Kevin's Cafe on Hengshan Road is back!

Kevin Cafe (hereinafter referred to as Kevin) used to be a long-established café on Hengshan Road, operating for 26 years. In March 2023, Kevin closed his store to say goodbye to the public. For the departure of this café, many old Shanghai people are actually reluctant to give up.

It is gratifying and happy that after a year of absence, Kevin recently reappeared and opened on Hengshan Road. Coincidentally, the trial operation period of Kaiwen coincided with the opening of the Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival, and the official opening was during the May Day holiday and the coffee festival. In this issue of the Morning News, we went to Hengshan Road to visit the new Kaiwen program to see how the operation of the old store and the newly opened Kaiwen is?

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"Shanghai Meeting Room" program

Before Kevin's return, the reporter had been to Hengshan Road many times, but because the site had been under closed construction, he could not find out the true face of the new store. On May 5, when the reporter went to Hengshan Road again, he found that Kevin had reopened, and there were many customers sitting outside the store.

Before closing on the evening of March 13 last year, a passerby passed by Kevin Coffee

On March 30 this year, closed construction was underway at the site

重新开业的Ti—Akol·凯文

The reporter met Vivi, the partner of the new store, who is a native of Shanghai and used to live near Hengshan Road, according to her:

Kevin has been driving on Hengshan Road for more than 20 years, and he is very affectionate for Shanghainese. I have often passed by this place before, and found that the café suddenly closed last year, so I had an idea of whether I could reopen this old store through hard work, so I found a few like-minded friends to discuss the original site of the café to borrow the façade of the café, and signed the contract, design, and decoration from the end of last year until the May Day holiday was officially opened to the public.

En —·凯文合伙人Vivi

Talking about the new store name still retains the word "Kevin", Vivi explained to reporters:

Kevin Apartments was built in 1933 and is about 91 years old. As an outstanding historical building, Kaiwen Residence is like a landmark name to Hengshan Road.

Kevin Apartments built in 1933

Even for many old Shanghainese, the name "Kevin" is a very affectionate existence, so we not only use our own name "Ti-Akol", but also Aite "Kevin" to pay tribute to this old café.

The reporter noticed that the new store did not continue the original decoration style of Kaiwen, but redesigned, both in appearance and interior, presenting a special visual effect.

As a designer, Vivi invited a team of foreign designer friends to design the new store:

We're not just a coffee shop, so we incorporated different elements into the design concept. In the past, the café impressed me the most with the row of white curtains along the street, because I was too young to see the inside of the café, and then the people were very shy and reluctant to walk in, but now the new store presents an open visual effect. In addition, I have lived in Europe and traveled to many places in Europe, and I hope that customers can also experience a leisurely lifestyle at this store.

The white curtain used to be used by Kevin Coffee (morning newspaper file photo)

The store sign LOGO design of the old Kevin and the new Kevin

Vivi told reporters that the new store has several highlights in terms of design, one is the application of 3D effect of "two windows", and the other is the design of the outside area:

Because of the limitations of the storefront, only one side of the old store has a ring window, and the floor plan is a bit special-shaped, and then we designed two windows so that people can see the scenery outside the window. We used the most advanced 3D naked-eye to create a three-dimensional effect that makes people feel like "birds will fly in, leaves will float in". We have also designed the external display area, combined with the surrounding environment to create such a concept of drinking coffee and tea in the sun, so that customers can feel like sitting in the garden and enjoying life.

The exterior area of the new store is integrated with the surrounding greenery

The reporter noticed that there are two landscape paintings in the store, the painter painted directly on the wall, and the bottom is partially protected with glass, and the names of the two works are "Sitting on the Spring with Strings" and "Sendai Lanfei". Vivi told reporters that these two works were created by the painter Yin Yipeng (the word Bai Ze, the name is Wanda Shanren), which is a new form of expression of Chinese landscape painting.

Two landscape paintings in the store: "Sitting on the Spring with Strings" and "Sendai Lanfei"

According to the latest data disclosed in the "2024 China Urban Coffee Development Report" released at the coffee culture festival, there are already more than 9,500 cafes in Shanghai, leading the world in the number of cafes. For the new Kaiwen, how to continue to attract new and existing customers is still a problem to be considered at the moment.

Vivi told reporters:

Ti-Akol, which stands for tea, wine and coffee, has been developed and launched with coffee, light meals and set menus, as well as some cocktails in the evenings for new and existing customers. The blackboard at the door lists three different course names each day, which feature dishes from all over the world and different taste buds according to the season.

After the opening of the May Day holiday, many old customers came to the store. Vivi told reporters with a smile that the new Kevin is very keen to serve his old customers:

We are a new store, but the location has not changed, and the name has not changed. Although we are different from Kevin in the past, our taste has also won a lot of regular customers to come back, I remember a regular customer, he would order the same dish every day - French roast chicken set,

Coincidentally, the reporter met Ms. Hu, an old customer, before leaving Kevin, and she came to the restaurant for dinner with several friends that day. Ms. Hu was the last of Kevin's customers before closing on the evening of March 13 last year, when she wrote her best wishes and testimonials to the café.

On March 13 last year, Ms. Hu, a citizen, wrote a blessing and testimonial to Kevin Coffee

Ms. Hu told reporters with a smile that she was the first time to visit Kaiwen after the reopening, and she said that "the combination of elegant Western style and light modern style is very good, and the color tone is also suitable, and the whole layout also makes people feel very comfortable." ”

There were also a number of regular customers who came to the store that day, and their biggest surprise was that they didn't expect Kevin to reopen, and they didn't expect this old friend to come back!

Dear citizens and friends, have Nong been to this old café on Hengshan Road?