Chingu Coffee wants to make a 'space for this neighborhood to gather,' with its own Korean twist

Chingu Coffee, which celebrated its grand opening in the West Plaza early this month, is the caffeinated companion to Keeyoung Kim's other Korean restaurants in Kansas City, Chingu and Sura Eats.
Keeyoung Kim’s latest concepts — Chingu and Chingu Coffee — revolve around community, the Sura Eats chef and owner shared.

Chingu means “friend” in Korean, he explained, and friendship is the recurring theme between the restaurant — which debuted July 2022 in Westport — and the coffee shop — which soft opened in mid-May in the West Plaza (1201 W. 47th St.). Community got him through the pandemic, Kim said, and he knew, once he launched a new concept, that sentiment would be reflected.

“We have to embody (friendship),” he explained. “That’s just really our goal and that’s the motivation behind it. We want people to come in with friends on any given day just to hang out. We want people to build friendships here.”

Chingu Coffee — a partnership between Kim and Bria Zyniewicz that just celebrated its grand opening early this month — is a traditional coffee shop and roaster with a Korean flair, Kim noted.