00:00Little Tong Noodle Shop is a Chinese restaurant located in the East Village.
00:05The restaurant itself is inspired by Yunnan, so Southwest Chinese cuisine.
00:11It's not like your usual Chinese takeout place with your usual five dishes that everybody knows.
00:18So we make different dishes inspired by the region and then also incorporate great ingredients.
00:25I'm a very visual person, so when I cook food I also think about the colors.
00:28The colors, the textures and the flavors should all be in one bowl.
00:33There's a Chinese saying called 色香味美, which means color, flavor, beauty and aroma should all be very pleasant.
00:42Opening a restaurant, it's like opening your house to your friends or your customers.
00:50Building relationships through food, through ambience, through service.
00:54Give them a few hours of joy as they socialize and mingle with their friends while they're eating and drinking.
01:02Such a romantic thing to do.
01:04The years that I've worked as a chef and as a cook for other chefs' restaurants, the more hungry and
01:11anxious that I want to open my own.
01:15But also it gets scarier as it comes closer.
01:19I learn as much as I can while talking to them, but then I also have to come up with
01:24my own ideas.
01:25That's when it gets real.
01:27That's when I realize that it's not a dream about the menu or the food anymore.
01:31I think the one thing I learned through this whole process from unknown to known is that there's really no
01:37magic in this.
01:38I'm a hardworking person.
01:39I do my research.
01:40I ask for help.
01:42I ask the right questions.
01:43I'm still working on to be the leader that I really want myself to be.
01:48A very effective one, but also extremely kind and fair with a sense of humor.
01:56I think a sense of humor in a working environment eases everybody.
02:00It's a very male-dominated industry, but I never really see that as a challenge because growing up in Asia,
02:10a lot of things are male-dominating.
02:11I mean, we always have to fight or work extra hard to justify why we are here.
02:20It's very obvious.
02:21Some people, when they realize I was going to be the boss and the chef and the owner, some of
02:30them don't even shake my hand or look at me in the eye.
02:35That's when I realize if you don't even think that I'm good enough for you to work for me, probably
02:42I shouldn't hire you.
02:43So I always have this energy and the spirit to just work really as much as you can and do
02:48much better than anybody else.
02:50Advice I really want to share with any woman restaurateurs or a woman entrepreneur is that we should be confident
02:57in the decision that we make.
02:59Sometimes we think of the right answer and then we always want to ask our friends or our partners.
03:08Mostly men will be much more comfortable and confident about giving the answer.
03:14They look so confident as if the answer is right.
03:17But most of the time I realize from my own experience that my answer was right.
03:21Just believe in yourself. Believe in the instinct.
03:24Your instinct and your confidence will lead you the right way.
03:27Even if you make the wrong decision, you will learn from it and you'll quickly change it to be the
03:32right one just for your path.
03:38So I'm going to get you to a test.
03:39We'll be right back and see you.
