by Janey Wong • Feb 22, 2021 at 10:00 am
Bartender Katrine Tawfik pours a fresh bubble tea cocktail. Janey Wong
Buddies since middle school, Brian Jiang and Neil Chan opened Buddy’s Lounge in 2018, only to spend most of last year shut down. Chan cut his teeth working for his family’s restaurant, the iconic Hung Far Low, and when Jiang grew tired of his banking day job of over a decade, they decided to merge their talents. Jiang’s tea know-how came from his ownership of an undisclosed bubble tea franchise in town. Fun game if you have a discerning palette: try out the tea at Buddy’s and hazard a guess!