KEI, TAKARA WONG And KINN Turn Fragrance Into A Culinary Experience
Photos by: KEI, TAKARA WONG and KINN Sensory
Fashion collaborations are increasingly moving beyond the garment, finding new ways to exist through hospitality, food and the rituals that surround a brand. At KEI, a modern Japanese izakaya and ramen bar in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, that idea takes shape through a collaboration with Bangkok-based fashion label TAKARA WONG and fragrance house KINN.
Launching September 22, the multidisciplinary partnership brings together fashion, fragrance and food through SHIBUYA 2 AM, a new KINN fragrance created exclusively for the project with KEI, alongside a limited-time menu developed by Sapporo-born Ramen Master Chef Akira Hiratsuka. Available through December 31, the four-item menu interprets the character of KINN fragrances through seasonal dishes and cocktails, creating a dining experience where scent becomes something guests can taste.
The partnership is also a continuation of KEI and TAKARA WONG’s relationship. Earlier this year, the Bangkok label designed the restaurant’s now-recognizable uniforms. This time, the collaboration extends into a limited-edition capsule collection featuring a KEI x TAKARA WONG baseball hat, tote bag and T-shirt, allowing the visual language established inside the restaurant to travel beyond its walls.
For Chef Hiratsuka, however, the collaboration begins with translation rather than branding.
“We wanted this collaboration to be about more than simply pairing a fragrance with a dish. Each scent has its own personality, and the challenge was to translate those aromas, textures and emotions into something you can taste,” says Hiratsuka. “With the fall menu, we’re bringing the worlds of TAKARA WONG and KINN into the kitchen and creating dishes that feel unexpected but still connected to the Japanese flavors and techniques at the heart of KEI.”
That philosophy is particularly apparent in the Green Tea Paitan Ramen, the menu’s seasonal noodle course inspired by KINN’s SHIBUYA 2 AM fragrance. The rich paitan broth incorporates green tea, translating the fragrance’s matcha and warm, comforting notes into a bowl of ramen.
It is a fitting vehicle for Hiratsuka, whose culinary career began at 16 in Sapporo before bringing him to New York, where he worked at Yakitori Totto and later became the founding chef of Ramen Yebisu. His work with Ramen Lab by Sun Noodle further developed his approach through collaborations with chefs from around the world. At KEI, that experience is distilled through Sapporo-style miso ramen and custom-developed noodles fermented for 48 hours, giving the restaurant’s signature bowls depth and structure.
The remaining menu continues the KINN Sensory conversation. Japanese Fried Squid with Rose & Black Truffle draws inspiration from TAKARA WONG; a Caviar Citrus Japanese-Style Roll references KINN’s CUBAN COLLARS; and a Saffron Old Fashioned takes cues from KINN’s SILENTLY LOUD fragrance.
The result is less a traditional restaurant collaboration than an exercise in world-building. Each element offers another entry point into the same creative universe: fragrance becomes flavor, fashion becomes a physical extension of the restaurant, and dining becomes a medium for experiencing a brand.
For KINN, a Bangkok-based fragrance house known for high-compound eau de parfums designed to interact closely with the skin, scent is already rooted in emotion, memory and contemporary culture. TAKARA WONG similarly operates across fashion, fragrance, food and culture, with founder Thakorn Wannawong building a label around individuality, self-expression and youth culture.
KEI provides the setting where those ideas can intersect.
KEI, TAKARA WONG and KINN Sensory
In a city where restaurants increasingly function as cultural destinations, the collaboration demonstrates how food can become another form of creative expression. For guests, SHIBUYA 2 AM is not simply something to wear or smell. Through KEI, it becomes something to experience—one course, cocktail and conversation at a time.
The KEI collaboration menu runs through December 31, 2026, while the limited-edition TAKARA WONG capsule collection is available exclusively at the restaurant.
