeping the floors, wiping down counters, and cleaning and refilling every bottle of Sriracha.
9:53 p.m.
Meanwhile, sisters Hannah and Marian discuss scheduling and kitchen planning. “If it’s not set up right, people will run into each other,” Marian says. Hannah leaves early; she still works full-time in finance, after all.
10:04 p.m.
Buckets of ice are poured into the noodle cooker to bring the water temperature down before draining
10:13 p.m.
The sink, with plenty of dishes left to wash.
10:15 p.m. – 10:25 p.m.
Garbage and recycling gets taken out. Each trash bag is replaced (sometimes double-bagged) and held in place with a clamp.
10:23 p.m.
More dishes and more cleaning. Even mama Mimi Cheng gets in on the action, tidying up the kitchen while her daughters discuss logistics
10:40 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.
The drink dispensers are emptied out and cleaned for the day; it will be set up again in the morning
10:45 p.m. -11:30 p.m.
The grill gets scrubbed down, then scraped.
10:54 p.m.
Marian interrupts her work to train a new hire (at almost 11 p.m.). First up, the noodle boiler.
11:15 p.m.
Marian starts labeling dumplings with the date before double-checking the filling for the next day.
11:52 p.m.
Meanwhile, Papa Cheng gets to work fixing the fridge.
11:52 p.m.
Meanwhile, Papa Cheng gets to work fixing the fridge.
11:30 p.m.
…before getting right back to computer work. “I always heard you’re not going to get a lot of sleep, and I didn’t understand that until now,” Marian says. “I leave here whenever we are finished, sometimes 2 a.m., and we get here at 7 a.m. [to fill the dumplings], but I wake up at 5 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. if there is some computer work I need to catch up on.”
