Katy Edition | February 2022

DINING FEATURE

BY SIERRA ROZEN

THREE DISHES TO TRY

The “croe” ($6.95) is the newest menu item and is a cross between a croissant and a wae.

The Garden Set ($49.95) comes with assorted pastries, a pot of tea, a sandwich and a slice of cake.

Michael Jiang opened Proper Rose Garden with Renee Kwan in June 2020. (Photos by Sierra Rozen/Community Impact Newspaper)

The shibuya honey toast ($10.50) is servedwith a side of vanilla ice cream.

Proper Rose Garden Katy tea shop oers a place for friends to bond over dessert A fter years of working in the corporate world in New York, Michael Jiang traded his to go to eat a million things, [there are none.] That was the whole inspiration behind this.”

sweetness. The concept of sharing tea comes from Jiang’s Chinese heritage, in which drinking tea, or “yum cha,” is a form of family bonding. “The pot of tea is special to us because in Asian culture, tea is in almost every aspect of life. We drink it to bond with our family,” he said. The menu also features a vari- ety of homemade desserts and sandwiches, including a house egg salad sandwich, a pork tonkatsu sandwich, shibuya honey toast and “croes”—a cross between a croissant and a wae. Jiang said he was drawn to Katy due to its upward growth and the similarity to Bualo, New York, where he lived for many years. For now, the shop’s team is focused on growing and making people in the Katy area more aware of the shop. “We want it to be somewhere that we can make an impact,” Jiang said.

Proper Rose Garden 1223 Grand West Blvd., Ste. B105, Katy 281-717-8174 www.properrosegarden.com Hours: Tue.-Thu. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. noon-10 p.m., Sun. noon-8 p.m., closed Mon. The rose milk potted tea ($7.95) has adjustable sugar levels and can be shared with any amount of people.

city lifestyle for the warmth of Katy and opened Proper Rose Garden, an afternoon tea cafe. Jiang previously owned one of the rst 10 Kung Fu Tea shops and added

After his business partner Renee Kwan moved to Houston in 2019, Jiang followed suit and opened the shop in June 2020, during the height of COVID-19. The main concept of the

a restaurant onto it. When visiting Houston, Jiang realized there were not many places where people could hang out without being in a restau- rant setting. “They have restaurants; they have bars; they

shop is “bougie on a budget,” according to Jiang. “The whole after- noon tea experience came in later on. We want to build something [where] people can feel fancy. We wanted to

“THE POT OF TEA IS SPECIAL TOUSBECAUSE INASIAN CULTURE, TEA IS INALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIFE. WE DRINK IT TOBOND WITHOUR FAMILY.” MICHAEL JIANG, OWNER

do something like [high tea] but on the casual level because we don’t want to be exclusive,” Jiang said. Customers can share pots of tea in a variety of avors and levels of

have an array of things like that,” Jiang said. “Realistically, if you try to think of something where you can just catch up with a friend, where I don’t have

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KATY EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022