{"id":348366,"date":"2026-09-16T14:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T14:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348366\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T14:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T14:54:13","slug":"hoy-is-bringing-night-market-energy-to-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348366\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoy Is Bringing Night-Market Energy to NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This excerpt was originally published in Pre Shift, our newsletter for the hospitality industry. Subscribe<\/a> for more first-person accounts, advice, and interviews.<\/p>\n

This is the first installment of our series Getting on the Map, presented by Apple Maps. Over the next three weeks, we\u2019ll be sharing how some of the most creative bars and restaurants are marketing themselves to stand out in a crowded hospitality scene.<\/p>\n

When I spoke with Cyed Adraincem, he apologized for stumbling over any words; he\u2019d been up at 4 a.m. to wash the sidewalk in front of his forthcoming restaurant. \u201cI wanted to beat all the foot traffic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adraincem seems to have brought that same dedication to outfitting Hoy<\/a>, which will serve Filipino street food in a Manila night-market-like space. Though not yet open, the restaurant has already garnered a lot of attention for its loud and off-kilter aesthetic, smart pop cultural ties<\/a>, and behind-the-scenes peeks into R&D<\/a>. I asked him about designing the space, the merch plan, and how opening is going.<\/p>\n

Mary Anne Porto: Can you tell us about the restaurant concept?<\/p>\n

Cyed Adraincem: It\u2019s Filipino street food, super fast casual. I\u2019m trying to introduce Filipino food to a broader audience because I feel like we\u2019re underrepresented in New York City. We\u2019ll be serving barbecue skewers, lumpia, and a couple different sandwiches. It\u2019s a pretty simple menu, nothing too fancy, mostly traditional, with chef techniques that we\u2019ve learned over the years. I think the New York dining scene wants something more casual, more affordable right now. They don\u2019t want something pretentious; they just want to eat and have a good drink.<\/p>\n

The space is based on American diners because I love them. I\u2019ve also been working in cocktail bars for the past seven years. So if you come into the restaurant, it\u2019s kind of a mashup of the two. Those two things [feel similar] to the Manila night market [theme] we\u2019re going for. It\u2019s very high energy; everyone is front-facing; it\u2019s loud and fun. Since everything is counter service, everything is front-facing. The kitchen is open, so I think the energy will keep going throughout the restaurant. We\u2019ll communicate in front of everyone, and it\u2019ll be like a street-market affair.<\/p>\n

How did you come up with the branding and logo for Hoy?<\/p>\n

My designer is Kristofferson San Pablo<\/a>. He\u2019s a Filipino American, and he\u2019s actually my cousin. He\u2019s a well-known artist in LA. We decided on this design based on all the intense fun of a Manila night market. So there are a lot of different colors, a lot of visually stimulating stuff, without being too overwhelming. The pattern on the walls comes from one of the oldest textile patterns in the Philippines. It was an easy choice to showcase our culture in a cool way.<\/p>\n

[We have] shelves of snacks that are supposed to mimic a sari-sari store in the Philippines. They are usually on every street corner and typically operating right out of the owner\u2019s home, selling an assortment of everyday essentials. Cookbooks [on the shelves were] passed down from my parents. Some of them are very old. They are the baseline of what we will be creating for the restaurant. We also have cookbooks from our local favorites.<\/p>\n

We tried to stay away from the typical Filipino [branding] stuff, like the star and the sun<\/a> and barong tagalogs<\/a>, things that are very obviously Filipino. We wanted to use things like the barrel man<\/a>, carabao [water buffalo], farmer life, which are a little bit different from the mainstream.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s super Filipino culture. And the other fun part of it is I get to teach people who don\u2019t know about this. These barrel men were made-to-sell souvenirs for poor people to make money. But it\u2019s also how Filipinos act: It\u2019s fun, it\u2019s a gag gift.<\/p>\n

I also have a bunch of art pieces from different artists around the city and LA as well. We\u2019re going to try to stick with as much Filipino art as we can, but I\u2019m open to [any artists]. As long as it\u2019s local and made with community in mind, I\u2019m happy to support them.<\/p>\n

Before even opening, you\u2019ve channeled these pop-culture moments through some of your designs, like your Knicks-themed choking sign. How quickly can you and your designer put together this art, and what\u2019s the process like?<\/p>\n

Everything\u2019s on the fly, baby. Kris\u2019 art is very pop-culture heavy. For him, it\u2019s kind of second nature. I bring things up, and he\u2019s like \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019ve already been working on something like that.\u201d He keeps up with all of it. He works fast.<\/p>\n

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What merch are you planning to have?<\/p>\n

A bunch of different things. We entertained the idea of making our own barrel man, or barrel man key chains, and even house slippers. Our standard products we\u2019ll probably carry are shirts, hats, and totes, and we\u2019ll probably cater to the season. As we get open and understand the space better, we\u2019ll start producing more merch. It\u2019s going to be fun, and most of this merch is going to be collaborative with other artists and creatives, too.<\/p>\n

Some restaurants open with a bare-bones design while they get their footing, then expand into merch as they grow. But it seems like you\u2019re going all-in with your opening, with a very designed space and a merch line. Why did you decide to do that?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in the industry for almost 17 years. And working in cocktail bars for seven of those, I saw that merch was flying off the shelves. Bartenders were always wearing other bars\u2019 shirts, representing other industry spots. I think more people are wearing clothes that [signify] places that they love. I see Kikkoman jackets <\/a>and T-shirts from all of my favorite restaurants, and that\u2019s all I wear, too. So I thought it was important to spread the word, and eventually have it as another outlet of revenue.<\/p>\n

How did you approach the inside of the restaurant?<\/p>\n

Realistically, [furnishing a restaurant] is a lot of legwork. Everything is so expensive right now. It\u2019s probably the worst time to open a restaurant. So it\u2019s about doing your due diligence and comparing prices. I go to Home Depot, Amazon, The Container Store and see who has the best price, then go from there, so it\u2019s a lot of searching and researching. And everything on the shelves is pretty personal: knickknacks and art from friends and family.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also have a lot of vegetation to try to mimic the tropical Philippines. We made a pot pond out of a large planter pot, and we\u2019re currently growing lemongrass, a calamansi tree, and labuyo chiles in a garden next to the pond. We\u2019re in a corner building, so we get lots of light. We\u2019re going to make a jungle and grow and eat what we can.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your path to opening look like right now?<\/p>\n

We have an issue with our gas firing with the DOB [New York\u2019s Department of Buildings] right now, so we can\u2019t cook onsite until it gets all sorted out. Until then, we decided to open up for the community and have a residency in the space. We\u2019re [hosting] Arellano Pandesal<\/a> from Queens, which does Filipino pastries, while we do the beverages. We\u2019re also planning to launch a community market place with local vendors and friends and family. It\u2019s a good way to get people in the space and get people excited.<\/p>\n