With Meta Asian Kitchen’s lease at the Avanti food hall in LoHi up on April 30, owners Doris Yuen and Kenneth Wan will expand into two new eateries in the coming months. First reported in Westword, Meta Asian Kitchen will move its operation to Honor Farm where it will serve bar-centered snacks to patrons of the haunted spirit house and the pirate-themed tiki bar upstairs on March 1. This quick-bite eatery will then be complemented by the new MAKfam family-inspired Chinese sit-down restaurant at 39 West First Ave. near Lincoln Street south of central Denver later in the year.
“At Honor Farm, the food will be more focused on bar snacks and bar fare with traditional Chinese flavors,” Yuen told What Now Denver. “At MAKfam, we’ll offer more traditional eats like dim sum, fried rice, and bao buns. It will be more chef-focused, family-driven, and tradition-inspired Chinese food.”
Meta Asian’s Kitchen will at once be trimmed and added to as it transitions to its new setting. In addition to keeping the beef stir fry noodles and Chinatown dumplings main dishes, they’ll bring on chicken wings, a Sichuan Málà chicken sandwich, in addition to keep their spicy mozzarella sticks.
Along for the ride in the “family tradition-inspired Cantonese dishes” at MAKfam will be salted egg custard, corn beef fried rice, and Hong Kong-style French Toast — the dish that sparked the pair’s first food concept, a side hustle in Brooklyn in 2014 (per Westword). Luen’s nose for business and Wan’s kitchen chops has led to a number of successful creative culinary ventures since then. It was a holiday season project, in fact, that led the restaurateurs to its two new spots.
“We had a popup with Honor Farm over the holidays,” Yuen said. “It was a serendipitous coincidence. We were leaving Avanti and they were looking to update their kitchen space.”
While providing a setup similar to its current Avanti location, Honor Farm owners also led Wan and Yuen to the new building where MAKfam will be. The upcoming restaurant will boast a full bar and offer about 50 seats over a 1,670 square foot space. Look for the new central Denver dining experience in the coming fall/winter season.
