Kedai Makan was mourned as one of the sad goodbyes of food and drink in 2022. In 2023, it will be reborn at the top of Capitol Hill.

The short-lived Money Frog project at 15th and Pine is being transformed this week into a new home for the Malaysian favorite that settled onto Bellevue Ave as part of its decade-long path from the Capitol Hill farmers market to years of brick and mortar service just off E Olive Way. CHS reported here in October on the decision by husband and wife team Kevin Burzell and Alysson Wilson to bring their part of Kedai’s lifecycle to a close on their own terms after ten whirlwind years.

Kedai Makan will now live on under the ownership of the Money Frog team who are busy learning the recipes and art of Burzell and Wilson’s approach to Malaysian cuisine. Burzell and Wilson told CHS last year they would be “happy for the right person to give all of our secrets away” as they looked for a possible buyer as part of their exit from the business.

The plan is for a quiet reopening this week at 15th and Pine.

If it was a 10-year whirlwind for Kedai Makan, it has been a Capitol Hill food+drink cyclone for Money Frog, the collaboration from Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong with Joe and Lucy Ye of Hangry Panda that never really found its spot in Capitol Hill food and drink.

Only a few weeks old at the time, Money Frog was moved in July to 15th and Pine with hopes the “Pan-Asian Lounge” would find the foot traffic and nightlife scene needed to get the new venture more solidly off the ground after a very slow start in the former 19th Ave E home of Vios.

With the exit, Panyathong shuffled his Taurus Ox into the 19th Ave E space Money Frog left behind where the popular Laotian concept has been as busy as ever.

Money Frog, meanwhile, struggled to take hold at 15th and Pine where it was replacing Remedium Grill in the corner space also once home to Shota Nakajima’s debut foray on the Hill, the upscale Naka which eventually became Adana. The area is home to a cluster of fun food and drink providers where 15th meets Pike/Pine including Plenty of Clouds, the Travis Post and Lisa Zack’s Sichuan concept that opened in 2018 at the corner, and Brandon Barnato’s pizza and salumi rich Bar Cotto. The stretch has also been lined up for a new project at 15th and Madison where Sakana Sushi has been making plans. Meanwhile, Bobabucha provides sweet drinks and Singaporean food and snacks on the northwest corner across the street.

Is Kedai coming back to #capitolhill in the old Naka space. This is mainly a question for, @jseattle lol. pic.twitter.com/kwKAkTgW9p

— rira (@larira) December 29, 2022

Now in 2023, the two-leveled space on the southwest corner of the intersection will make a new home for Kedai Makan and its nasi goreng as Joe and Lucy take over from Kevin and Alysson with hopes of reviving the original’s spirit — and favorite dishes and drinks. The Seattle Met reports that Panyathong has moved on to focus on other projects.

After a few weeks of preparation and practice and time to put up the new signs, Joe Ye says the hope is the new Kedai Makan — with a menu “very familiar to Kedai Makan regulars” — will be open by the weekend.

Kedai Makan is reopening at 1449 E Pine. Learn more at kedaimakansea.com.

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