New Vancouver Vietnamese restaurant Lunch Lady inspired by one of Anthony Bourdain’s favourite street food stalls in Ho Chi Minh City

An episode of Anthony Bourdain TV show No Reservations about a street food stall in southern Vietnam inspired Michael Tran to visit his parents’ birthplace

He met the owner in Ho Chi Minh City, loved her cooking, returned several times, and in 2018 signed a deal to open a restaurant serving her food in Canada

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Michael Tran opened Lunch Lady after watching an Anthony Bourdain TV show and visiting a street stall in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Niko Myyra

Published: 8:45pm, 3 Jul 2020Updated: 4:47pm, 4 Jul 2020

Watching chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain’s food shows about Vietnam drew second-generation Vietnamese-Canadian Michael Tran to the country of his parents’ birth – and inspired him to open a Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver.

Called Lunch Lady, it opened on July 1. The restaurant’s name comes from the nickname Bourdain (who died two years ago) gave Nguyen Thi Thanh, the owner of a street stall called Bun Cha Huong Lien in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that he featured on his show No Reservations.

The Vancouver restaurant serves dishes similar to those of Nguyen’s original street stall, such as bun thai (seafood in rice noodle soup), mi quang (prawn, pork belly and quail egg in rice noodle soup), and bun bo hue (beef, pork, and Vietnamese ham with vermicelli noodles in a spicy broth).

Tran made his first trip to Vietnam in 2012 and made a point of visiting Nguyen’s shop. He says he was “blown away” by her. “I fell in love with her – she’s cute, humble and cheerful.”

Tra Da Tini at Lunch Lady in Vancouver. Photo: Niko Myyra

He thinks of his mother, Victoria Tran, much the same way – his family has been in the restaurant business in Canada since before he was born. Tran’s extended family immigrated to Canada in 1980 and established themselves in Regina, Alberta. Tran’s grandfather opened Lang’s Cafe there a year later, serving Vietnamese food.