It’s last call for Cheu Fishtown and Bing Bing Dim Sum

The popular restaurants Cheu Fishtown and Bing Bing Dim Sum will both close in the coming weeks.

Money is apparently not the reason: The closings, which will idle about 60 employees, have been set in motion by forthcoming repairs to Bing Bing’s building in South Philadelphia, according to owners Shawn Darragh and Ben Puchowitz.

Bing Bing, which opened in early 2015 at 1648 E. Passyunk Ave., will have its last call July 21. Darragh said the landlord wants to upgrade a long-empty apartment upstairs but needs access through the restaurant.

With a bold dining room, house-made dumplings, and an edgy cocktail list, Bing Bing was a hit from the start. In an early review, Inquirer critic Craig LaBan described it as a “deliberately inauthentic and funky twist on Asian street food.”

Cheu Fishtown — which opened in summer 2017 in a onetime police stable at 1416 Frankford Ave. as an offshoot of the now-closed Cheu Noodle Bar in Center City — will close after dinner June 7. That building recently changed hands. With the planned closing of Bing Bing and Cheu’s upcoming lease renewal, Darragh said they received permission to leave early. “It was a blessing but also kind of sad that both landlords approached us around similar times,” he said. “We thought it was a good time [to do this], considering what was going on at Bing Bing. It would be tough for us to just have one restaurant with the way our company is set up.”

Next of Kin, the bar next door that Darragh and Puchowitz previously owned as an izakaya called Nunu, is unaffected, said Kyle Darrow, an owner.

Cheu’s space is being marketed for JSC Real Estate by Jacob Cooper and Stefanie Gabel of MSC.

Darragh and Puchowitz, buddies since their days at Cheltenham High School, launched Cheu Noodle Bar in 2013. Darragh, a marketing specialist, and Puchowitz, chef at the former Rittenhouse bistro Matyson, intended Cheu as a take on Southeast Asian noodle dishes with a Jewish spin. The restaurant, at 255 S. 10th St., closed in fall 2020 as the pandemic’s occupancy restrictions crushed small bars and restaurants.

Cheu Fishtown and Bing Bing weathered the pandemic, but “it definitely put a spin on how your business needs to operate,” Darragh said. “It’s been tough trying to figure out a new model when you’re running off of businesses that were started so long ago. It’s good to be able to start fresh and in a different way. Some of our systems were hard to change without a complete revamp.”

Whatever their next restaurant is, it will not be a revival of Bing Bing.

“Hopefully everybody will land on their feet, including us,” he said.