What do you feel like eating? The boss will make it for you! Rebirth Cafe & Restaurant, a worry-free kitchen that makes dreams come true

Not a coffee shop but a coffee shop, with an ingredient utilization rate close to 100%! Hidden in a small alley on Wenzhou Street, Rebirth Cafe once appeared as a scene in the movie "At Cafe 6." Its unique style leaves a deep impression on everyone who has been there. Kevin, who is both the owner and the chef, personally buys groceries every day, and with his distinctive cooking methods he fully brings out the flavor of every ingredient, with an ingredient utilization rate close to 100% and almost zero waste.

From chef to owner, he has to pay off debt before making any money

The storefront looks like a bar. Walking in at 5 p.m., you see row after row of bookshelves and old-style electric toy machines lit up, while the owner is writing today's menu in chalk across the entire blackboard wall. This is the most anticipated moment every day. "I got a lot of sweet potato leaves yesterday, so today I'll make traditional braised pork, which pairs best with them," the owner says casually, then after writing down the prices returns to the kitchen to cook.

"In the past, I've sliced sashimi, worked at stir-fry restaurants, and also worked in hotels and restaurants." Kevin, who has worked part-time in all kinds of restaurants since childhood, has long hair. At work he wears a hat and ties his hair in a ponytail. His calm tone gives no hint of the shop's turbulent past.

Rebirth Cafe, in a small alley on Wenzhou Street, is already in its tenth year of business. Four years ago, Kevin was just a chef. At that time the business was poorly managed, and after his business partner left, Kevin was left alone, and Rebirth also moved to a new location. "So I became the owner. On the first day after moving to the new place, I was notified that I had millions in debt."

An undefinable shop, a do-anything place that makes dreams come true

If you search for "Rebirth Cafe and Restaurant" online, you will see it categorized as a cafe, but when you actually walk in, it is very different from the cafe in your imagination. The atmosphere, where guests speak freely, feels like a bar; the dazzling array of books on the walls looks elegant from a distance, but up close you find that most of them are comics; and the woman reading in one corner of the shop is a tarot card reader who is a regular fixture there.

From time to time the shop holds photography exhibitions, small concerts, and even barbecue parties. No matter how many times you come, you can never figure it out: is this a cafe, a restaurant, or a bar? To this question, Kevin answers: "Whatever you think it is, it is. I didn't set what it should look like, but I prefer to use 'do-anything place' to describe this shop."

Kevin's interpretation of a do-anything place is: "A place that can embrace and realize any idea or dream." As long as people who come to this shop can offer an idea and a way to do it, they have a chance to realize it here. For example, one dish written on the wall, "Daydream Memory," was actually something a customer dreamed about. After waking up, they described the dish and its taste, and not long after telling Kevin, it was realized on the menu.

After closing at dawn, he personally buys groceries, the freshest

Rebirth's opening hours are from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. After 2 a.m., when there is no one left in the shop, Kevin cleans up the store, then gets ready to go out and buy groceries. "The wholesale market all starts operating in the early morning. Only at that time can you find the freshest stuff!" After Kevin gets back from buying groceries and puts them in the fridge, he rests first, then takes stock of the day's ingredients and menu at noon, and goes to the market to restock as needed.

"If a chef doesn't go to the market to buy groceries himself, how can he bring out the true flavor of the ingredients?" Kevin says seriously. With one cut he opens the fish he just got, deftly scales it, separates the bones from the flesh, throws the fish bones into the soup pot, and while the broth simmers, cuts the fish fillets into pieces and soaks them in sauce to marinate.
Besides buying groceries himself, Kevin also receives "gifts" from time to time. "Sometimes I get vegetables from farm friends, or someone comes back from a farmers' market carrying ingredients I've never seen before." Then he turns them into dishes. The most unusual ingredients he has seen are dragon fruit flowers and snake gourd, which he made into fried dragon fruit flowers and stir-fried snake gourd with meat, respectively.

Breaking the limits of a fixed menu, imperfect produce becomes the star of the dish

After buying groceries every day, Kevin looks at the ingredients in the fridge and plans the day's dishes. "There used to be a fixed menu, but later everyone only ordered from the blackboard menu, so gradually I stopped preparing ingredients for fixed dishes, and then there was no fixed menu anymore." On the blackboard, only the drinks are fixed; other dishes disappear from the blackboard after a few days.

"In the past, ingredients for the fixed menu were hard to buy once they were out of season. Now that I'm not restricted, I can just cook with seasonal ingredients from the market, and seasonal ingredients are the freshest and also cheaper." Now he cooks whatever ingredients he buys, and even produce that others reject as imperfect can become a delicacy on the table.

"No one likes these ugly fruits and vegetables, and vendors sometimes sell them off cheaply, but they actually taste very good." He takes out a deformed beef tomato, cuts off the bruised part, cuts the rest into chunks, blends it into a puree, and starts making sauce. Its intense aroma and slight acidity are just right to add freshness and flavor to the meat.

A menu that changes at any time, with seasonal ingredients as inspiration

In the shop, only specific