Could this be the best sandwich place in Hong Kong?

Customers are allowed to create their own sandwich.

Have you ever wanted to create your own tailored breakfast, lunch or dinner by picking and choosing your favourite types of bread, veggies, meat, cheeses and toppings? Fret no more as this is made possible at a newly opened restaurant called Knead. To help you come up with your own creation, the owners also suggest their personal favourites of the day on the menu.

Knead is opened by 30-year old Australian-Japanese Mina Ingram and Dutch Joosje Hardus who bumped into each other in August last year at an event. They got connected through their mutual friends. They lived in Hong Kong for a few years and realized they both missed a good sandwich place. That’s when they decided to set up one for themselves.

“I said something about my job and that I ideally would just like to open a sandwich shop, Mina said at that moment that she was writing a business plan for a toastie shop and that we should sit down to chat. 6 months later we opened the doors of Knead,” shared Joosje.

Mina spent most of her childhood in Hong Kong, she worked in events and hospitality and came back to Hong Kong to manage restaurants for one of the bigger restaurant groups in Hong Kong. She never worked in a kitchen but always loved to cook at home for friends and her family. After making a beef brisket sandwich at home for her friends, she came up with the idea to make the best toasted sandwiches in Hong Kong.

Joosje, meanwhile, came to Hong Kong 4 years ago for the last internship to finish her studies at Hotelschool the Hague. She fell in love with the city instantly and decided not to leave. She had several jobs in Hong Kong that mainly focused on sales and hospitality. Having seen a lot of bars and restaurants, she believes this contributes to her good understanding of a good concept that would work.

“I complained already for 4 years that Hong Kong lacked a good decent sandwich place so the only solution was to open one myself,” she noted.

From the moment they met, Joosje shared that they started writing a business plan while drinking coffee together. They came across the location on Jervois Street and realized it was perfect.

“We had to rush things to make it really happen, finish the business plan, finalize investments, set up a company etc. The moment we signed the contract for 5 years we were both so scared but it has been amazing so far,” shared Joosje.

According to Joosje, they plan to open more locations, and then expand with a larger lunch room concept.