Our Story
From a single dim sum cart in Flushing to a forty-seat restobar in College Point — the long road that became Toc Te.
“I cook the streets I grew up on.”
Sui Lin opened Toc Te in 2018 after fifteen years in some of New York’s most demanding kitchens — and a childhood spent splitting weekends between her grandmother’s wok in Guangzhou and an abuela in Jackson Heights who taught her how to fold a tamale.
The result is a menu that doesn’t apologize for its hyphens. Asian-Latin, fine-casual, neighborhood-destination. We trust our guests to want both technique and warmth, and we deliver both, every shift.
Today Toc Te employs a team of 18, sources from twelve regional farms, and reserves one Sunday a month to host a free family-style dinner for College Point first responders.
Six years of cooking with intention.
Founded
Doors opened October 14.
Local farms
All within 90 miles of NYC.
Team members
Half from College Point.
Google rating
From 612 verified guests.
The team behind the pass.
Sui Lin
Cantonese roots, Peruvian training, fifteen years on the New York line. The reason the dumplings are folded behind the bar.
Marco Reyes
From Oaxaca via the Lower East Side. Champion of the mole, gentle dictator of the garde manger.
Hannah Pae
Builds drinks the way pastry chefs build cakes — in layers. Ask her about the kombucha program.
Three quiet rules.
Source close.
If we can drive to the farm, we will. Most weeks we do.
Cook clean.
Few ingredients on the plate, fewer shortcuts in the kitchen.
Treat well.
Fair wages, paid trial shifts, no shouting on the line.