Blow Water is dedicated to Hong Kong Culture, connecting the far East with Birmingham through the arts and food. The team have secured a permanent space in the heart of Kings Heath to open Blow Water Cafe, a Hong Kong inspired eatery and arts space but they need your help to make it a reality!
A female-led enterprise, Blow Water builds a cultural bridge to introduce people to the spirit of Hong Kong through authentic cuisine and creative events. Blow Water was founded in 2019 by, Sabrina, born and raised in Hong Kong. Sabrina moved to England to study BSc Event Management with Arts and Entertainment in 2013. Following her passion for culture she then moved to Birmingham to do a MA Creative Industries and Cultural Policy at Birmingham City University.
Sabrina has made a home for herself in Brum, she loves the multi cultural and community feel of Birmingham and has made many friends so is excited to open her first permanent space in Kings Heath. She has always held dinner parties for friends, sharing her Hong Kong heritage and generational family recipes. Sabrina wanted to share this with the wider community as she saw a gap in the local food scene for healthy and authentic East Asian food. In 2019, Hong Kong was in the news a lot due the unsettled societal problems and it was important for Sabrina to raise awareness of the cultural identity of Hong Kong and felt Blow Water could achieve this through community food and art events.
Sabrina started Blow Water with £200 and then later a received seed funding from GirlDreamer which supports young women of colour. From this she has grown Blow Water organically with the support of customers all over Birmingham and especially in Kings Heath.
Blow Water started as Hong Kong supper clubs with a western twist collaborating with creatives, encouraging people to celebrate social diversity together. Since their first supper clubs they have now had residencies at The Juke and Kingsway as well as events all over Birmingham – you will also find her dumplings stocked in Borough & Fox. During the pandemic they did local home delivery and supported the community with free meals for NHS staff.
They also had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with Kamaal Williams, a Jazz musician based in South London for a supper club and music event in Peckham.
Whilst there are many Hong Kongers immigrating to England at the moment, Sabrina believes Blow Water plays an important role to introduce Hong Kong Culture and improve social cohesion in the community. Blow Water Cafe will be the home of Dumpling Classes and a space for cultural exchange – storytelling, education and experience.
The space
Led by Sabrina, Blow Water is now a small team and is in the exciting position to open their first permanent home. They are delighted to have secured a space in their home of Kings Heath. The space they have secured is just off Kings Heath High Street but it needs a lot of work to transform into a dream eatery and arts space. Blow Water Cafe will be a casual eatery space, creating an intimate and cosy environment for friends to meet and eat in Kings Heath. They also plan to hold arts and music events in the space.
Blow Water Cafe gives an authentic lens to Hong Kong Culture and food. The eatery will have a minimal and botanical theme, utilising the original features of the building whilst creating the atmosphere of an East Asian cafe.
They have built up funds for the initial costs to get going with the space but will use the Crowdfunder money to fit the interior and buy furniture/equipment to create a community eatery and arts space for Kings Heath!
Please get in touch if you would like to have private catering.
More info here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/blowwaterkh