The rough pencil outlines each portion of the cafe. From the chairs to the bowls, everything is covered in black and white.
Sno Honey is a Korean cafe located in Carrollton’s Koreatown that offers a 2D experience. The owners, Kevin Suh and Jae Konor, held the soft opening on Sept. 12 and are scheduled to hold the grand opening on Nov. 4 along with new additions to their original menu.
Suh moved to the U.S. during high school, while Konor moved for college, both looking for opportunity. Since then, Konor has worked in different cafes and even owned a boba shop franchise for over 15 years. She said she was influenced by her previous jobs to start this new project and combined her favorite drinks: coffee and tea.
“We have three kinds of main menus,” Konor said. “[When] it’s hot outside, our shaved snow is more popular, [but since] it’s getting cold now, our coffee is getting more popular. Our boba tea is in the middle.”
Suh studied to become an architect, which inspired him to open his own restaurant. He still works as an architect outside of his cafe duties and helped design the 2D interior along with Konor.
“It still amazes people,” Suh said. “This is one of the house concepts that we tried to bring here, like a cozy place. We have a fireplace, a couch and a bookshelf. So this is really the theme of a living room — a typical house when you look at it carefully.”
2D cafes originated in East Asia in the late 2010s, specifically in Japan and Korea. Although the cartoon style is dropping in popularity, Suh and Konor said it’s still a fresh concept here.
“We [aimed to] bring that concept that Texans are [unfamiliar with,]” Suh said. “People can [experience] a completely different society. Even though [its popularity] already passed a couple years ago, people can still enjoy this kind of concept [here].”
The cafe was supposed to open during the spring, but it wasn’t able to due to construction. Konor said this caused the business to go slower than they expected since they didn’t begin during their preferred season.
“Making food is really hard because you can’t satisfy everybody,” Suh said. “Everyone has a different taste and different expectations, [and] the business environment has to be [adaptable.]”
Barista Rebecca Kim began working at Sno Honey when it first opened. She said the clean and quiet ambiance led her to want to start working there.
“From the decor, to our menu, to our boss’s structure, it’s really welcoming,” Kim said. “If [a customer] wants to study here, they can. If they want to meet a friend here, they can. It can also be a first date place. [It can be] whatever you make it.”
Koreatown Carrollton is a shopping center with Asian restaurants, as well as markets and entertainment inspired by different Asian cultures.
“Carrollton [has] a Chinatown and Koreatown,” Konor said. “At night, there’s a lot of people hanging out, so more people know about Sno Honey in Carrollton. More people are [also] coming to this town, so they come and want to know about the 2D cafe in Carrollton.”
Sno Honey offers three main products: tea, coffee and Bingsu — a milk-based Korean shaved ice. The menu changes seasonally, and they plan on adding Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas items in the near future.
“It’s hard to choose any one item that has the most [meaning],” Suh said. “Every single chair [to] the menu boards [do.] We made everything from [scratch] and got everything to cooperate with each other.”
Last Saturday, the cafe celebrated Korean boy band BTS star Park Jimin’s birthday by selling five new drinks and giving out picture sleeves of the celebrity. As for their grand opening, they are preparing to add Bungeoppang — a Korean fish-shaped bread — to their main menu, featuring five different fillings.
“We want [customers] to think that [our drinks] are the best drinks they have ever tasted,” Suh said. “That’s our goal. We made every single thing, [and] we want to be the best around town.”
