Bayao Cafe (伯友茶記) had its opening yesterday. Located at 429 Hancock St - right next door to Assembly - in a renovated space for what was a burnt out garage. Small space, and the menu is HK cafe style foods. With Chinese New Year tomorrow, I don’t know if they will be open throughout the week.
Excited to have more HK cafe / cha chaan teng style food options locally, and looking forward to trying it.
At the end of January 2025, the one-of-a-kind Mill No. 5 in Lowell closed its doors. The Farm Market is continuing thanks to the dedicated farmers who own and operate North of Boston farm.
In an informal chat with a staffer at the indie Lowell bookshop, lala books (no upper-case letters in the name), I also heard that other small businesses displaced by the closure of Mill No. 5 are finding ways to reemerge. Fingers crossed.
Mrs. Murphy’s, an Irish pub, just opened in Medford Sq. It is located at 25 Salem St. Medford MA 02155, a couple of storefronts down from El Tacuba and is owned by the same group that operates The Ford, also in Medford.
Reading Stiv’s post reminded me that Chilli Garden 41 Riverside Ave in Medford Square has closed. New in the space is https://www.bunshousemedford.com Have yet to try . Can say the place has been consistently full. It’s possible they have another location on Ferry Street in Malden.
A couple of Arlington updates: Something is finally going into the old Tango space. I saw a paper sign with “Haveli,” so presumably an Indian restaurant. Also, just outside the center, Makalu, a Nepali place with a difficult-to-read typeface, is replacing I think another Nepali place that wasn’t open for very long.
Mimi’s Chūka Diner, which used to be located inside Artifact Cider in Central Sq, reopened on Jan 30th inside the Aeronaut Brewery Building @ 14 Tyler St. Suite 102, Somerville, MA
Imagine (the Iggy’s croissant/coffee shop next to Formaggio on Huron Ave) is now open for wine on Thursday evenings. Went last night with a few friends and it is so charming - low lights, wood fire burning, cozy sheepskin throws.
It’s a limited menu - one red, one white, and one bubbly, if I recall correctly, plus a few snacks - but a great spot for a quiet drink and catch up. The staff were delightful.
Bumped into Tony Susi at Bar Enza this eveing and he told us it was his last night. He’s re-opening Sage in the North End in a matter of weeks. Different, larger location, but other than that I don’t have details.
@Madrid - I also couldn’t find anything online but my friend, who alerted us to it, saw it on their instagram page. I guess I’ll start following them!
@MaxEntropy - not that night, at least while I was there. We have also be VERY excitedly watching for this opening.
@fooddabbler - We’ll see if they add more days or longer hours as time goes on. I suppose I’d rather have something that works really well, even if it isn’t open as often, than the opposite.
I haven’t been there in the evening, but I popped in during January to get a pastry, and the space is GORGEOUS. It’s too far from me to visit regularly but I would go there at least weekly if I were closer!
