After two years of lockdown, Taste Vietnam Group has reopened four restaurants in Southeast Asia’s “Ancient Town.” They are Cargo Club Cafe & Restaurant, Vy’s Deli, Morning Glory Signature, and Le Picnic 180 Vista Cafe.
During the weekend prior to Tet and the following week, Hoi An witnessed crowds only seen on busy weekends prior to the pandemic.
The streets were packed and the atmosphere was one of excitement. Taste Vietnam’s founder, Trinh Diem Vy, aka “Ms Vy” says she felt like “a fish that had been released into the sea.
Reborn!” She expressed “huge appreciation” for the influx of guests-not only in her restaurants, but in Hoi An as a whole.
“A sleeping town has been reinvigorated and reborn,” she said.
“Not only was it wonderful to see old friends back in our venues, I was equally delighted to be able to choose my OWN meals from our restaurants-from western specialities at Cargo Club to Vietnamese delicacies at Morning Glory Signature or a light meal at Le Picnic.”
Cargo alone did 400 covers a day with a skeleton kitchen staff of three-a feat made possible by her staff’s decades of experience.
The past two years without customers have been challenging, but Ms Vy embraced the opportunity to rest and revitalize after three decades of non-stop work.
Over the past 24 months, she has remodeled and reconcepted a number of her venues, experimented with interactive CGI;
Written an encyclopedia of Vietnamese cuisine to be released in April as a follow-up to her Morning Glory Cookbook; learned to tango and box; developed an herbal coffee brand; and concepted a forthcoming wellness hotel brand.
Ms Vy is no stranger to adversity.
Her parents opened their first restaurant in order to ensure that she and her siblings would not go to school malnourished.
Thirty years ago, Ms Vy opened her own establishment, “As You Wish” (now “Mermaid”), in the midst of the American trade embargo.
She was among the first to welcome foreign visitors to Hoi An and in 2017, she hosted the world’s first spouses during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Da Nang.
Vietnam is expected to open up to foreign tourists next month.